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Paperhouse

Paperhouse

Drama · Fantasy · Horror · 1988

A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.

Movie details

Paperhouse

“A drawing that became a dream. A dream that became reality.”

1988 Drama · Fantasy · Horror 1h 32m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Paperhouse?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Something Wicked This Way Comes

Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Night of Dark Shadows

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Recently married, Quentin and Tracy Collins have just moved into Collinwood, a New England estate that has long been in the Collins family and which Quentin has just inherited. They soon find themselves plagued by spirits of past residents.

Northfork

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Hereafter

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Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Bernard Rose

Written by

Matthew Jacobs

Charlotte Burke

Charlotte Burke

Anna Madden

E

Elliott Spiers

Marc

Glenne Headly

Glenne Headly

Kate Madden

Gemma Jones

Gemma Jones

Dr. Sarah Nicols

Ben Cross

Ben Cross

Dad

Jane Bertish

Jane Bertish

Miss Vanstone

S

Sarah Newbold

Karen

Court is in session

Put Paperhouse on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.