House II: The Second Story (1987)

Synopsis by Cavett Binion

A mild box-office hit for New World Pictures, this lightweight attempt at horror parody from Friday the 13th producer Sean S. Cunningham stars former Greatest American Hero William Katt as a best-selling pop-horror novelist Roger Cobb (à la Stephen King) who suffers an insurmountable case of writer's block after separation from his soap-star wife (Kay Lenz) and the disappearance of their young son. Hoping to purge his personal demons by writing his Vietnam War memoirs, he moves into the massive mansion once occupied by his deceased aunt (who hanged herself in her bedroom), and finds himself surrounded by demons of a completely different kind. Roger takes the weirdness in stride, attempting to face down marauding monsters, interdimensional trap doors, and other supernatural horrors while concealing his predicament from the neighbors (except for the befuddled Harold Gorton [George Wendt], who tries gamely to play along with Roger's hare-brained monster-fighting schemes).

Characteristics

Moods

Blood and Gore

Themes

Demonic Possession | Haunted By the Past | Missing Persons

Keywords

haunted-house, home, house, monster, creative-block, flashback, writing, demonic-possession, ghost, veteran [military], aunt, demon, missing-person, solitude, war