
Anna is becoming lost in the loneliness of her own world when she discovers she can visit another, a house she has drawn herself and occupied by a young disabled boy. But as she discovers more of the links between her fantasy world and the mundane present, she is drawn only deeper into a dream turning into a nightmare.... (Full plot summary below)
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Anna is becoming lost in the loneliness of her own world when she discovers she can visit another, a house she has drawn herself and occupied by a young disabled boy. But as she discovers more of the links between her fantasy world and the mundane present, she is drawn only deeper into a dream turning into a nightmare.
Leave your thoughts about Paperhouse.
| Examiner.comAdam LippeThe scenes of Anna running around mountains in a moment of escape or toward an enormous lighthouse don't have the feel of something whitewashed like The Sound of Music but rather the dark undercurrent of the delusions of the girls in Heavenly Creatures. |
| Kalamazoo GazetteJames SanfordA real sleeper: charming, scary, enthralling |
| User ReviewChris MFull of dread, this British chiller has enough creepiness for any horror/fantasy fan, yet at it's heart, it's a film about real people and growing up. The ending is a real tear jerker and a lot of influence can be seen in recent films like Pan's Labyrinth and The Orphanage. The acting is stellar and the characters are fully fleshed out. It needs to come to the U.S. on DVD very soon, because many people should see this fantastic film. |
| User ReviewLani JA really psychologically scary film, great idea and awesome to watch. |
| User ReviewRalph ROne of my all time favourite films! Brilliant insights into childhood. |
| User ReviewGordon T"jive," "middle-brow" critics said PAPERHOUSE is "the thinking man's Nightmare on Elm Street." the "jive, "middle-brow," "Society-type" critics need to go jump in a lake because NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET itself is a "thinking man's film" as much as PAPERHOUSE is. NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is the most original film of the early 1980s; the only reason DREAMSCAPE usurped NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is because WES CRAVEN tried to sell the ELM STREET SCRIPT to a studio that went-on and stole his idea after rejecting his script. anyway, PAPERHOUSE is an "art-house" type film that works as an exhilarating child-hood fantasy augmented by Hanz Zimmer's equally exhilarating score. Obviously PAPERHOUSE is "low-budget," yet the engaging direction and acting supersede the budgetary dramaturgical-limitations. Kind of like when THE ELEPHANT MAN played the BROADWAY STAGE, "they" didn't use any make-up and asked "us" to imagine John Merrick's disfiguring condition; "we" forgot that there wasn't any make-up and enjoyed the production regardless. |
| User ReviewNick AA film that is frightening without being scary, filled with such abstract landscapes, deep characters, and true suspense. This is a film that not only immerses you, but engulfs you into its world. This is, without hyperbole, one of the greatest films ever made. |
| User ReviewJack HA forgotten classic from childhood still holds up and adds even more substance in modern times. Highly probable 'Paperhouse' is owned by one Chris Nolan. The movie still doesn't feel dated even if the dream world can sometimes look like the set for The Cure video 'Just Like Heaven'. There's an insidious mood under everything that works alongside themes of depression and childhood imagination that messed with me psychologically unlike any other movie I have ever seen. The acting is so damn good from these kids it makes the subject and events all the more poignant and the direction, with a haunting helping hand score from Hanz Zimmer, by Bernard Rose is crafty and provides a bizarre mood that I only can compare to looking at a Meatyard photograph, not similar but their unnerving way of getting under one's skin is quite astonishing. The best horror movie you've never heard about. |
| User ReviewJamie-Lynn HOne of the best deep thinking mystery movie I've seen. I wish it would come too dvd. |
| User ReviewAshley GA girls Dream become real This is a very touching movie |