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The House Where Evil Dwells – Mutantville Collector’s Corner

The House Where Evil Dwells was a pleasant surprise for this collector. I purchased my big box copy solely on the strength of it’s box art. It only seems right that I should scan it and add to the awesomeness that is VHS Wasteland. Check out the full res version.

Here’s the skinny on what it’s about. In 1840, a samurai comes home to find his wife in bed with another man, so he kills them both and then himself. This is easily the most gruesome dismemberment by sword scene I’ve ever witness and it all takes place in slow motion. It’s not over quickly either, with the adulterer backpedaling to escape, throwing all manner of obstacles in the way of the pissed samurai who slashes through furniture and flesh alike in gut churning detail. He offs the backdoor man and his wife before seppukuing himself. This scene alone makes the film worth checking out for you gorehounds. It’s 3 – 4 minutes of pure awesomness that would make a great start to any film. Literally one of the 10 greatest murder scenes on film IMHO.

Flash-forward to the present day (which for the purpose of the film is the early 80′s), and an American family of three moves into this since-abandoned house and starts to experience incidents of haunting and possession. This is where things take a turn for the worse, for the fictional family and the viewer. Things slow way down. A shakey script, mediocre cinematography and uneven performances plague the picture like the transparent blue protagonists. The film has some interesting, if not altogether scary visual effects for the Ghost inhabitants.

Story-wise the film is a real mess. It’s not scary or clever but utterly predictable. What it does have in copious amounts is a very large cheese factor! If you are a fan of Japanese culture like most of us here at Mutantville or if you love a so bad it’s good movie experience, you’ll find lots to appreciate about “The House Where Evil Dwells”.

Japanese Horror Posters Keep Art Form Alive.

The 1980′s may have been the high water mark for horror poster art.  One used to be able to walk through the halls of the local video store and see a wide variety of horrific tableau’s adorning the boxes and posters promoting horror movies.  In the new millennium, we are living in an era of bland posters and box art.  A seemingly endless parade of floating heads and faces stare back at us from what now passes for movie posters.  Where artists once strived to tell a story with a single image – now these “designers” seek to inundate us with the who’s who of actors in the film.

Poster art is truly a lost art form.  That’s why it always thrills me to see the Japanese designs for Western films.  They are simply the best produced poster works on the planet.  Let’s celebrate this lost art form by taking a peek at a few fantastic designs from the land of the rising sun.