Characters / Monster House

These are the characters that appear in Monster House.

Beware of spoilers!

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Main characters

The main trio as a whole

The film's protagonists. A group of young teenagers that infiltrate the titular monster house to unravel its mysteries.

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• Badass Adorable: They're just pubescent teenagers, so natch.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Chowder is the Blonde, DJ is the Brunette, and Jenny is the Redhead.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Although DJ and Chowder are Heterosexual Life-Partners with each other, their dynamic with Jenny is this. The girl calls the guys morons at first, but time with them and the events that lead the film transforms her into this.
• Kid Heroes: DJ and Chowder are 12, while Jenny is 13.
• Love Triangle: Both DJ and Chowder have crushes on Jenny.But at the climax, she kisses DJ.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Upon Nebbercracker getting a heart attack and the kids seeing the house is possessed, they assume a spirit inhabits the house, presumably Nebbercracker's. Turns out they're right about the spirit, but it is not the old man's....
• Two Guys and a Girl: DJ and Chowder meet Jenny some minutes into the movie after they save the girl from the house, and the rest is history.

DJ

Dustin James "DJ" Walters

Voiced by: Mitchel Musso (original), Alejandro Orozco (Latin American Spanish)

The main protagonist of the film. He has been dedicating his time to spying on Mr. Nebbercracker through his telescope for a few years after the old man becomes known for scaring kids and stealing their toys and is called crazy for his obsession with it. Believing a hidden truth to the sapient house, DJ convinces his best friend Chowder and new friend Jenny to explore inside it no matter the circumstances to unveil the mystery on Halloween night.

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• Accidental Murder: When Nebbercracker confronts him of stepping on his lawn, he lifts DJ but ends up getting a heart attack, leading DJ to think he enacted this trope. Subverted at the end.
• Brainy Brunette: Has dark hair and is very smart.
• Camera Sniper: DJ's Establishing Character Moment, he takes a picture of the latest thing Nebbercracker stole (the little girl's tricycle).
• The Cassandra: Barely anybody believes DJ's claims about Nebbercracker and his house, and some call him crazy, including his parents. The ones that believe him are DJ, Jenny and Skull.
• Fat and Skinny: The Skinny to Chowder's Fat.
• First Kiss: With Jenny. She gives him a Motivational Kiss to help him gain the courage to scale a crane tower and, given his reaction, there's shades of this.
  DJ: I kissed a girl... I kissed a girl on the lips.
• Guilt Complex: For most of the build up and climax of the story, he believes himself to be guilty of causing Mr. Nebbercracker to get a heart attack. It takes Nebbercracker coming out of the hopsital alive to calm him down.
• The Hero: The protagonist of the film, and as per the trope, he brings together a team (Chowder and Jenny) in order to see what's wrong with Nebbercracker's house.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Chowder.
• Nice Guy: He's mature for his age and a decent guy who wants to unravel the mystery of the monster house not just to uncover the truth, but to help the people affected emotionally by Mr. Nebbercracker.
• Perpetual Frowner: He smiles the least out of the three kids. However, he does during a heartwarming or occasionally funny moment.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: DJ is the mature and more serious-minded blue to Chowder's excitable and tough red.
• Security Blanket: He seems particularly attached to a stuffed rabbit that he sleeps with, referring to it as “her” and becoming upset when Bones teases him by messing with it.
• The Smart Guy: He was able to keep track of everytime Nebbercracker stole something, and was cunning enough to devise a way to enter the house: by sedating it with countless bottles of cold syrup stacked inside a dummy.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Downplayed. He is mature, and intelligent enough to come up with a binnacle about Nebbercracker as well as plans to infiltrate the house at the age of 12.

Chowder

Charles "Chowder"

Voiced by: Sam Lerner (original), Luis Fernando Orozco (Latin American Spanish)

The deuteragonist of the film, and DJ's best friend. He's a chubby guy with an immature, cowardly streak and less intelligence than DJ, but means well. Chowder visits DJ a day before the main plot kicks in, and he, DJ and Jenny decide to get inside the sapient house no matter the circumstances to unveil the mystery on Halloween night.

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• Big Damn Heroes: Shows up in an excavator to fight House!Constance off when she's about to kill Nebbercracker after the former intends to blow her up.
• Butt-Monkey: Hitting his face with DJ's parents' car at the start of the film should give one indication he will be this for the rest of the film.
• Cloudcuckoolander: His obsession with science fiction makes him come across as this compared to his friends.
• Construction Vehicle Rampage: During the construction work scene at the climax, Chowder operates an excavator to tear down House!Constance a new one.
• Cowardly Lion: Sure, he might be a coward, but with a little help from his friends, he manages to push through. Just ask House!Constance how Round 1 went against him.
• Establishing Character Moment: Again, hitting his face with DJ's parents' car while he was wearing a mask with which he could not see well with.
• Fat and Skinny: The Fat to DJ's Skinny.
• Fat Best Friend: He is to DJ what Patrick is to Spongebob.
• Fat Comic Relief: Many of the film's funny moments can be attributed to his eccentricity.
• Fat Idiot: Chubby, and while he isn't an outright ditz, Chowder isn't exactly what you would call "smart" either.
• Hopeless Suitor: Has a crush on Jenny (as so does DJ) and tells her about it when about to be eaten by Constance, but Jenny only returns DJ's feelings.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cowardly, timid and a bit rude, but can be counted on by DJ when push comes aside.
• Kids Driving Cars: Learns almost instantly how to drive an excavator at the climax. Lampshaded by Jenny:
  Jenny: How do you know how to drive this thing?!
  Chowder: I don't!
• The Lancer: The best friend to DJ, and with his usage of his father's pharmacy's cold syrup bottles stacked inside a dummy to instantly sedate the house, as well as piloting an excavator to bring Constance down the first time, he certainly qualifies.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: This guy confronts Constance using a freaking excavator and takes her down! Yes, the house reforms herself at a moment's notice, but considering who Chowder is, it's still pretty damn impressive.
• Lovable Coward: Rather easy to frighten, but his eccentricities and hints of courage firmly cement him as this.
• Lower-Class Lout: When he first tries to impress the high-class Jenny, Chowder pretends to be grown-up by following what is apparently his dad's example—he hangs up on a pretend conversation with his dad by telling him to kiss his hairy butt and then asks if DJ has any beer.
• Mondegreen Gag: When the trio successfully infiltrate Nebbercracker's house, Jenny points at one of its organs, claiming it's the ovula. Chowder, possibly mishearing it as "ovule", claims the house is female.
• Oblivious to His Own Description:
  Chowder: Only an idiot would go up to that house!
  The house releases Chowder's ball
  Chowder: Hey, my ball!
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The excitable and tough red to DJ's mature and more serious-minded blue.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Chowder ends up being correct about the spirit possessing the house being a female, but it's not because it has an uvula in its mouth (which he possibly mishears as "ovule").

Jenny

Jennifer "Jenny" Bennett

Voiced by: Spencer Locke (original), Ximena Sariñana (Latin American Spanish)

The tritagonist of the film. She's a sweet girl who studies at Westbrook Preparatory School and is selling candies at homes before Halloween kicks in. The day of Halloween, she meets DJ and Chowder after they save her from almost getting herself killed by the Monster House. After some convincing, Jenny, DJ and Chowder decide to get inside the sapient house no matter the circumstances to unveil the mystery on Halloween night.

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• Badass in a Nice Suit: A retroactive example. She's a prep-school girl that wears quite the snazzy uniform, and the badass part comes right at the climax.
• Braids of Action: Her hairstyle retroactively becomes this once she's brought into the adventure.
• Establishing Character Moment: When she first tries to sell Halloween candy to Zee, the latter smugly tells Jenny that this isn't her house, so it makes little difference if it gets toilet-papered or not. Jenny then shrewdly switches tactics and negotiates with her, revealing a remarkable capacity for smart-thinking. Upon making the hard bargain, Zee even shows admiration for her wit.
• Girls Have Cooties: Subverted. Both DJ and Chowder develop crushes on Jenny the moment they see her.
• Motivational Kiss: Gives one to DJ at the climax to give him the courage to climb up a tower crane to help destroy Constance once and for all.
• Nice Girl: While Jenny does call the boys morons at first, she opens up to them rather quickly and is shown to have a heart of gold.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: The one redhead as well as the tritagonist of the film.
• The Smart Girl: Quite possibly more than DJ. Jenny manages to quickly make up what parts of the human body would coincide with the house once they get inside, and also comes up with how to make the house spit the three away when the house is about to eat them (by grabbing the equivalent to an uvula). She was also able to convince Zee to buy candies from her for Halloween by switching tactics and bargaining with her at the middle of the film.

Mr. Nebbercracker (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Horace Nebbercracker

^{Click here to see Nebbercracker's appearance when he was young}

Voiced by: Steve Buscemi (original), Esteban Siller (Latin American Spanish)

The elderly owner of the Monster House. Mr. Nebbercracker hates kids and confiscates everything that lands on his lawn, telling people to stay off it and from his house due to his knowledge that the house is sapient. Beneath that rotten surface, however, there lies a sad man with justifiable reasons as to why he would behave horribly grumpy.

All spoilers are unmarked.

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• Anti-Villain: Types II and III (Woobie and Well-Intentioned Anti-Villain). The old man has very good reasons to why he would want to keep people and especially kids off his lawn, those being that Constance's spirit possesses his house and would eat anyone who dared to get close. So he takes on an extremely grumpy personality to drive them away since it is the only thing he can do to reliably achieve it.
• All There in the Manual: The official site is the only source from where we get his first name, Horace, as he's only referred to by his last name.
• The Atoner: He happily returns all the toys he confiscated as Halloween gifts, and even repairs the little girl's tricycle he broke.
• Being Evil Sucks: As detailed in Beneath the Mask, Nebbercracker clearly does not like how he has to put on a Jerkass facade.
• Beneath the Mask: He actually doesn't dislike children and only pretends so as long as the Constance-possessed house is there. He's pretty happy to drop the act once it has been destroyed.
• Character Catchphrase: "Get off my lawn!" and "Stay away from my house!"
• Chekhov's Gun: The dynamite he kept from his war veteran years. It serves as the final blow dealt to Constance at the climax.
• Child Hater: Subverted. Nebbercracker puts on this demeanor in order to drive kids away from his home, and boy howdy it worked. He steals toys from children, breaks one, and even lifts DJ because the boy doesn't understand why Nebbercracker wants them off his lawn. As it turns out, however, he clearly hates doing that.
• Chubby Chaser: While children all mocked and threw things at Constance, he fell in love with her at sight.
• Creepy Good: He plays a hateful old man to scare children away from his murderously temperamental housewife.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Nebbercracker had to scare all the children away so Constance would not devour them.
• Demolitions Expert: An old picture the main trio finds in his house shows that Nebbercracker was evidently a former military demoman, and he keeps a crate of dynamite in the house in case of an emergency. It's a good thing he did, otherwise there's no way for them to destroy the house.
• Disney Death: Suffers from a horrible heart attack when trying to drive DJ away from his lawn. His house then becomes sentient, causing the trio to think he has returned to haunt them. Turns out he survived and returned just before the climax to help the heroes.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In the end, when putting Constance to rest and the house's destruction finally means he's no longer committed to the life task of protecting people from her wrath.
  Nebbercracker: Forty-five years... we have been trapped for 45 years. And now... (takes DJ's arm and gets up) ...we're free! (starts to laugh) We're free! Hahaha, thank you friends! (hugs DJ, then the others join in the hug) Thank you all! We're free...!
• Easily Forgiven: Despite his acts, he ends up being forgiven by the heroes at the end. It probably helps that everyone soon learned he had a fake persona for 45 years and up until that point.
• Fat and Skinny: The Skinny to Constance's Fat, when she was alive.
• Feeling Their Age:
  • At first Played for Horror: as he lifts DJ and threatens him when the former steps on his lawn, Nebbercracker suffers a heart attack. This leaves his left arm crippled, too.
  • During the climax, as they escape from Constance, he's unable to keep up with the main trio and soon runs out of energy to run. Likely justified given he just came from the hospital after his heart attack.
• Fun-Hating Confiscating Adult: Justified and subverted. Nebbercracker snatches the toys that ended up landing on his lawn to protect kids from trying to retrieve them, because his house would otherwise kill them. The truth is he only did what he had to do to protect his neighbors, and when his wife's spirit has been set free, he is happy to give the toys back.
• Gonk: Although it is justified given he's the oldest confirmed character.
• Good All Along: When confronted by the main trio, it's revealed that Mr. Nebbercracker had benevolent reasons for his actions, namely protecting the entire neighborhood from the titular Monster House's wrath, particularly during Halloween.
• Grumpy Old Man: Invoked and subverted. This is what he pretends to be to prevent his neighbors from becoming food for Constance, and once the truth comes out and Constance is put out of her misery, he shows a gentle side.
• Heel Realization: Despite not being a real heel, he eventually concedes telling DJ the true backstory to his house and Constance's Freudian Excuse. DJ then tries to reason with him that Constance is a menace and sure enough, once she proves their point, he agrees with them and decides to help them take down the house for good.
• Hidden Heart of Gold:
  • He behaves as an unbearable and grouchy elder that keeps little kids from his house and his lawn... but the reason to it is far more noble than it looks: his house would otherwise kill the children.
  • For a more specific example: once he comes back from the hospital and realizes the trio entered his house, he finally relents and tells them the story of how he met Constance and how his house is possessed, showing that despite them pressing his Berserk Button, the only thing he can do is clarify to them everything before telling them to leave.
• Hollywood Heart Attack: Averted. While screaming at DJ to stay away from his house while holding him in the air, his heart attacks. Rather than flare dramatically and clutch his chest (which he doesn't get a chance to do because he's holding up DJ), he instead freezes up and wheezes before falling unconscious.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Since kids won't understand to stay off his lawn and his house, he has to behave like a jerk.
• I Just Want to Be Free: Nebbercracker knows absolutely nobody would commit to destroying the house and put Constance out of her misery, so he has to stay in the house to keep her wrath from potentially catastrophic results. The ending perfectly summarizes it well once he finally regains his freedom.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Played With. Take his voice actor, Steve Buscemi, then age him up a tad, and you'll get this.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He tells kids to leave because they would get eaten. Turns out at the climax of the film, that he was right all along.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: An extremely grumpy old man who threatens kids that they would get eaten if they didn't leave his lawn and stayed away from his house. This is, in fact, all an act: he takes on this in order to make people leave him so he can keep Constance's wrath in check, and he actually doesn't hate kids at all, but had to put on this act in order to keep them away.
• Laughing Mad: When he thanks DJ for putting Constance out of her misery and letting the two move on from her death, he hugs the boy while laughing from joy, but in a way very evocative of this.
• Lean and Mean: Very lean (because he's old and very likely not taking care of himself) and very mean (because people just won't stay away from his lawn). The mean part is merely an act, however.
• Morality Pet: Is this to Constance. Even when possessing his house, she never tries to harm Nebbercracker... that is, until he tries to blow her up with dynamite.
• Nice Guy: He starts out as a loving husband to Constance. While he acts like an unstable old man to keep people from going near his house, he does so to keep them safe. Once he's free of Constance, he goes back to being a nice old man.
• Never My Fault: He is completely outraged when DJ accidentally damages his lawn. However, that only happened because Nebbercracker was chasing him.
• Oh, Crap!: Has one when he realizes he got in the nick of time for Halloween night and still needs to keep children away from his home.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: He is annoyed and confused about how DJ, Chowder and Jenny thought him dead and they threw pebbles at him, thinking he was a ghost. He was merely at the hospital after suffering from a heart attack.
• Rescue Romance: Had one with Constance after he rescues her from the freak show troupe. They even got married and attempted to build a house together.
• Retired Badass: Was apparently a veteran who served in a war and, if pictures and the dynamite crate he had in his house are anything to go by, he was probably a Demolitions Expert.
• Starter Villain: The first threat the heroes (DJ and Chowder) face, though he unfortunately digs his own grave in whatever fight he could put (i.e. none at all) and gets a heart attack. From the moment he's at the hospital onward, the house takes the mantle of Big Bad, though he survives.
• Stronger Than They Look: Despite his incredibly frail appearance, he's strong enough to lift up a tricycle and rip its wheel off, as well as restrain DJ and lift him off the ground and shake him, though the latter almost immediately causes him a heart attack.
• Supporting the Monster Loved One: Mr. Nebbercracker spends 45 years protecting the spirit of his deceased wife, which has turned their house into a literal monster, because he had fallen in love with her at first sight in their youth and the feeling endured through time.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Averted, no matter how crochety the neighboring kids consider him to be. While he still acts like unstable jerk and takes away their toys, never does he embrace this side of him.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The Tiny Guy to Constance's Huge Girl, also when she was alive.
• Tragic Villain: Not truly the main one, but he lost the love of his life when she got herself killed during their house's building. However, he learned her spirit held on to the house and would try to awake her wrath on kids every Halloween night. Unable to let go of the past, Nebbercracker still lives in the house to this day to keep her wrath in check and drive kids away, and doesn't like every bit of it. Only when Constance's spirit is put to rest is he finally able to catch a breather.
• Walking Spoiler: As the folder would give it to one, talking about Nebbercracker can give out most of the movie's climax and ending as well as his true nature.
• When Elders Attack: Restrains and lifts up DJ when the latter steps on his lawn. Unfortunately, he suffers a heart attack from the sheer anger and effort, and is sent to the hospital.
• Would Hurt a Child: Subverted. While he does get ahold of DJ and lifts him, the man immediately faints before he could seemingly do something worse. Keyword being "seemingly", as despite this, Nebbercracker clearly doesn't want kids to be harmed — not by him, much less by his house.

The Monster House (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Constance Nebbercracker "The Monster House"

Voiced by: Kathleen Turner (original), Sarah Souza (Latin American Spanish)

The titular house of the film and the Big Bad. This house is where Horace Nebbercracker lives; uniquely enough, the house is sapient, and it is said that everything that enters inside of it never ever sees the light of day again. DJ's mission is to infiltrate the house to uncover the truth of what makes it alive.

As seen later in the movie, the house actually houses a human spirit: that of Constance, Nebbercracker's long-dead wife who, much like Nebbercracker himself in the present, really hates kids. Her death is the catalyst of the old man's nature, and her spirit, which refuses to move on to the afterlife, is what causes the house to be sapient.

All spoilers are unmarked.

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Tropes that apply to both

• Anti-Villain: Type II (Woobie Anti-Villain). When she was alive, she was a freak show attraction for a circus that was abused by people during her acts (especially children) and was kept caged like an animal. Horace Nebbercracker rescues and marries her, but when they're building their house (on Halloween day, no less), children start to disturb her and eventually, indirectly cause her death. Her spirit lingers on the house, urging to kill children on Halloween as revenge for it.
• Ax-Crazy: Crazy enough to have the will to kill. In fact, when she was alive, she takes an axe and attempts to swing at bullies that were provoking her on Halloween night.
• Berserk Button: Kids.
  • When she was alive, harassing her was this — a pair of them playing tricks on her by Egging her pushes such.
  • Upon her death, it goes from "them harassing her" to "the mere sight of them".
• Big Bad: The character behind Mr. Nebbercracker's demeanor, as otherwise she would be a much bigger threat. She awakens as the true threat once Nebbercracker exits the picture for a while.
• Character Title: The titular monster house of the movie, and it shows.
• Child Hater: Played straight. Between being booed on her show, and being attacked by kids on Halloween day when she was building the Nebbercracker house, it's no wonder why House!Constance would despise kids so much. Even after her death, she still isn't able to tell bad children from good children, and she only operates in a "Children? ATTACK" mode.
• Determinator: Chases the kids all the way to a construction site, battles an excavator, and when destroyed by the fall, she reforms herself into a One-Winged Angel. That's how much of a Determinator Constance is.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Has this once she realizes Nebbercracker agrees with the boys that it is time to let her go, trying to attack the old man before Chowder shows on with an excavator to fight her.
• Female Monster Surprise: Before the climax, the kids thought it was Nebbercracker's own spirit controlling the house after his "death", but Chowder quickly deduces that it can't be him because while Jenny suspects that the chandelier is "his" uvula, Chowder counterargues that it's actually an organ that's exclusive to female anatomy.
• Foreshadowing: While DJ is dreaming the same night Mr. Nebbercracker is taken to the hospital, a shadow in the shape of the house forms in his room; from it, a hand appears. The arm and hand look like those from a fat woman, foreshadowing exactly the spirit of who possesses the house.
• Freudian Excuse: Poor Constance had to deal with the horrors of being at a freak show, where people would not give a damn about her and mock her (especially kids), and upon her death, she still wasn't able to tell apart "nasty, pranking hooligan children" from "non-malicious children being playful". Is it any wonder why Constance hates kids so much?
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Hooo, boy. She can go from calm to unreasonably angry with minimal provocation — both as a house and when she was alive.
• Morality Pet: Nebbercracker is this to her. Even when possessing his house, Constance never tries to harm him... that is, until he tries to blow her up with dynamite.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: By possessing the house, she can eat people who come too close to it.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Goes on one when DJ tries to convince Nebbercracker to let Constance go. The old man is able to reason with her in time, but when she sees he agrees with DJ, she resumes and loses her ability to be reasoned with.
• Samus Is a Girl: The kids believe the house is possessed by an evil spirit, which is confirmed at the climax to be Constance's.
• Stealth Pun: The house being possessed by the spirit of Constance, Nebbercracker's wife, makes it a "house-wife". Lampshaded by DJ at the end.
• This Means War!: The moment Mr. Nebbercracker is taken away to the hospital, a crack appears in one of its "eye" windows and its fireplace reignites, signifying the house's spirit has awoken from its slumber, a visible indicator being the smoke emitted out of her chimney. Her prime directive? Kill DJ and Chowder for supposedly killing her husband, no matter how many lives she takes before it happens.
• Tragic Monster: See Tragic Villain below.
• Tragic Villain: Constance was part of a freak show, where she got bullied by people. Then, she was rescued by Horace Nebbercracker before getting killed while building their house when she was being attacked by kids on Halloween day. Her spirit, however, hung on to the house and possessed it. Unable to let the past go, Constance's spirit remains in the house and she refuses to go on to the afterlife, only doing so when she's put out of her misery.
• Unstoppable Rage: Once DJ tells Nebbercracker he has to let go of Constance, the house overhears and finally transforms herself and attacks everyone else.
• Walking Spoiler: Given Constance's existance is integral to the plot and she possesses the titular house, talking about it too much would give these details out.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Constance was forced to be part of a circus as The Freakshow and was mercilessly mocked by the public and seemingly mistreated by the owner of the circus (she did have to sleep in a cage). Then she found happiness when Horace Nebbercracker rescued her and married her, only to fall to her death in the foundation of her house when she tried to chase off a group of kids that were harassing her. Her enraged spirit then became part of the house, unable to leave for the afterlife — essentially remaining trapped in her own home for several decades.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Perfectly willing to kill three pubescent kids who infiltrate her, two of which had something to do with her husband's heart attack.
  • Also willing to try and hack at a pair of bullies provoking her on Halloween night because of her weight.
• You Killed My Father: "My spouse", in this case. After Nebbercracker is taken away to the hospital, the house sets her eyes primarily on the main boys.

Tropes that apply to the Monster House

• Attack Its Weak Point: The chimney leads to the fireplace inside the house, which is her heart. DJ deals the final blow to her by throwing dynamite inside the chimney, causing a huge explosion that destroys the house for good and lets Constance's spirit fade away.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A house made of wood with the ability to reshape tree trunks into arms.
• Animal Motifs: The anglerfish. Her teeth are narrow and spikey, and implicitly plans to lure children to herself with the toys she's collected. She also has certain glowing features, her fireplace and uvula, which are similar to the bulb of an anglerfish. Most subtly however is the fact she's a massive female with a much smaller male, her husband, living inside of her; the most common version of anglerfish, ones with the aforementioned features of large teeth and biological torches, are actually all female with small, unassuming males attaching themselves to them in a semi-symbiotic relationship.
• Burning with Anger: Not her, but the chimney provides a good example. Whenever it emits more smoke than normal it's a sign she's being consumed by her rage.
• Demonic Possession: What happens to the house as a result of Constance's spirit dwelling inside of her.
• Eldritch Abomination: A house made of wood that, thanks to being possessed by a spirit, has the ability to reshape herself (making her appear as a human head), can use trees as makeshift arms in order to move, and can even regenerate herself when she is destroyed? You better believe it.
• Eldritch Location: Especially when she starts to affect the insides more. Some of the weirder things she can do include looking inward with sunlight beams to survey her own interior, possess the grounds and objects to bring people closer, and make phone calls with no apparent operator.
• Extreme Omnivore: For a definition of eating, since she stashes her victims away under her foundations. She doesn't just "eat" people, but also toys and even a freaking police car.
• Genius Loci: Constance's spirit held on to the house to allow it to live. It even has human-like parts on her, such as a carpet for a tongue.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Literally, as they're actually lightbulbs giving out light through the house's windows.
• Haunted House: The house is an archetypal example, being made of wood, filled inside with various old contraptions, and having stuff move by itself both inside and outside of her. This is because the ghost of Constance is doing the work.
• Hell Is That Noise: The doorbell.
• High-Pressure Emotion: Whenever her chimney emits smoke, it's a sign she's awake. The more smoke it emits, the angrier she is.
• It Can Think: As per a Sapient House. In this case, this is because it is possessed by Constance's spirit.
• Killed Off for Real: DJ drops a stick of dynamite on Constance's chimney, leading to her heart. This destroys her for good and frees her spirit.
• Living Structure Monster: Natch.
• Nested Mouths: Normally, the house has a mouth formed only from her doorway. Through Constance, she has the ability to convert the supports of her porch into an additional, larger mouth.
• Not Quite Dead: Chowder brings the house down with an excavator during the climax, destroying her when she falls down a chasm alongside Chowder. Unfortunately, she regenerates itself...
• One-Winged Angel: ...thus transforming into this. Her final form seems to bring pufferfishes to mind, using whatever part of the house is left to become much scarier. A stick of dynamite to her chimney is enough to destroy her once and for all.
• Phoney Call: She calls DJ in the middle of the night, and the only thing that can be heard is her angry breathing.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: A variant — once the house starts to move by herself, her Supernatural Gold Eyes start to glow more orange-like, indicating she is being consumed by rage.
• Sapient House: Currently provides the page's picture. Thanks to Constance's spirit, the house is able to think on its own and move.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Invoked. The eyes seem to be lightbulbs, but regardless, it's Constance's spirit turning them on to make them appear like this. When angered, they become orange with rage.
• "Uh-Oh" Eyes: A crack appears on one of her "eye windows" to indicate she has awakened from her slumber. Her eyes also glow when she is awake at night (thanks to lightbulbs), and go from yellow to orange when her rage peaks.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Why does nobody come out of their houses to see what's going on with a living house that's stomping her way through the middle of a suburban neighborhood?!

Tropes that apply to Constance

• Brawn Hilda: Her fat appearance shows this quite well. It's fortunate that Nebbercracker had a heart for her despite that.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: She loses her balance when trying to attack the kids that were harassing her, and, in an attempt to not fall on the house's foundations, pulls a lever that activates the concrete mixer. This isn't enough, and she falls to the depths below. However, the concrete in the mixer also falls down with her. If the impact didn't kill her but did cripple her, the concrete that fell on her was enough to do it, either suffocating her or finishing the job... Ouch.
• Fat and Skinny: When she was alive, she was the Fat to Nebbercracker's Skinny.
• Fat Bastard: Kids attacking her is enough to make her lose her will to reason, turning her into this.
• The Freakshow: Was part of this, much to her chagrin. Thankfully, Nebbercracker rescues her from it.
• Rescue Romance: Had one with Horace Nebbercracker after he rescues her from the freak show troupe. They even got married and attempted to build a house together.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: When she was alive, she was also the Huge Girl to Nebbercracker's Tiny Guy.
• Tragic Intangibility: When her house form is destroyed, Constance's ghost is the only thing that remains. She and Nebbercracker share a brief moment together just before she disappears — leaving Nebbercracker with nothing left of his wife.
  Nebbercracker: ...goodbye...
• Unexplained Accent: She has an accent which is best described as "vageuely European", though her limited amount of dialogue in the movie makes it difficult to pinpoint if it is meant to be a specific region, if any.
• Undeath Always Ends: The house's destruction sets her spirit free.

Supporting characters

Eliza

Eliza

Voiced by: Ryan Newman (original), Denisse Durán (Latin American Spanish)

A young girl who appears at the start of the movie and whose tricycle is stolen by Mr. Nebbercracker.

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• All There in the Manual: The movie's credits don't even give out her name, referring to her as "Little Girl". Fortunately, her name is given by the movie's wiki.
• Bookends: The movie begins with her tricycle taken away and broken by Mr. Nebbercracker, and ends with her getting it back.
• No Name Given: Not even in the credits. Again though, her name is confirmed by the movie's wiki.

Mr. and Mrs. Walters

Mr. and Mrs. Walters

Mr. Walters

Mrs. Walters

Mr. Walters voiced by: Fred Willard (original), Alejandro Vargas (Latin American Spanish)
Mrs. Walters voiced by: Catherine O'Hara (original), Gaby Willer (Latin American Spanish)

DJ's parents. They leave him to attend a dentist convention for the weekend. While they agree with people that DJ might be crazy, they nevertheless love him and try to do what's best for him.

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• Good Parents: They're both shown to love DJ despite not believing his stories about Nebbercracker.
• Parents as People: They leave town to go to a dentist convention and return much later, at the movie's conclusion.

Zee

Elizabeth "Zee"

Voiced by: Maggie Gyllenhaal (original), Rebeca Gómez (Latin American Spanish)

DJ's babysitter, who's left in charge of DJ while his parents are away for a trip. An unpleasant young adult whose Establishing Character Moment is to showcase such nature.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Fell in love with Bones. Zee isn't exactly a sweetheart herself, so there's not much to complain about.
• Babysitter from Hell: Subverted. Though largely apathetic to DJ and breaking a pot knowing he would be the one blamed, she calls off Bones when he continues harassing her charge, and even gives the kids some Halloween candy in the morning.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When she gets home, she sweettalks DJ thinking her parents are still in the house. When he tells Zee they aren't, we then see her true, apathetic colors.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has the sharpest wit out of the cast, which is noticeable given the movie's lack of deadpan, witty banter.
  DJ: (after calling back to Nebbercracker's house, having been called from there with no one inside) This is different! Listen! (gives the phone to Zee)
  Zee: (pops out of the window, and hears the phone ringing at Nebbercracker's house) Uh, wow. You called the neighbors. Good for you.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • She tells Bones to knock it off once he starts to bully DJ too much.
  • Not too long after, Bones makes a bitter remark about how Nebbercracker is evil. Zee begs to differ, thinking "evil" is too strong of a strong word — at worst, she just thinks he's merely a crochety old man.
• Geeky Turn-On: At the end of the movie, she starts to date Skull.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Most of the characters tend to have some likeness to their voice actors, but Maggie Gyllenhaal as Zee might be the best example.
• Jerkass: The apathetic babysitter to DJ, and she breaks a pot to taunt him when she gets to their house knowing she won't be blamed for it.
• Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: She breaks one of Walters' house's pots, knowing that DJ will be blamed and that they won't believe that Zee did it, to prove the point that she was in charge.
• Operation: Jealousy: Implied, the reason why she starts to date Skull being to get back at Bones.
• Pet the Dog: She does call out Bones for bullying DJ too much and even gives him and Chowder some Halloween candy for breakfast (granted, so she didn't have to make them breakfast, but candy is candy!).

Bones

Bones

Voiced by: Jason Lee (original), Eduardo Garza (Latin American Spanish)

Zee's boyfriend, the member of a band who are starting to make a name for themselves.

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• All Abusers Are Male: Downplayed. He isn't outright abusive to Zee, but when he pranks her by pouncing on her after tattle-telling her Nebbercracker ate his wife, she has enough and rightfully tells him "he doesn't respect women".
• The Alcoholic: Can be seen drinking some booze inside the Walters' house as well as outside when he leaves.
• Fat and Skinny: The Skinny to Skull's Fat, when they were both in a band.
• Jerkass: Easily the least repentant one in the movie. Between bullying DJ and pranking his girlfriend, the guy is clearly a jerk of the highest order.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Zee hooking up with Skull at the end. He dismisses it as a "whatever", though.
• Manchild: His actual age is ambiguous, but he's clearly old enough to stop harassing kids younger than him, like DJ. Not to mention his obsession with his childhood kite Nebbercracker took from him which the house exploits to lure him and eat him.

Officers Landers and Lister

Officers Landers and Lister

Officer Landers

Officer Lister

Officer Landers voiced by: Kevin James (original), Carlos del Campo (Latin American Spanish)
Officer Lister voiced by: Nick Cannon (original), Ricardo Mendoza (Latin American Spanish)

Two cops who appear to DJ, Chowder and Jenny when they call the police to help deal with the house. They, much like other people, do not appear to believe the boys at all, but are simply doing their job to make sure they don't get hurt.

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• Adults Are Useless: Or at least, they try not to be. But they still don't believe the main trio's story of the house being possessed.
• Animal Lover: When the kids tells the cops that Nebbercracker's house ate a dog alive, Officer Lister is immediately horrified at the news and tries to call for back-up, only to be stopped by Landers.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: A hilarious inversion. Officer Landers lists the crimes he accuses the kids of committing in front of Mr. Nebbercrackers' house starting off with "Littering, loitering, vandalism, vagrancy..." and Lister finishes it with an uncalled "...and TREASON!" which Landers rejects.
• Big Fun: When he isn't being a useless (but well-meaning) jerk, Landers has shades of this, with the "I was wrestling a bear claw in the forest" joke and his hearty laugh that seems to charm DJ, Chowder and Jenny.
• Cowboy Cop: Officer Lister is pretty unprofessional and reckless with the way he handles his gun to say the least.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Landers is the Good Cop (he at least tries to hear out the kids before dismissing them), Lister is the Bad Cop (his inexperience means he will quickly jump the gun at them — literally).
• Fat and Skinny: Lander is the Fat, Lister is the Skinny.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Both resemble their voice actors.
• Manchild: Officer Lister acts very childish, much to Lander's annoyance.
• Not So Above It All: Officer Landers tells Lister they would "inspect" the candies, to which Lister tells Landers they should even eat some candy too. Landers agrees.
• Police Are Useless: Again, they try not to be, but the two not believing the main trio's story about the monster house and trying to arrest them for disturbing the public order paints them as such.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Lister is the Red Oni, Lander is the Blue Oni.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: The two unwittingly hinder the kids, but only because they are trying to stop (what they believe to be) obnoxious brats messing with an old man's house.
• Those Two Guys: The two are always seen with each other.

Skull

Reginald 'Skull' Skulinski

Voiced by: Jon Heder (original), Roberto Mendiola (Latin American Spanish)

A pizza deliverer who dedicates his free time to playing videogames at the pizzeria while the job is slow.

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• Fat and Skinny: The Fat to Bones' Skinny, when they were both in a band.
• Geek: The town's resident one. He's the person the main trio go to in order to know how to attack the house. While the kids come up with the plan, Skull does agree with them.
• Just One More Level!: He's the champion of the game Thou Art Dead, a fictional arcade game within the movie. Chowder states that Skull once played the game for four days straight on one quarter, a gallon of chocolate milk, and an adult diaper.
• Mr. Exposition: Is the one to explain just what the house is and a possible way to defeat it. Justified in that he'd heard about similair monsters from movies and comic book conventions.

Kevin

Kevin the Dog

Voiced by: — (as himself according to the ending credits)

A small dog who has the misfortune of getting eaten by the Monster House the moment it sets foot on its lawn.

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• Bit Character: One of the victims of the Monster House, and the one with the least screentime, but still no less important.
• Bookends: His first appearance in the movie is whizzing on Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn. At the ending credits, he does exactly the same, though this time to a jack-o'-lantern.
• Character as Himself: The ending credits tell us such.
• No Name Given: Until the credits, where we're told his name.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Subverted, as his fate is fortunately safe and sound at the end of the movie.

The bullies (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Voiced by: Erik Walker, Matthew Fahey

A pair of bullies that appear in Constance's Death by Origin Story and are partly responsible for her murder, however accidental it might have been.

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• Bit Character: Their time in the movie might be very brief, but their role is extremely important however small it might have been.
• Egging: How they attack the house in construction as well as Constance.
• Jerkass: Both hooligans, between egging both the house in construction and Constance (especially while Nebbercracker tries to reason with her).
• Kick the Dog: After Constance briefly shares a heartwarming moment with Nebbercracker as he tells her that everything would be okay while he was there, the kids resume egging her again, making her lose her will to reason (and leading to her death).
• Kids Are Cruel: The plot could've been avoided if these pesky, good-for-nothing hooligans hadn't caused Constance to die, however indrect their influence was.
• Small Role, Big Impact: They only make one appearance in Nebbercracker's flashback, but needless to say, antagonizing Constance and indirectly causing her death is what allows Constance's spirit to possess the house she and Nebbercracker build together, setting the plot in motion.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: They're indirectly responsible for Constance's death, setting off the whole plot in the process.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Aside from being the indirect catalyst for Constance's death, we don't know what happens after that. One could probably assume they got away with it.

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