Gorgeous (Hausu)

Fear: Falling Short of Expected Gender Roles

Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 film Hausu is one of my absolute favorite movies.

It’s meant to be a horror film, and there are plenty of elements that cement it within that genre, but between the vibrant collage-like special effects and the gorgeous landscapes of rural Japan, I often forget that I’m meant to be scared by what’s going on.

Speaking of gorgeous things, Gorgeous is the name of the main character. She’s a Japanese schoolgirl with a hatred for her new step-mother, who will unexpectedly be joining her and her father on summer vacation.

Exposition reveals that Gorgeous’s mother died eight years prior to the events of the film, and she’s still unwilling to let anyone replace her.

Refusing to be around her new mother-figure, Gorgeous decides to write to her widowed aunt in the country, asking if she and six of her close friends (named Sweet, Mac, Fantasty, Kung Fu, Prof and Melody…stay with me…) could visit her instead.

Her aunt graciously accepts her request, and the girls board the train to meet this mysterious relative.

Through flashback, we learn that Auntie’s husband died in WW2, and she became hermit-like and isolated in her grief.

She expresses relief and happiness at the sudden presence of seven young ladies invigorating the tired old house, as well as gratitude, as now she’ll have more help with preparing meals and tidying up.

In slasher film fashion, the girls begin to disappear one by one, and with each sudden disappearance, Auntie appears more and more energized and cheerful.

It’s hard to summarize this movie in a reasonable amount of words or time- all I will say is that each girl is picked off in increasingly trippy and vidid ways, until Gorgeous and Fantasy are the last ones standing.

Donning her aunt’s wedding gown, Gorgeous resembles her female relatives before her, and it is revealed that her aunt actually died years and years ago, luring young unattached women to the titular house to devour them.

There seems to be a theme of generational pride in the film, and the expectation that offspring will continue what was started by their ancestors.

The shaming of young women by having them killed because they are unmarried helps this narrative…Auntie herself was a widow who never remarried, and she appears to be taking her rage out on the girls throughout the film as well.

Scenes of Gorgeous sitting at mirrors and putting on lipstick in a hypnotic state suggest that something greater than her has taken control…is it her mother? Her aunt?

By the end of the film, she is not unlike a powerful, all-mighty goddess who personifies the feminine rage and sadness felt by all of those who came before her.

This film is incredibly strange, and no amount of explanation could do it justice.

My advice is to watch it, and see for yourself how it all psychedelically plays out.