History WesternAnimation / TheHouse2022

** In the finals egment the world is covered by en eerie white fog. But LightIsGood is also present as [[spoiler:an emancipated Rosa follows the light of the sun at the end]].

** In the second segment the one gadget that the Developer tries to show the most is a bulb in the oven, which fails him when he need sit most.

* TheCorruptor: Van Schoonbeek seems to want nothing more than to corrupt Raymond and Penny into a lifestyle of mindless materialism, tempting them with greater and greater luxuries until they're prepared to abandon everything they once treasured. More worryingly, Raymond claims that Van Schoonbeek was a friend of his father - a man well-known for losing everything to his addictions. [[spoiler: If so, he's successfully destroyed ''both'' of them by the end of the chapter.]]

* DealWithTheDevil: While it’s not clear what truly is Van Schoonbeek, he offers a new built mansion to a poor family, seemingly without expecting anything in return from them. Too good to be truth indeed, as [[spoiler: the House would eventually corrupt Raymond and Penny into obsession with materialism, reaching its peak by making them burn their treasured belongings and turning them into furniture, and finally dooming them into the fire]].

* EmergingFromTheShadows: In one especially creepy moment, Thomas is seen whimpering in terror in a darkened room, seemingly alone... only for a ''giant'' version of Van Schoonbeek to suddenly ooze out of the darkness, giggling maniacally.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Mabel's parents seem to realize too late how awful they were to their children and how the house is not all that's cracked up to be... in the state of furniture. Penny saves her kids before dying alongside her husband.]]

* PromotionToParent: [[spoiler: After Raymond and Penny die in a house fire Mabel becomes a parent to her baby sister.]]

* AmbiguouslyGay: It is revealed that the supposed lover the Developer has been talking to throughout the story is in fact [[spoiler: his male dentist. However, it's not made clear if he actually is gay or if living in the House has made him delusional, although he doesn't seem to particularly be upset when the knowledge is brought to his attention.]] Earlier on he talks about his "relationship" to a clearly male investor though he might have meant it in a more professional tone.

* ObliviouslyEvil: Although the Odd Couple's antics are causing misery to the protagonist, they seem genuinely oblivious to this and may even hold some affection for him considering they went to pick him up at the hospital.

* RemovingTheEarpiece: Throughout the story, the Developer wears an earpiece as part of his image as a savvy real estate developer, rarely ever removing it; even when he ends up in the hospital, it remains firmly clipped to one ear. However, after completely losing his mind in the finale, he throws it away. [[spoiler: More specifically, he kicks it away with his hind leg, having regressed to animal intelligence and chewed off all his other items of clothing.]]

* StraightGay: The main character seems to be into men and has no stereotypical features.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Van Schoonbeek is introduced in a floating room in the middle of the woods. Other than that and his apparent powers (which include OffscreenTeleportation, growing to gigantic sizes and [[spoiler:turning people into furniture]]), you’d be forgiven for just thinking this guy is just an eccentric architect.

** Van Schoonbeek the architect and creator of the House. He ''appears'' generally human, but is somehow able to teleport himself and his sedan chair around the countryside, can apparently make himself invisible as will, and create houses that feature AlienGeometries and other weird effects, and at one point, he even emerges from the shadows behind Mr. Thomas as a ''giant.'' It's not certain if he's an EvilSorcerer, {{Satan}}, or some other eldritch being.

* MobileMaze: The house that Van Schoonbeek designed has carpenters constantly moving around furniture, building new rooms and corridors, and creating walls.

* ArcWords: The Odd Couple keeps saying “We are extremely interested in your house.” [[spoiler: It turns out they just want to trash and eat the place.]]
* AffablyEvil: The Odd Couple never say an unkind word to the Developer at any point, and even show up to retrieve him from the hospital when everyone else seems to have abandoned him... but they have no intention of ending their parasitic squatting. [[spoiler: They're actually giant mutant versions of the bugs that have been infesting the place. But hey, at least they allow the Developer to join them!]]

** While poisoning the bugs, the Developer doesn't wear a mask and can be heard coughing; notably, this scene cuts to him lying in the middle of a floor covered in pesticide and dead insects, suggesting that he might have passed out. [[spoiler: This lack of safety precautions ultimately results in the Developer accidentally poisoning himself while trying to kill the Odd Couple, leading to his hospital visit and final descent into madness.]]

* CharacterDevelopment: The main hook, in an uncommon negative take on the trope, due to being a horror. For the whole of the film however, there's a subtle implication of [[spoiler: ''The House'' itself goes through it, being a GeniusLoci. In the first story, it's freshly built by a wealthy cruel asshole to torture and break a poor family, and it does so, but witnesses the sacrifice the parents make to save their children, which is not guaranteed, given the harsh weather they're driven into. In the second story, it's a fixer upper, whose purpose is done, and hasn't been taken care of for a ''long'' time in current day, and for the first part of it nothing concerning begins to happen until it becomes evident the Contractor is cutting corners and fixing things on a surface level, after which, after it's obvious no one will stay, it makes its own occupants out of insects, who destroy what The Contractor did fix. Lastly in the third story, the focus shifts more on Rosa, who wants to actually fix the house and see its potential as a happier home for not only the tenants, but eventually her to have happy memories. It witnesses her planning the repairs, wanting rent to make genuine fixes, her honest conversations, and her fear of moving forward pushing the closest people in her life away - to the point of allowing a stranger to make huge changes to its structure and use its material to save the tenants. It eventually gives her visions after she accidentally falls into the flooded basement to show her what she and it will actually stand to lose, transporting her to the tent to make sure she sees Jen leaving and understands. She does, and by trusting the changes made to the house, dislodges it and saves both of them from losing everything to the floodwaters.]]

** Even if Van Schoonbeek's influence is only meant to stay within the realm of his own universe while the other stories exist in their own separate continuity, the mere existence of the House appears to bring out the worst obsessions in its inhabitants. It's as if a large and extravagant-looking building is already in itself a curse due to all its implications and potential which many of the characters latch onto and ([[spoiler: almost all]]) help to bring their own downfall.

* Greed: Each character (sans Isobel and Mabel, due to ChildrenAreInnocent) seems to show a different aspect of it, which it turns into obsession with the House and materialism:
** In the first story, it makes the parents neglect their daughters, and burn away every treasured belongings, which causes them to turn into furnitures and burn to their deaths;
** In the second story, it drives the developer into desperation and insanity as he fails to get out of his financial problems, alienating himself from his loved ones and reverting into a feral state;
** In the third story, it ([[spoiler: nearly]]) makes Rosa ignore the raising of water that would sink the House with her, resulting in her DyingAlone, and afraid to move on.

** At the end of the story, [[spoiler:Mabel and Isobel may have been able to escape the house, but it's the middle of winter, they don't have any food, the nearest house/village is probably miles away, and they likely have no idea where they are going]]. We never find out what happened to them, so they may have survived, however, and [[https://youtu.be/nLEExFz_BcE the track that plays during the ending]] suggests [[InferredSurvival hope]] instead of despair.

** In the second story, a family similar to Raymond's appears during the open house, with the youngest still being called Isobel. The street the House is on is called Van Schoonbeek Lane.

* CharacterDevelopment: The main hook, in an uncommon negative take on the trope, due to being a horror. For the whole of the film however, there's a subtle implication of [[spoiler: ''The House'' itself goes through it, being a GeniusLoci. In the first story, it's freshly built by a wealthy cruel asshole to torture and break a poor family, and it does so, but witnesses the sacrifice the parents make to save their children, which is not guaranteed, given the harsh weather they're driven into. In the second story, it's a fixer upper, whose purpose is done, and hasn't been taken care of for a ''long'' time in current day, and for the first part of it nothing concerning begins to happen until it becomes evident the Contractor is cutting corners and fixing things on a surface level, after which, after its obvious no one will stay, it makes its own occupants out of insects, who destroy what The Contractor did fix. Lastly in the third story, the focus shifts more on Rosa, who wants to actually fix the house and see its potential as a happier home for not only the tenants, but eventually her to have happy memories. It witnesses her planning the repairs, wanting rent to make genuine fixes, her honest conversations, and her fear of moving forward pushing the closest people in her life away - to the point of allowing a stranger to make huge changes to its structure and use its material to save the tenants. It eventually gives her visions after she accidentally falls into the flooded basement to show her what she and it will actually stand to lose, transporting her to the tent to make sure she sees Jen leaving and understands. She does, and by trusting the changes made to the house, dislodges it and saves both of them from losing everything to the floodwaters.]]

** In chapter 2, there's a recession on, the supermarket can't get anything right, and the only way to sell a house is to cut corners wherever possible. However, its not made clear if the rest of the world is like this or if staying in the house has given the developer bad luck, though if the potential customers and the police are of any indication it is a full blown WorldOfJerkass. Furthermore, the House is a bug-infested nightmare where nothing works and the developers efforts to improve it all come to nothing.

* GeniusLoci: The Mansion, though it itself makes no actions, seems to cause horrible things to happen to everyone who owns it. To the point that it can [[spoiler: turn people into decorations, vermin into speaking individuals, and make people seemingly obsessed with its upkeep.]] Rosa certainly seems to believe that the House has a mind of its own - enough for her to beg to be allowed to leave. Its implied that the influence of Schoonbeek is the initial cause of this intelligence.

*** Schoonbeek: low Germanic combo of "beautiful" and "creek." As a Jewish name, notably, it is ''ornamental.''

*** Elias: variant of Elijah, who biblically led the Israelites to God. It's revealed that [[spoiler: he was planning on leaving the House's island, and leads the others, including Rosa, to eventually follow suit to freedom.]]

*** Cosmos: aside from the obvious, it's also British/Italian for "order," "decency" and "beauty." He's an outside influence who proves to be just what everyone, including the house, needs.

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler: At the end of the story, Mabel and Isobel may have been able to escape the house, but it's the middle of winter, they don't have any food, the nearest house/village is probably miles away, and they likely have no idea where they are going. We never find out what happened to them, so they may have survived, however.]]

** In the second story, a family similar to Raymond's appears during the open house, with the youngest still being called Isobel.

* CharacterDevelopment: The main hook, in an uncommon negative take on the trope, due to being a horror. For the whole of the film however, there's a subtle implication of [[spoiler: ''The House'' itself goes through it, being a GeniusLoci. In the first story, it's freshly built by a wealthy cruel asshole to torture and break a poor family, and it does so, but witnesses the sacrifice the parents make to save their children, which is not guaranteed, given the harsh weather they're driven into. In the second story, it's a fixer upper, whose purpose is done, and hasn't been taken care of for a ''long'' time in current day, and for the first part of it nothing concerning begins to happen until it becomes evident the Contractor is cutting corners and fixing things on a surface level, after which, after its obvious no one will stay, it makes its own occupants out of insects, who destroy what The Contractor did fix. Lastly in the third story, the focus shifts more on Rose, who wants to actually fix the house and see its potential as a happier home for not only the tenants, but eventually her to have happy memories. It witnesses her planning the repairs, wanting rent to make genuine fixes, her honest conversations, and her fear of moving forward pushing the closest people in her life away - to the point of allowing a stranger to make huge changes to its structure and use its material to save the tenants. It eventually gives her visions after she accidentally falls into the flooded basement to show her what she and it will actually stand to lose, transporting her to the tent to make sure she sees Jen leaving and understands. She does, and by trusting the changes made to the house, dislodges it and saves both of them from losing everything to the floodwaters.]]

* FloodedFutureWorld: The world has been completely flooded leaving Rosa and her tenants to make due with living in the House.

* Uncertaindoom: [[spoiler: At the end of the story, Mabel and Isobel may have been able to escape the house, but it's the middle of winter, they don't have any food, the nearest house/village is probably miles away, and they likely have no idea where they are going. We never find out what happened to them, so they may have survived, however.]]

* CharacterDevelopment: The main hook, in an uncommon negative take on the trope, due to being a horror. For the whole of the film however, there's a subtle implication of [[spoiler: ''The House'' itself goes through it, being a GeniusLoci. In the first story, its freshly built by a wealthy cruel asshole to torture and break a poor family, and it does so, but witnesses the sacrifice the parents make to save their children, which is not guaranteed, given the harsh weather theyre driven into. In the second story, its a fixer upper, whose purpose is done, and hasn't been taken care of for a ''long'' time in current day, and for the first part of it nothing concerning begins to happen until it becomes evident the Contractor is cutting corners and fixing things on a surface level, after which, after its obvious no one will stay, it makes its own occupants out of insects, who destroy what The Contractor did fix. Lastly in the third story, the focus shifts more on Rose, who wants to actually fix the house and see its potential as a happier home for not only the tenants, but eventually her to have happy memories. It witnesses her planning the repairs, wanting rent to make genuine fixes, her honest conversations, and her fear of moving forward pushing the closest people in her life away - to the point of allowing a stranger to make huge changes to its structure and use its material to save the tenants. It eventually gives her visions after she accidentally falls into the flooded basement to show her what she and it will actually stand to lose, transporting her to the tent to make sure she sees Jen leaving and understand. She does, and by trusting the changes made to the house, dislodges it and saves both of them from losing everything to the floodwaters.]]

* HorribleHousing: The Developer lives in the cellar of the House while renovating it, and the barren surroundings and lone camping bed are sharply contrasted by the sumptuous-looking rooms upstairs. For good measure, it's clear that he's at his most miserable down here.

* AnimalMetaphor: This is a world populated by rats and parasitic insects, both of which we identify as pest species. They not only subvert ([[spoiler: and play straight]]) their own stereotypes with the twist ending but they also fittingly emphasize the subtle conflict of "true ownership" of the House.

''The House'' is a 2022 stop-motion animated AnthologyFilm divided into three chapters, each one with its own director/s: Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, and Paloma Baeza. It starred Creator/MatthewGoode, Claudie Blakley, Mia Goth, Music/JarvisCocker, Susie Wokoma, Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, Paul Kaye, and Creator/WillSharpe. It premiered on Creator/{{Netflix}} on January 14, 2022.

** After finishing the renovations, the Developer tells his lover that he managed to save three thousand pounds in the process, and is apparently told "piss off", a statement the Developer seems to believe is being said in the context of "I don't believe you." [[spoiler: It's actually being used in the context of "piss off and leave me alone." The guy he's calling isn't his lover after all, but a dentist that he's been harassing with unwanted advances.]]

* TheReveal: The "sweetheart" the Developer is talking to? [[spoiler: It’s his ''dentist,'' and he isn’t happy about it.]]

* EldritchLocation: There's something ''very'' strange about the House, especially in chapter 1: it can be rebuilt without anyone hearing the noise, food appears on the dinner table without any sign of servants or catering staff, the upper-story corridors turn into an impassable labyrinth, Mabel and Isobel fall asleep in the attic and wake up to find themselves outside the drawing room, and [[spoiler: the House somehow manages to survive the drawing room fire]]. In chapter 2, the developer seems cursed with bad luck simply by staying here, as things keep breaking and insects keep returning to the building no matter how many times the developer exterminates them, even [[spoiler: mutating them into beings capable of impersonating potential buyers - assuming they weren't like that before]]. In Chapter 3, AlienGeometries return with a vengeance when Rosa falls into the basement, only to wind up in Cosmos' tent... and in the ending, [[spoiler: the House is so weird that Cosmos is somehow able to modify it into a sailing ship with the contents of a standard toolkit.]]

* DespairEventHorizion: After his attempt at killing the Odd Couple backfires and he ends up in the hospital, the Developer mentally throws in the towel and starts rolling with whatever's thrown at him.

* AmbiguouslyGay: It is revealed that the supposed lover the Developer has been talking to throughout the story is in fact [[spoiler: his male dentist. However, it's not made clear if he actually is gay or if living in the House has made him delusional, although he doesn't seem to particularly be upset when the knowledge is brought to his attention.]] Earlier on he talks about his "relationship" to a clearly male investor though he might have meant it in a more proffessional tone.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Van Schoonbeek is introduced in a floating room in the middle of the woods. Other than that and his apparent powers (which include OffscreenTeleportation,, growing to gigantic sizes and [[spoiler:turn people into furniture]]), you’d be forgiven for just thinking this guy is just an eccentric architect.

* GlowingEyesOfDoom: a shot of the house has two illuminated windows become Schoonbeek's eyes as a phantom overlay of his face fades in front of it, signifying his unnatural influence on it.

* {{Jerkass}}: Raymond's relatives; all three of them spend their visit regarding the cottage with open disgust, sneering at Raymond's impoverished fortunes without offering to help, and vocally dismissing Raymond as a weakling and a failure like his father.
* JustFollowingOrders Thomas, sobbing, declares he’s just an actor for Van Schoonbeek.