House

Roger Cobb, a horror novelist and Vietnam veteran, is struggling after the collapse of his marriage and the disappearance of his young son, Jimmy. When his aunt dies and leaves him her house, he moves in, intending to write about his wartime experiences. The house has a troubled history and a poor reputation locally, and strange noises and unsettling events soon drive Roger to suspect that the place is not empty. Supernatural forces, including a figure tied to his past in Vietnam, confront him there.

Steve Miner directed, working from a screenplay by Ethan Wiley, with Sean S. Cunningham producing. The film was the third of the thirteen features Miner has directed to date, following Friday the 13th Part III and preceding Soul Man. William Katt leads as Roger, with George Wendt as his neighbour Harold Gorton, Richard Moll as Big Ben, Kay Lenz as Sandy Sinclair, Mary Stavin as Tanya and Michael Ensign as Chet Parker, among a credited cast of thirty-one. It mixes horror with comedy and fantasy.

Released in December 1985, the film cost about 3 million dollars and returned roughly 19 million worldwide, a strong multiple of its budget. On IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from more than 29,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.2 out of 10 from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' rating of 5.3 out of 10 from fourteen reviews places it below the audience scores.