#house of leaves

[wormtoxin]

ok. Narrative obfuscation in House Of Leaves. It’s a relatively simple story about a man who moves into a house with his wife and kids, and the house is haunted. That’s it. The core themes are very transparent.

Except, that story is documented by a famous war documentarian, then published as a series of rare tapes, which are discoursed by film buffs, then interpreted from viewings and reading film critique by a blind old man, then his thoughts are transcribed into a manuscript by a series of young women, which is then compiled from scattered notes by the most mysoginistic, damaged, toxic pothead drop-out who won’t stop talking about his life, which is THEN edited and published by some vaguely nefarious agency who soberly refuse to provide any clarification or context.

It’s not simple, but there are so many different hands on the wheel with wildly differing opinions that you can’t discern the truth.

Johnny Truant is such a miserable hopeless fuck up. He has no sense of academic rigor or archival professionalism. Any interference he provides only muddies the waters and taints what would otherwise be a gripping piece of metaphysical film criticism. His neurotic rambling and personal anecdotes cloud an otherwise reasonable story.

If he wasn’t in it, if we could read Zampano’s manuscript directly, WE would be able to understand the truth. We would get it completely, and we wouldn’t have to encounter so much violence, so much miserable graphic detail. It would be a better story.

And fuck it, if we didn’t have to read all of Zampano’s tangents and analyses and interpretations, if we could just find a copy of the famous “five-and-a-half minute hallway” vhs, if we could SEE it, we’d understand. We wouldn’t need endless pontification of what Navidson and Karen’s marriage might entail, or recitations of what a director once said in a Rolling Stones article. We’d see the hallway itself, stretching out into what should be the backyard, and we’d get it. Hell, Zampano is blind in his old age. He can’t even watch the damn movie! But we could. We’d know instantly, the second we saw it. The impossibility of it, the gravity of it, the weight of that dark abyss.

And well, the VHS recording is a little dark, and the quality is poor, and maybe the white balance isn’t so perfect. And actually, VHs tapes could be manipulated. We can’t be sure that Navidson isn’t just using clever videography tricks to invent a hallway. If we were there, if we found the house (it’s in virginia, isn’t it? we even have the address). If we GO there, we could look down that hallway. And it’s dark, so if we just brought a flashlight, maybe took a few steps inside-

#house of leaves

[spring-heeledjack]

"kill them with kindness" WRONG! The minotaur

#wilde.txt #house of leaves

[afklancelot]

enough hating on johnny truant just because he rambles about sex, that reason is so overdone it’s become boring. it’s time to hate on him for something more reasonable such as the fact he keeps using “should/could/would of” instead of “should/could/would have”

#house of leaves #johnny truant #johnny i love ya bud but ya gotta use better grammar istg

[video-val]

everyone always says are you trapped in the House again they never say how was the House was the House nice

#house of leaves #mark z danielewski

[thetrekkiehasthephonebox]

The minotaur

He destroyed his maze

Yes

YES

The minotaur is out

#house of leaves #I went back and forth on house or maze #but ultimately decided to go with blue maze #it fits symbolically even if it's not as literal as the blue house

[tackypies]

gothic horror rlly is just. aw fuck look at what youve done. the house has inherited your inter-generational trauma and in response has transformed itself into a metaphorical device to track the decay of the family. we're never gonna pay off that mortgage now

#a joke #house of leaves

[ktae]

house of leaves is the perfect book for people who love wikipedia but wish it could be scarier

#house of leaves

[twinprime]

#house of leaves #strq.txt

[unheardfootsteps]

#house of leaves #my post

[old4sa]

#house of leaves #our posts #best of

[agnesmontague]

the house has filled itself with chintz

#rambles #house of leaves #goodnight #1k

[catgirl-kaiju]

party rock is in the house tonight

#comedy #shitpost #humor #party rock #party rock anthem #house of leaves #myhouse.wad #doom modding

[afklancelot]

genuinely can't stop thinking about this person. one of a kind house of leaves fan. i hope they're doing well

#house of leaves

[beeelderly]

(Gordon ramsay chewing out a restaurant owner over his old expired ingredients) And where the fuck does this door lead? If I see a- (there is a hallway miles long, with ashen black walls and no end in sight)¹

1. oh for fucks sake

#house of leaves

[amajorsystem]

#house of leaves #literally how it feels OTL #francis.txt

[ackaff]

"Kill them with kindness" WRONG. The house

🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠🏠

#has this been done before??? #hopefully not! #house of leaves