Review: Netflix’s The House

The House is an adult stop-motion animated dark comedy anthology film telling three different stories surrounding the same house spanning different time periods and characters. The anthology was produced for Netflix by Nexus Studios in London with stories directed by Emma de Swaef & Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, and Paloma Baeza. Not unlike Adult Swim’s The Shivering Truth, the premise of the film is very much a loose anthology in that each of the stories are connected by a certain home establishment, however, it’s not to be confused by say Room 104 where we’re getting a single establishment telling different tales. In fact, one could argue each of the 30-minute short films are of different universes altogether with only the first chapter featuring a premise revolving around humans and the latter two stories focusing on anthropomorphic characters.

The tales, while creepy, include varying levels of comedy as well. In the second and third chapters we get deep insight on the profession of house-keeping which could include pests, squatters, and attempting to run a business in arduous conditions. The film’s first chapter is by far the most endearing and, quite possibly, more horror-centric effort of the three. In any event, the production elements of each of the short films are quite exquisite regardless of who is directing. Not unlike Cloud Atlas, three different productions have premises that coexist, but are different experiences in execution, however, the resulting detail is quite astonishing. Little special effects like the layers of sound design, the detailed stitching and threading in the character models, and even how the scenes are assembled and layered to build up excitement around the climax, are of another world.

As if this thing wasn’t bonkers enough, the producers put together a stellar voice cast including the likes of Matthew Goode, Mia Goth, Jarvis Cocker (!!!!), and Helena Bonham Carter(!!!!!!) all putting together wonderful performances that will already be getting end of year award consideration for the year 2022. Netflix’s The House is not only a technical marvel, but a fantastical effort that hopes to push forth the animation genre with ensuing ripple effects that will be felt in years to come.