Things only adults notice in the monster house - Looper (2023)

VonEmily Ruben/December 9, 2020 9:28 am EST

2006Monster Hausfollows DJ, a 12-year-old boy who meets his grumpy neighbor, an elderly man named Mr. Nebberknacker. The old man has been known to terrorize the neighborhood's children over the years. DJ suspects there is something nefarious behind Nebbercracker and his spooky house, and his feelings are confirmed when the house comes to life trying to eat his friend chowder. Now aware that the Nebbercracker house is sensitive and sinister, Chowder and DJ, along with their new friend Jenny, are determined to uncover the mystery behind the monstrous house and protect the residents of their neighborhood.

HoweverMonster Hausis a children's film, it has a lot of content for viewers of all ages. Not only is the film's imagery relatively dark (and even a little disturbing at times), it also has some lines of dialogue and visual references that most kids are likely to get over their heads. Some content even borders on innuendo and appears to be explicitly aimed at an older audience. We're here to take a look at all the creepy, funny, and bizarre details that only adults noticeMonster Haus.

Despite only being on screen for a few minutes, he is one of the most out of shape characters inMonster Hausit is mr. Walters, DJ's father. At first glance, he seems emotionally stunted. When he goes on a trip with his wife, he refuses to tell his son he loves him, claiming that DJ "knows I love him!" like a stubborn child. He also declines his wife's request to blow their son a kiss when they say goodbye.

Mr. Walter's troubles goes beyond troubles and shows tenderness and affection for his only son. After Mrs. Walters scolds DJ for trying his elderly neighbor Mr. Walters to bond with his son and admits to having done so.spy a littleat the age of the DJ. His intentions, however, were far less noble: Mr. Walters was spying on "the dear Jensen twins." As his wife approaches this clumsy attempt at a bonding moment, he tries to save himself by saying, "None of you were as beautiful as your beautiful mother."

Finally Mr. Walters is completely unimpressed as he backs Chowder into the driveway. He says to his wife, "You'd be so happy if [DJ] was under that car." It's fair enough to say that Mr. Walters probably doesn't have the best influence on your child and, as adults can appreciate, generally a bit mixed.

While neither of Chowder's parents appear on-screen, there is a running gag about them in the film that is likely to go unnoticed by most children. When DJ Chowder asks where his parents are before asking them to meet in the "danger zone", Chowder replies that his father works at the pharmacy. While this seems like relatively uninteresting information on the surface, Chowder goes on to spread an attention-grabbing rumor: his mother is at the movies with himhis personal trainer.

While the above activities don't explicitly hint at anything scandalous going on in the Chowder household, the implied meaning couldn't be more obvious to adults watching.Monster Haus.From what Chowder recounts, it seems his mom, with her personal trainer, has ventured far beyond fitness into the romantically encoded realm of movies. And it looks like the two are secretly dating while her husband is busy at work. The relationship may be entirely platonic, but most fitness trainers don't.generallyOffer night sweat sessions with movies.

Not much background information is provided about the city of Mayville until Mr. Nebbercracker makes an appearance. As the scene shows, after Nebbercracker and Constance got married, they showed her the land on which the two could build the house they wanted to spend the rest of their lives in. However, the landscape in Nebbercracker's flashback looks strikingly different from the Mayville shown in the film's opening scene.

In his flashback, set 45 years before the film's opening scene, Mayville is therea practically barren wasteland. The only leaves shown are a few shoots from modest trees in the front yard of the property and some bushes near the property. However, in the film's opening shot, there are mature deciduous trees stretching to the horizon. Somehow, the cracked and depleted soil has dramatically changed its composition over the course of just 45 years. It seems that the amount of water in the area has also increased tremendously since Mr. Nebbercracker got to work on his house: not only does it rain enough to support a veritable forest, but there is also a lake nearby , which needs to be drained to make way for the Mayville Luxury Towers. Suffice it to say that these transformations are scientific impossibilities of the most absurd kind.

Stephen King oder TerrorGo hand in hand. AsMonster HausLeaning heavily on the spooky fare of the '80s, a strong decade for the prolific author, a few nods to the King of Horror feel particularly at home. It all starts at the beginning of the film with a scene where a little girl on a tricycle is looking for Mr. Nebberknacker. This is a tribute to the iconic scene inStanley Kubrick's Adaptation vonthe glow,when Danny Torrance rides his big tricycle through the halls of the Overlook Hotel.

Another clue comes when the children fall into the basement of the house. After being startled by Jenny, Chowder sees a toy monkey with dishes clapping and squirts on it, thinking the house is out to get it. The monkey is a recallKing's short story "The Monkey"published in 1985 in a collection of other short stories by the author entitledDie Skeleton-Crew. The story is about a similar monkey doll that brings bad luck and disasters to whoever owns it.

Perhaps the greatest clue to King's work is the house itself. The concept of a house animated by a malevolent force that devours people is present in King's book.black towerbook series. A picture of the house in question can be seen on the cover of the first issue ofdevastated countries,the third part of the series.

Scattered throughout are moments that hint at Constance's dark destiny.Monster Haus. The first and most obvious comes after Mr. Nebbercracker catches DJ on his lawn trying to recover Chowder's new basketball. Just before DJ passed out, Mr. Nebbercracker yells, "Why can't you just get away from..." It's obvious he wanted to finish the sentence by referring to his house as "they", but was cut short by a medical emergency will, who lets it happen from .

The next premonition occurs when DJ goes to sleep. In his nightmare, the shadow of the house sneaks into DJ's room and a heavy woman's hand is reaching out to grab him as he wakes up. When he later looks at the supposedly empty house on the other side of the street, he sees the silhouette of an equally tall woman in an upper floor window, which quickly disappears. While none of these cases are obvious enough to give little ones the revelation, they do offer them a fun tidbit to find upon later viewing — though adults will likely notice them for the first time.

While DJ, Jenny, and Chowder make their bait doll to feed the house, they decide to wear sweatpants, some old shoes, a vacuum cleaner, a broom, a letter jacket, and the monster mask that Chowder wore to begin with. the film. While the dummy wouldn't fool anyone when she arrives at her door, with the broom acting as her arms and her figure crouching in the void, she appears to be doing the trick of fooling the house.

The components put together for this feat appear harmless. But discerning viewers of a certain age may notice that the mannequin bears a striking resemblance to a background character in the film.2001 cult horror films Donnie Darko. The standalone classic follows Donald "Donnie" Darko as a series of strange events and visions culminate in alternate timelines, time travel and the end of the world. After Donnie's sister, Elizabeth, learns that she's been accepted into Harvard, she and Donnie decide to throw a Halloween party to celebrate while their parents are away. When the party scene begins, a partygoer can be seen entering the Darko house wearing a jacket and mask almost identical to the mannequin's attireMonster Haus.

DJ finally convinces Mr. Nebbercracker that it's time to let go of his attachment to his wife's house - but Constance doesn't take notice. To add insult to injury, this all happens on Halloween, the anniversary of his death. Feeling betrayed and hurt, Constance takes over the trees in the front yard and raises the entire house to make it mobile. Disconnected from her foundations, Constance is tired of letting her prey come to her and goes after the husband and children who turned him against her. As the kids and Mr. Nebbercracker rush to the Mayville Luxury Towers construction site, the house chases each other, rumbling through the neighborhood. Nothing slows down the house.

However, something isn't quite right with that sequence in which the house rumbles through the neighborhood roaring in anger. Before Constance uses the trees as makeshift legs, children and their parents can be seentrick or treatingthrough the city. However, none of them are shown during the chase. There are no screams, no people running inside, no one staring at a mobile haunted house. We can accept there's no police as the house ate the only two cops in town, but the total lack of public reaction to the giant wooden horror comes as a bit of a shock.

Typically, children's cartoons are not celebrated for their rich lore and world-building. However, all the little nods and details are in thereMonster HausCome together to build a surprisingly rich story set in a complex world. For example, there's a surprising connection between two supporting characters that might not be obvious to those watching the film for the first time — and definitely not to the kids in the audience.

When DJ's nanny, Zee, invites her boyfriend Bones over to her house, she introduces him by saying, "He's in a band." Once DJ's parents have left, Zee removes her cardigan to reveal a t-shirt that reads "Skull x Bones." As soon as DJ walks into her room, she puts a cassette on the stereo that says "Skull x Bones Live! At The Smell". Observant viewers will note that Skull is Reginald Skulinski, thepizzalieferdienstwho tells the kids all about the Nebbercracker house.

Given how much Bones seems to enjoy terrorizing DJs, his bandmate seems like an odd choice. Reginald Skulinski is worshiped by DJ and Chowder as the minor god of video games. They reverently recall that he once gambled with a single coin for four days, survived on chocolate milk and wore an adult diaper. Opposites attract, we suppose, even when it comes to bandmates.

TrotzMonster HausWith a PG rating, the film contains a fair amount of substance use. Bones throws an unlabeled bottle into the house, making it clear he drank beer before crossing the street. The stakes are raised when the kids come up with the idea of ​​using a doll filled with cough medicine to put the house to sleep and carry out their plan. Unfortunately, they are stopped by the police. As one officer approaches the children, another leaves to inspect their creation. After ripping the doll's "head" off, the officer takes a bottle of cough syrup and tastes it. Then he makes sure no one is looking before taking a long gulp from the bottle. As adult viewers knowCough syrup is often abusedas a recreational drug, sometimes in conjunction with other substances.

The subtlest hint of drug use occurs in the scene just before the kids' false plan is foiled by the police. As DJ, Jenny and Chowder hatch their plans, a quick close-up of the markers they use reveals what the brand DJ's parents have on hand: "Sir Sniff-A-Lot." This is a malicious reference toInhaled Abuse, often referred to as "sniffing," which involves everyday items such as cleaning supplies, ink, and reportedly sometimes strong-smelling markers.

After the police refuse to believe the kids about the monster house, DJ and his friends decide to bring out the big guns. The kids head to a local arcade and seek the wisdom of Skull, a video game genius involved in an intense arcade gaming session on the titleYou are dead. Upon closer inspection, players may notice something familiar about the Gothic side scroller.

You are deadfeatures an axe-wielding hero fighting monsters in classic 8-bit style. This title immediately bears a striking resemblance tovon KonamiCastlevaniaSerie. O OriginalCastlevaniaReleased for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, the game puts the player in the shoes of a seasoned vampire hunter who blazes a trailDraculas Schloss. The player uses various weapons such as whips, daggers, bombs, holy water and axes as seen inTyou are dead. While later games featured different playstyles and different storytelling, the basis of theCastlevaniaSeries remains easily recognizable.

WhileYou are deadonly appears in the film for a brief scene, became playableMonster Hausvideo games. The game was also playable on the now defunctMonster Hauspage on the internet. Playing the game dispels any doubts about the game's similarities withCastlevania, as the gameplay is exactly the same as that of the well-known video game classic.

The film's opening scene shows what has become the norm in Mayville: a child or one of his belongings touches Mr. Nebbercracker, only for the old man to run out the front door, throw a fit, and confiscate said item. while insulting the child. Tragically, the object Nebbercracker takes away is destroyed or disappears into his home, never to see the light of day again. This ritual has been observed for years by DJ, who is shown taking Polaroid photos through a telescope in his bedroom. However, DJ's spy operation goes beyond snapshots — he meticulously notes his elderly neighbor's movements. DJ's detailed notebook can be seen briefly detailing each of Mr. Nebbercracker.

In his notes, he lists the date of each event and what was taken from everyone who entered the Nebbercracker estate. It is implied that he keeps a book of these confiscated items, leading him to conclude that Mr. Nebbercracker has caught 49 baseballs to date. Referring to a specific baseball incident, DJ records his neighbor's reaction time as 24 seconds. While DJ's spying habit is viewed as a bit odd, a closer look at his devotion to keeping an eye on his neighbor is quite disturbing through an adult's eyes. Please DJ: Get a healthier hobby.

As the film's title suggests, the monster's house is actually a living being. As such, it is filled with organs analogous to those in the human body. For example, the house has a working heart in its furnace. Another similarity is the chandelier hanging in the entrance area, which serves as a cone or, as Jenny calls it, "nature's emergency exit".

While Jenny and DJ find the monster house's human anatomy fascinating, Chowder doesn't quite understand the spectacle inside. While discussing the functionality of the uvula chandelier, Chowder has a sudden realization. The confused boy thinks, "Ah, so it's aGirlhome.” It seems Chowder mistook the uvula, the fleshy protrusion that hangs at the back of the human neck, for a private part of the female anatomy. When Jenny tries to reassure him that everyone has a uvula, Chowder says, "No me." , still not getting excited. Luckily, Mayville schools have decent health courses that Chowder will eventually correct.