The unsettling looking trilogy arrives on the streaming service on Friday January 14. While the storytellers may be unfamiliar to some, The House features a talented cast of mostly-British voice actors, lending their tones to the unique characters.
All three chapters in The House tell a story from a vastly different perspective with the common thread being the people who made one house their home.
Here are five reasons why you should watch the dark comedy anthology series The House when it arrives on Netflix.
1. Ambitious animation
Take a quick look at the trailer alone and you’ll be struck by the stop-motion animation choices.
Doughy-faced humans, and anthropomorphic rats and cats are all brought to life across the three stories of The House.
The creations were produced by the UK team of Nexus Studios, the same studio whose LA team are behind the Academy Award-nominated short This Way Up.
Thrilled to find a home for The House on Netflix, Charlotte Bavasso, Co-Founder and Producer, Nexus Studios said: “For this project, Nexus are bringing together, for the very first time, three of the most unique and multi-awarded voices in independent stop motion animation today,” more on them in a moment, “This production is an organic collaboration between brilliant and like-minded storytellers.
2. Directing trio
Three distinct voices collaborate on The House to create a striking trilogy of stories that are linked but standalone. Irish writer Enda Walsh wrote the scripts for the whole piece but each chapter has a different director working on it.
Belgian-based film-making duo Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels direct the opening part of The House. Swedish director Niki Lindroth von Bahr takes the helm for chapter 2 while British BAFTA winner Paloma Baeza directs chapter 3.
All three teams bring a blend of animation and live-action experience to the series.
Bavasso said it is thanks to the teams behind the scenes that “The House is a collection of cinematic stories that are intelligent, witty, inquisitive, warm and yet packed with offbeat humor.”
3. Impressive voice cast
Each chapter of The House features actors who bring their own personalized style to the unusual characters onscreen.
Chapter 1 features Matthew Goode (Watchmen) and Mia Goth (Emma.) in leading roles while Claudia Blakely (Pride & Prejudice) and Stephanie Cole also feature.
British rocker Jarvis Cocker is the standout name on the cast list for chapter 2 while David Holt and Yvonne Lombard also star.
Chapter 3 has perhaps the most eye-catching name involved as Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown) voices Jen, alongside Susan Wokoma (Enola Holmes) as Rosa, Paul Kaye as Cosmos and Will Sharpe as Elias.
4. Stories across time
Each story told within The House features a tale told from a different period of time.
Chapter 1 goes to the past as we follow the impoverished Raymond (Goode) in the 1800s. He meets a mysterious but perhaps untrustworthy benefactor who promises to him and his family he will restore them to their former high status.
Set in the present day, Chapter 2 sees a harassed property developer (Cocker) attempt to make a quick sale until some eerie unexpected guests get in the way.
Finally, Chapter 3 tells a tale in the same house but in the not-too-distant future. Here we see Rosa determined to stay in her crumbling home despite the vast changes to the landscape around her.
5. A bingeable collection
The entire collection of stories launch on Netflix at the same time in one piece, so you can hear about the past, the present and the future of this home in The House, during one sitting.
The House will be available to watch on Netflix from Friday, January 14, 2022.
Update 14/01/22, 02:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated to change the wording from “episodes” to “chapters”.
