Horror Actressing: Charlotte Burke in "Paperhouse"
Monday, September 30, 2019 at 2:19PM by Jason Adams
Even though I've already admitted I can get pretty broad on defining movies as "Horror Movies" when other people might not consider them as such, I for some reason always hesitate when it comes to calling Bernard Rose's 1988 film Paperhouse a "horror film." The first two-thirds of the movie, yes, for sure. But -- without getting into spoilers because lord knows how many of you have had the luck to see this extraordinary film a first time yet -- the movie makes decisions, and comes to a point, that ultimately shows its intentions were not horror.
That said there's enough of a Horror Movie in there for me to justify directing you towards one of the most foundational films and performances of my life, which I've just today discovered is available for streaming on Amazon here in the US. Rose directed Paperhouse two years before Candyman (a film we've already touched upon in this series) and you can see some of the same fascinations -- a female entering a Freudian Netherworld where her darkest fascinations consume her... just think of Paperhouse as Candyman Jr, I guess...
Charlotte Burke plays Anna, an only child who lives with her mother (a deeply warm Glenne Headly) after her father has taken off. As a coping mechanism Anna starts losing herself in her drawings of a lonely house sitting high upon a hill -- she draws things and they start appearing in her day-dreams of the place, but they quickly start to feel out of her control.
I was around twelve-years-old when I first rented this movie from the library -- I would rent it many many times after that -- and in the exact same place as Anna in life: an only child with no friends and an absent father whose imagination often got the better of him... needless to say this film spoke to me.
And the non-professional Burke -- who only ever acted in this film -- captured so very much of what I was feeling then. Her anger was my anger, and her fear my own -- these sorts of performances, so tied up with our own personal experiences, can be impossible to be objective about. But this performance, and this film, were so important to moving me through a tremendously difficult time in life -- to showing me there are more drawings to be drawn, that there are further places we can wander to without having to get trapped in the same cycles of violence and abandonment, that I'll never really be able express my gratitude unless I keep shouting it every chance I get. This movie saved my life.
Reader Comments (8)
I hadn't thought of this film for years,thanks for bringing it to the attention of the site.
It has horror elements but the horror is psychological,Good acting to.
Love Paperhouse. It is something special. Charlotte Burke is wonderful in it. And it features one of the best jump scares ever (when the dad suddenly lurches forward - I remember the audience just screaming).
Yeah, absolutely everything having to do with Ben Cross scarred me for life
I'm glad this film has reemerged via Amazon Prime. I can't wait to show it to my partner.
I also love this movie. I don’t know why but when I think of this movie I also think of The Hanging Garden.
I barely remember the movie beyond the fact I was fascinated by it most of the time.. I would need to find it and recheck it
Saw this in the theater when it first came out. Something about Australian films that I love.
I also watched this film at about the same age as the author and was transfixed by it. It was broadcast on what must have been Channel 4 in the UK. It feels like a very Channel 4 type film.
Recently watching Stranger Things on Netflix with my kids the actor who plays Eleven reminded me of this film and particularly the Anna character acted so well.