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Paperhouse Details

1989 Certificate 15 Certificate 15 (TBC)
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 589 members

Childhood fantasies transform into terror filled nightmares when a house sketched by a lonely and very imaginative child comes to life in a recurring dream, which changes as the drawing is altered. Read more

Starring Ben Cross, Charlotte Burke, Glenne Headly, Gemma Jones
Director Bernard Rose, Bernard Rose
Genres Drama

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Paperhouse

Childhood fantasies transform into terror filled nightmares when a house sketched by a lonely and very imaginative child comes to life in a recurring dream, which changes as the drawing is altered.

Starring Ben Cross, Charlotte Burke, Glenne Headly, Gemma Jones, Elliot Spiers
Director Bernard Rose, Bernard Rose
Studio LIONS GATE
Run time DVD: 1 hr 28 mins
Watch now: 1 hr 29 mins
Certificate DVD: Certificate 15, Watch Online: Certificate 15 (TBC)
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Watch Online: English
Subtitles DVD: None
Released DVD: 18 Sep 2006
Watch now: 11 Sep 2009
Production year: 1989
Watch now £2.49
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (2) of Paperhouse

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    The feature debut of Bernard Rose, who subsequently directed the chilling Candyman and the Beethoven biopic Immortal Beloved. Loosely based on Catherine Storr's novel Marianne Dreams (too loosely for some of the book's fans), this is a highly intelligent horror, in which the terror comes from the exploration of the subconscious rather than from banal schlock set pieces. Neglected by busy father Ben Cross and at loggerheads with (miscast) mother Glenne Headly, Charlotte Burke is the 11-year-old who enters a threatening world shaped by her dreams and the drawings in her notebook. Great credit must go to the art designers Frank Walsh and Anne Tilby for turning the childish sketches into disturbing landscapes.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • An 11-year-old girl succumbs to fainting fits, is put to bed, and draws an imaginary house with an imaginary friend.... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Paperhouse

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  • 6 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Paperhouse

    An earlier film from Candyman director Bernard Rose Paperhouse flirts with the horror genre at times but is far removed from the traditional horror structure of the directors bst known work.

    Burke plays Anna, an 11 year old British girl, who is taken ill with glandular fever. She draws a picture of a house and, in a dream, finds herself outside it. She draws a boy in the window, Mark (Spiers) and through her next few visits in her fever dreams they become friends. However on finding out that Mark is real Anna throws away her drawing only to begin frantically looking for it when this throws up the possibility that this drawing has power not only over the world inside it, but outside it too.

    For its first 45 minutes Paperhouse is a sweet adolescent fantasy, an escape into a paralell universe where Anna and Mark are the only two people and Anna can bend reality to her will just by drawing between dreams. Then Anna adds her much missed father (Cross) who is away for work to the picture. He doesn't come out perfect. It's here that Rose switches gears and throws us a couple of brilliant horror sequences. 'I'm blind Anna' is a line that will stick in your mind, as will the shot of Dad, in sillhouette, wielding a hammer.

    The two performances from the leading children are largely fine, though Burke has the odd off moment it is easily forgiven as she appearss in almost every frame of the film. Spiers is excellent though and the two of them, in short order, create a bond you can root for.

    It's always good to see Glenne Headly, she no longer works enough. Here she's got a British accent which seems a touch out of sync at times, this is because Headly dubbed her whole performance because of a decision, two days before relase, that her character should also be British. She does the accent very well though and it does wonders for her, altering her usual Judy Holliday tones to something lower.

    Paperhouse is a haunting film and one which I think will resonate even more with me on repeat viewings. On first viewing it is, quality wise, Candyman's equal and that's high praise indeed.

      • SAI81 from Tonbridge
      • Posted 29 Nov 2006 10:47

  • Most recent members' review of Paperhouse

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Worth Watching

    If your expecting a horro movie you might be dissapointed, but if you want a very good thriller you'll love it . If you've not seen it , its really worth renting. A must see film.

      • gaz115 from Stoke-On-Trent
      • Posted 06 Mar 2007 08:14

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Rating breakdown

589 Member ratings
  • 100
44
  • 90
31
  • 80
74
  • 70
88
  • 60
125
  • 50
73
  • 40
62
  • 30
40
  • 20
36
  • 10
16

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      • Childhood fantasies transform into terror filled nightmares when a house sketched by a lonely and very imaginative child comes to life in a recurring dream, which changes as the drawing is altered....