Monster House Wiki
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"There goes the neighborhood."
— Tagline

Monster House is a 2006 American computer-animated supernatural surreal avant-garde dystopian horror comedy film loosely based on the works of George Orwell directed by Gil Kenan and produced by ImageMovers and Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

In this film, 3 pre-teens (DJ Walters, Chowder and Jenny Bennett) discovered that an old man's house is really a living breathing monster.

Plot

Set in October of 1983, a little girl named Eliza rides her tricycle around the neighborhood, singing along, but she hits the lawn, and it gets stuck. As she tries to get out, she pedals to get it free but it's no use. Just then, Horace Nebbercracker snaps at her and takes the tricycle and removes the wheel to tempt her to go away. A 12-year-old boy DJ Walters spies on his elderly neighbor Mr. Nebbercracker who confiscates any item landing in his yard. DJ's parents Mr. and Mrs. Walters leave town for the weekend for a dentist convention and leaving him in the care of Zee. DJ's friend Chowder loses his basketball on Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn. DJ is caught by Mr. Nebbercracker while recovering it. DJ suddenly creates a dirt spot in the grass of Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn and scolds him saying what has he done, DJ apologizes in rough motion, then Mr. Nebbercracker loses his temper and gets really mad saying DJ is dead, DJ tries running away back to Chowder from Mr. Nebbercracker getting off his lawn as he chases him down and is too late since he wasn't running fast enough, he grabs him and yells at him about staying off his lawn, before apparently suffering a heart attack and being taken away by an ambulance to the hospital. Off-scene, a spark is seen in the house, igniting a dormant furance. After the ambulance leaves, Chowder heads home and DJ's babysitter Elizabeth arrives but DJ is not that excited seeing her even when she tries getting his attention about an ambulance she saw. When DJ and Elizabeth enter the house, DJ asks Elizabeth if she can talk to her about something and she kindly lets him but furthermore she's not listening as she's explaining the house rules while she's babysitting and tells him that her name is actually Zee which shocks him, she makes it clear with DJ that she controls the TV, stereo and phone, just as he's walking upstairs, she says she's not his mother or friend and DJ confronts Elizabeth not to talk to him like he's a baby, because he's practically a grown up which is why he says he doesn't need her here referring to her by her real name Elizabeth. Zee oddly walks over to a plant and picks it up where she's walking towards DJ with it and purposely drops it on the floor right in front of him breaking it, then she pretends to blame him for breaking it which he didn't, so Zee threatens DJ where she asks him who his parents are gonna believe, she pushes him and threatens him to go to his room. Just DJ is gone upstairs, Zee puts a tape cassette in the radio and plays her loud music at full volume, then calls her friends over when she's not supposed to. DJ slams the door to his room and goes to bed when he starts having a nightmare. That night, DJ receives phone calls from Mr. Nebbercracker's house with no one on the other end. Zee's boyfriend Bones scared DJ from behind while wearing Chowder's Halloween mask & takes it off. After Zee and Bones left downstairs, DJ called Chowder and told him to meet him at the Danger Zone. DJ quietly walked downstairs and went out the back door while Zee and Bones were in the living room. Bones tells Zee about losing his kite the Awesome Kite on Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn when he was younger, and that Mr. Nebbercracker supposedly ate his wife. Later Bones sees his kite in the doorway (the mouth) of Mr. Nebbercracker's house, but he and the kite are med by the haunted house as he is retrieving it. Later DJ went to the Danger Zone so he can meet Chowder there. He found Chowder on an excavator and tolds him that Mr. Nebbercracker had come back from the dead to get revenge. Later they came to Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn and Chowder rings the doorbell. Hearing the doorbell ring distort, the house awakens, and it tries to grab him with it's tongue carpet and fails. It later roars at DJ and Chowder which caused them to run to DJ's house.

The next morning, a Westbrook Prep student named Jenny Bennett is selling Halloween candies. DJ and Chowder see her going to Mr. Nebbercracker's house and they rush out to warn her catching her before she is eaten by the house. Jenny then calls Officer Landers and Officer Lister, but does not believe their story. Later the trio seek advice from Skull who is claimed to be an expert on the supernatural. They learn that the house is a Domus Mactabilis (Deadly Home in Latin) a supernatural being created when a human soul merges with structures. They assumed the house is inhabited by Mr. Nebbercracker's soul. The only way to kill the house is to destroy its heart which it's source of life. They conclude that the heart must be the fireplace as DJ realises that the chimney has been smoking since Mr. Nebbercracker died. Chowder provides a cold medicine-filled dummy (made from a vacuum cleaner and some other objects) that should cause the house to sleep long enough for them to douse the furnace. Officer Landers and Officer Lister thwart their plan upon arrival and they are arrested when Officer Landers finds the cold medicine that Chowder stole from the pharmacy his father worked at inside the dummy. The cops place the trio in their car while they examine the house. The house eats Officer Landers, Officer Lister and the police car. DJ, Chowder and Jenny escapes the police car, but were trapped in the house.

The house falls asleep, and they begin exploring. They fall into the basement and find a collection of toys accumulated from Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn, as well as a cage containing the body of Mr. Nebbercracker's wife encased in cement. Jenny wondered why Mr. Nebbercracker build a shrine if he murdered her. Chowder suggested that he felt guilty or something but DJ, determined to find our the truth knew that Mr. Nebbercracker was hiding something. The house realises they are inside and attacks them. DJ, Chowder and Jenny force the house to vomit them outside by grabbing its uvula. Mr. Nebbercracker arrived home alive and revealed that the house is possessed by his wife Constance. When he was young, Horace met Constance who was an unwilling member of a circus sideshow and fell in love with her despite her obesity. After helping her escape, she and Horace began building the house. One Halloween day as children tormented her, Constance tried hurting them with an axe, but lost her footing and fell in the basement of the house accidentally dumping wet cement buried her body. Horace finished the house after Constance's death knowing it was what she would have wanted. Aware that Constance's spirit made the house come alive, Horace tried to keeping people away by pretending to hating them for their safety.

DJ tells Mr. Nebbercracker it is time to let the house go, but it overhears. The house breaks free from its foundation and chases the group to a construction site. Nebbercracker attempts to convince the house that it should be destroyed while holding stick of dynamite, but the house refuses. As it tries to eat him, Chowder fights the house off with an excavator, causing it to fall into a pit. As they thought the house was destroyed, its rebuilds itself in a mangled and deformed state. Constance, now on a rampage tries to grab Chowder. DJ is given the dynamite and he and Jenny climb to the top of a tower crane while Chowder distracts the house. DJ throws the dynamite into the chimney, destroying the house. The trio see Horace with his wife Constance's ghost for the last time before she fades away. DJ apologises to him for the loss of his house and wife, but Mr. Nebbercracker thanks DJ and the kids for freeing him and Constance. That night, children in their Halloween costumes are lined up at the site of Mr. Nebbercracker's house where DJ, Chowder and Jenny help him return the toys to their owners. Jenny's mother Ms. Bennett picks her up. Before she left, she gives DJ and Chowder a group hug. DJ and Chowder then go trick-or-treating which they previously thought they were too old for.

As the credits roll, the victims who were eaten by the house emerges from the hole. Bones finds out that Zee is now dating Skull, then Officer Landers and Officer Lister leave to "investigate" some of the trick-or-treating candy & the dog urinates on a nearby jack-o'-lantern enough to put out its flame.

Cast

Trivia

  • As of 2022, this is the only motion capture film that featured an entirely original story and not be based on any existing source materials.
  • It was released in 2006 but takes place on late October 1983 (given the late-70s and early-80s aesthetics, trends, cars, and technologies).
  • The movie takes place in the outskirts of Grand Rapids, Michigan. An homage to the director's hometown.
  • In the German dub, Bones, Skull, and Chowder were renamed as Punk, Freak and Ketchup. The same was done in the Italian dub with the exception of Chowder who is renamed Timballo.
  • This was the first animated film to be made using Sony's animation rendering software.
  • Homages to various Stephen King's stories around. The idea of a house that comes alive and eats people can be found in the third installment of Stephen King's Dark Tower series The Wastelands and while in the house's basement, Chowder shines his flashlight on a mechanical monkey much like the one found in Stephen King's short story The Monkey collected in Skeleton Crew.
  • The motto on the police car reads "We Wanna Help".
  • Jon Heder broke his leg on the first day on set.
  • The film used 3D motion capture techniques to digitally record the physical performances of the actors before "skinning" them with their animated forms.
  • Mitchel Musso and Sam Lerner went to see Napoleon Dynamite before shooting when they arrived on set they screamed and jumped on Jon Heder who also played Napoleon.
  • The actors had to go through motion capture acting in order to animate the characters. The actors had to wear motion capture suits with little dots glued on their faces and a headpiece glued to their head with motion capture dots. After they took off their suits, the glue would cause irritation to their hair and scalp, but luckily they'd get a head massage with shampoo.
  • Chowder's dialogue "DJ you piss in bottles?" had to be re-dubbed as "You pee in bottles?" to help maintain a PG rating. You can still see Chowder's lips speaking the original dialogue.
  • In the original screenplay, DJ and Chowder were harassed by 2 bullies named Ryan and Cameron who gets eaten after DJ purposely lured them as baits to the house. However the 2 characters were removed from the screenplay because the studio thought that their deaths would be far too dark and the bullies were combined with DJ's cruel nanny Zee, her boyfriend Bones and Mr. Nebbercracker all made the film seemed much more cruel.
  • In Dan Harmon's original draft of the film, the house was full of human organs.
  • A concept art shows Zee standing outside the police car that DJ, Jenny and Chowder were in. One of the trees then picked Zee up and threw her inside the house. This was ultimately dropped.
  • In another concept art, Officer Lister is supposed to be the driver and Officer Landers was suppose to be the passenger. However in the final version, their dynamic was switched.
  • Although never mentioned in dialogues, signs and license plates, the screenplay once said the film took place in the suburbs of Mayville, Wisconsin which is based on the screenwriter Rob Schrab's hometown by the same name.
  • There is a backstory involving Skull and Bones being in an amateur heavy metal band. Zee is wearing a top that reads "Skull 'n' Bones" written on and later puts one of their cassette tapes on called "Live! At the Smell". She is also dating Bones (and later Skull) in the movie.
  • This was the second film to be released in REAL D's digital 3D format.
  • The tricycle scene at the beginning of the movie is a homage to Stanley Kubrick's film rendition of Stephen King's The Shining.
  • During the opening leaf sequence, the tower crane is shown in the background which would later be seen in the film.
  • When drawing the plan to take out the house, the markers that DJ used were a brand labeled "Sir Sniff-A-Lot".
  • In the original screenplay, the house uses it's branchy hands to grab and hold up the police car similar to a person would hold up a burger.
  • This is the first Columbia's animated theatrical film to be rated PG by the MPAA.
  • This is Jason Lee's second animated film after The Incredibles.
  • This is Nick Cannon's first animated film.
  • To keep the film PG rating, the victims (Bones, the dog, Officer Landers and Officer Lister) that were eaten by the house came out of the hole alive during the end credits.
  • This film is quite similar to the 1989 Japanese horror film Sweet Home such as the concept of a woman dies in her home, her spirit haunts her home and will kill anybody in her home. They also have tie-in games that came out the same years their respective films came out (1989 and 2006). This film is even similar to the 1977 Japanese horror film House.
  • This is Jon Heder's first time voice acting in a theatrical film. He'd later voice Chicken Joe in Surf's Up.
  • Steve Buscemi and Kevin James would later star in the Hotel Transylvania films as Wayne and Frankenstein.
  • Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara had previously featured in Chicken Little as Melvin and Tina.
  • Based upon the fact that we don't see any children attending school along with music, fashion and arcade games shown, it can be assumed that the movie's events takes place on Friday, October 30th and Saturday, October 31st.

Goofs

  • The mask that Chowder wore in the beginning of the film disappears after Mr. and Mrs. Walters run over it.
  • When Chowder yells "DJ, run!", his mouth does not move.
  • When DJ wakes up from his nightmare, his phone is ringing with a certain ringtone. However, when DJ and Chowder run out to rescue Jenny, the ringtone is different.
  • The morning after Nebbercracker's departure, Zee's car is missing from the driveway.
  • When Jenny goes to sell candy to Nebbercracker's house, DJ and Chowder run up and the "KEEP AWAY" sign is on the left behind Jenny mostly covered by Chowder. In the next shot, the sign is less than three feet from her and in front of her.
  • Zee had a few seconds to see Mr. Nebbercracker's house in its "monster" state when she opened the front door to tell Chowder that he had a phone call.
  • The driver side on the police car switches between the two times it is seen. The first time, it is shown as a normal car in the United States. When the police arrive to arrest the kids, it pulls up onto the curb with driver side moved to the incorrect side.
  • Before DJ, Chowder and Jenny went to Nebbercracker's house to try out their dummy plan, the scene focuses on a picture that DJ took, which was one of the trees outside of the house. When the scene changes and becomes real, it shows the three of them walking towards the house, which was on the right side of the screen. If DJ had taken the photo from his house, they should have been moving towards the other side where the house should have been.
  • When the trio are sneaking over to the house with the dummy, they are hiding in trash cans. It shows them walking as though the trash cans are on top of them. However, they peek their heads out of the top of the trash cans, so they can see through the trash cans while they are walking over to the house with the dummy.
    • Unless if they never have bottoms, this would not be possible.
  • When the kids are in the back of the police car yelling at the police as they approach the house, their voices are muffled as if they are completely enclosed in a car despite the front, driver-side window being open and a metal grate separating the front and back of the police car.
  • When the cops are being eaten after the kids attempt to feed the dummy to the house, the dummy disappears. It could have been eaten quickly by another appendage when we were not looking.
  • When DJ, Jenny, and Chowder are jumping out of the back of the police car for safety, they are not wearing their water guns and they are nowhere to be found. However, in the next scene, their guns are around their arms and they were ready for use.
  • When Chowder sprays Jenny with his water gun in Nebbercracker's basement, the watermark disappears in the next shot of her which is just after a brief shot of DJ. The water could not have dried that quickly.
  • When DJ and Chowder swing away from the exploding house, you can see DJ drop Chowder into the ditch as he swings over it. In the next shot, both DJ and Chowder are falling into the ditch at the same time.

In other languages

Languages Names
Spanish Monster House: La Casa de los Sustos
English Monster House
French Monster House
French (Québec) La Maison Monstre
German Das Haus des Monsters
Greek Το τερατόσπιτο
Italian Casa dei Mostri
Portuguese A Casa Fantasma
Japanese Monsutāhausu (モンスター・ハウス)
Chinese Monster House
Korean Monster House
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