Reviewer's Rating 4 out of 5 Ìý User Rating 3 out of 5
House: Special Edition DVD (1986)

Those of you who used to rent out horror videos in the 80s will remember only too well the "House" series of films, produced by "Friday the 13th" director Sean Cunningham. The first of this bizarre comedy horror series is now out to own on a budget priced DVD with a shocking amount of features.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture If you bought the first UK DVD release of "House", the disc likely sailed straight into the bin after you insulted your DVD player with its generally shabby technical standards. Witness then the pristine new transfer on this new disc and excite/or lose forever your friends by telling them what a transformation this is.

Sound Choices, choices... do you go for the 2.0 stereo mix or the new 5.1 mix? We'd choose the latter, but you might want to turn down the rear speakers a bit to avoid the dialogue that's coming out of them. Do that, and you're left with a pretty beefy front speaker output that does a good job with the music score.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary This group commentary is fun to listen to, especially if you're an 80s B-movie aficionado. Director Steve Miner ("Warlock", "Halloween: H20", and "Lake Placid") is joined by writer Ethan Wiley and producer Sean Cunningham for an affectionate chat about working on this New World picture. Miner reveals his shock of asking for a crane for the opening shot and actually getting one! Budget expectations were low for this picture but, despite this, a two-storey set for the house interior was built to allow for smoother tracking shots (as opposed to a cheaper two sets for each floor at ground level).

Making of Featurette Any of you who picked up any of Drew Cummings' "Action!" series in the early 90s (that'll be none of you then?) will already have seen most of this footage. It appeared on "Action 2", a bargain bin tape that covered special effects for not-so-special movies. Anyway, there's an interview with sweaty star William Katt, a look at some of the conceptual artwork, and a behind-the-scenes peek at various household objects that maim when suspended on wires and swung at people.

Additional Extra Features Two trailers and an official stills gallery.

Region: 2
Chapters: 26
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0
Extra Features: Scene selection, and animated menus.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.

End Credits

Director: Steve Miner

Writer: Fred Dekker, Ethan Wiley

Stars: William Katt, Kay Lenz, George Wendt, Richard Moll, Mary Stavin, Susan French, Erik Silver

Genre: Comedy, Horror

Length: 93 minutes

Cinema: 1986

DVD: 28 January 2002

Country: USA