House
Director: Steve Miner Run Time: 92 min. Release Year: 1985
Starring: George Wendt, Richard Moll, William Katt
If you are not a child of the VHS era, you may be oblivious to the existence of this batshit horror/comedy from Steve Miner (Friday the 13th Part 2 & 3). If you spent too many hours in the local video store, on the other hand, the poster image of a decaying, skeletal hand poised to ring a doorbell will certainly elicit sense memories of late-night viewings. In this bonkers mash-up of Evil Dead II and Poltergeist—with a dash of Apocalypse Now thrown in to make it truly unsettling—William Katt plays Roger Cobb, a burned out vet turned author with another book due. Roger retreats to the family home where his son disappeared and his aunt hung herself supposedly to work on a memoir about his time in Vietnam but, once there, he finds himself in a fight for his life—and his son—against the spectral forces of evil that have taken root there. Along for the ride, his good-natured neighbor played by the late, great George Wendt (Norm!).