Movie Reviews for Writers: House

“Ding, dong. You’re dead.” Let me just start by saying when I was a kid, this movie scared the crap out of me. But it also made me laugh, and that’s the one-two punch of most great horror flicks. Set you up, then get your good. That said, I think it’s also the mark of great films about authors. Distract you with something or someone (or both) interesting to watch, and then slip a little something meaningful about the craft and/or the writing life into the mix. 

And House certainly does that before it goes full-on adventure and excitement in the second act. But just what does it actually say? I’m glad you asked. 

First, we as writers don’t get to define our audience. Sure, we can write to a target type and we can visualize our ideal reader as we create, but ultimately we have very little say in who reads, likes, dislikes, goes super-fan, or loses their shit about out work. Once the story is out there, it’s out there, and it’s fair game for anyone to react to. 

Roger (William Katt) learns that at a signing early in the film. There’s a long line of “weirdos” played for laughs whom the more serious Roger really, really can’t identify with and he asked his agent, “Who are these people?” The agent responds, “They’re your fans.” 

The trouble is they don’t look like he imagined. They don’t act like he imagined. They are as “cool” as he imagined. Or they are way too mainstream to be “real” fans. The whys and what-nots don’t matter. Only the preconceived perception does. 

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