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From June 14, 2023.

Song is: "The Scientist," by Coldplay.

Paperhouse (1988)

Although I wasn't taken by Paperhouse, I'd like to see it again to be sure about how I feel. I kept expecting certain things, only for it to move in a completely different direction. I could never get a foothold on what the story's objective. Is it a drama? A horror film? A coming of age story? It’s all of the above but the blend is not even. I can see it connecting with certain audiences so let me tell you what it's about in case you stumble upon this British dark fantasy.

11-year-old Anna (Charlotte Burke) is ordered to stay in bed by her doctor. She passes the time by drawing. In her sleep, she is transported to a world where her drawings come to life. Inside the drawing of the house, she meets Marc (Elliott Spiers).

The premise makes this sound like a children’s movie, the kind of thing that plays on Lifetime about the girl with the disease of the week who makes a friend and gets better. In a way that’s what this movie is… but it’s also a horror film. The world in which Anna and Marc meet lends itself well to terror. It gets surprisingly frightening, particularly about three-quarters in, when Anna and Marc try to escape from an assailant inside the dream world.

You'd think a movie where people meet danger in an imaginary world would have little tension but the film handles this aspect well. The plot is set up in such a way that even though Anna is dreaming you feel the danger she's in. There are real-world equivalents to the peril she's facing so you'll never say “come on you dumb kid, just wake up already”.

The horror elements (which is what the graphic designer and marketing people decided to highlight on the VHS cover) is well-executed. My issue is that it's only partially a horror film. The beginning and the end are not scary at all. At most, the conclusion is bittersweet. With the intensity dropping way low and so suddenly, the final act feels like it drags because you don't realize that the emotional connections Anna has with the people in her life is what you were waiting to see get resolved, not the monster business. It’s frustrating. Paperhouse perfectly captures the way dreams can be frightening without making any sense and the way you can have these irrational phobias as a kid that will suddenly vanish completely. I wish the whole movie had integrated the two different stories better.

While I didn’t like Paperhouse while it played, I still recommend it. Now, you know this is a movie about a little girl who is growing up, and also about a frightening fantasy/fever dream world. This means you won't have the same experience I did while watching it. That’s a good thing. Despite my experience, Paperhouse had a strong impact on me and I'm willing to give it a second shot. It will also allow me to pay attention to the score, which many have praised.

My response to Paperhouse is a mixed one, but I firmly believe that I’m in the minority. I’m not sure if you’ll have to dig through bins of VHS tapes to find it or if there’s a more modern release available out there, but it's worth searching for. (On VHS, September 14, 2015)