The Super Network

PAPERHOUSE (1988)

This entry into the 31 Days Of Horror viewing came as a suggestion from my good friend Sam. I blindly added it to the list; I didn’t even read a synopsis. As I sat down to watch it, there was something eerily familiar about everything, had I seen this before? I think somewhere in my childhood I had seen this film, but forgotten all about it, as it tends to happen. Paperhouse is a real departure from the crop I have already gone through, this isn’t a run of the mill horror type of film. This has more in common with something like Alice In Wonderland than say A Nightmare On Elm Street.

Paperhouse tells the story of loner Anna, she is around 11 years old and doesn’t really seem to fit in anywhere. She draws herself a house, and this house becomes the subject of vivid dreams. But as she starts to have these dreams she begins to fall ill, the doctor who comes to see Anna tells her about a patient. She then adds the boy to her drawing, and soon he is in her dreams. The world she has created becomes more linked with the real world, and before long she gets more ill and the dreams turn into nightmares.

This film is fantastic; it captures everything so well, from the imagination of a child to all the emotions that go with it. I was surprised to find Bernard Rose, the man who gave us Candyman, directed this. The fantasy elements were there, but the two films are very different. In a strange way this one felt more mature, perhaps it was the way that children were handled. I haven’t read the novel this was based on, but between the script by Matthew Jacobs and Rose’s direction, it felt very natural. What it was like to be a child and capturing a good performance from one is not an easy task, and I have to commend them for the work done here.

The acting side of things, it was all excellent, everyone did a great job. Charlotte Burke was stunning as Anna; her performance was truthful and quite mature. I say that in the way that she managed to handle some very demanding scenes without compromise. She was not of the sort where she’s young but wise beyond her years; no she was an 11 year old. Such a great performance and I was shocked to find this was her first and only film. Glenne Headly as her mother started off a little stuff but she definitely progressed, as the things got more serious. Elliott Spiers was great as Marc, the boy from her dreams. I was saddened to see that he passed away in 1994, a great talent was there and who knows what might have been if things turned out differently. Gemma Jones was quite good as the Doctor who cares for Anna, the two actors making a striking connection. Ben Cross had a bit of a dual role and he handled it well, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting as for the first half we only hear about his character and we don’t see him.

There is so much at play here, the film does work with dreams and fantasy and they play as a metaphor. The nightmares certainly play up the aspect of Anna longing for her father, he has been absent from her life and she really detests that. She wants him back in her life, but feels such anger for him being away, and in turn this results in the nightmares. Her longing for a true friend and her empathy towards the boy she hears about is represented in the Marc of her dreams. I could go on but I think I have revealed far too much already, and this is a film you just need to experience. I loved this and I actually wish I had remembered seeing this a kid; I would have liked to have known what a young Marcey thought of it.

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