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Charlotte Burke, Ben Cross, Glenne Headly, Elliott Spears, Gemma Jones ... see more see more... , Sarah Newbold , Jane Bertish , Gary Bleasdale , Samantha Cahill , Karen Gledhill , Barbara Keogh , Ros Hubbard , Steven O'Donnell

Eleven-year-old Charlotte Burke, the neglected daughter of Ben Cross and Glenne Headley, passes out on the school playground and dreams of visiting a house she'd previously drawn in her composition bo... read more read more...ok. She imagines another visit to her "paper house" while playing hide-and-seek. Experimenting, Burke draws a figure in the window of the house; the next time she dreams, she meets a young boy, as lonely as she. Convinced that she wields a large degree of power in her pencil, Burke draws a picture of her father, Cross, hoping that in doing so he will return home. But Burke is dissatisfied with the picture, and crosses it out--whereupon Cross shows up in her dreams as a murderous stalker. What happens next is a maelstrom of psychological horror, told completely from the child's point of view. Paperhouse is based on Marianne Dreams a novel by Catherine Storr. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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56% want to see it

2,250 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

6 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 32 min.

Directed by: Bernard Rose

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Flixster Reviews (164)


  • December 13, 2009
    A drawing that became a dream. A dream that became reality. I think there is a tiny bit of a message hidden in a movie. It is a Unique Movie, unlike the movie House of Cards I enjoyed this a tiny bit more.
  • August 13, 2007
    An eerie dreamscape of a movie. A girl draws pictures of a house on paper, and it becomes a place she can visit. Soon she is drawing other things which she can interact with. It's dark rather than fanciful. An experience.
  • June 28, 2009
    This was hugely distrubing to a ten year old boy when I watched it. Extremely odd little story but one that has stuck with me until now.
  • October 1, 2011
    this movie works in such a slow pace and is so unpredictable it genuinely involves the viewer to be just as entranced and frightened as the little girl. this is a film that is confounded with constant discovery.
  • November 13, 2008
    Watching The Ring recently reminded me of this equally well-crafted psychological-supernatural tale. The concept of dreaming and drawing a world into being is so fascinating; it stuns me to the core. Inevitably the film is imperfect and doesn't quite live up, as films with brilli... read moreant concepts so often do, but the idea still pierces through, and the dreamlike force that drives this film is gripping. It has a great aesthetic as well.
  • June 11, 2007
    I used to rent this movie with my friends all the time in high school--no idea why. We loved it--great movie. Good luck ever finding it. "I'm not a draw-ring!!"
  • January 5, 2007
    One of the scariest movies I've ever seen (but I'm a wuss). The story of a girl who, in a fever dream, enters the world of a drawing she has made. Brialliant and sadly unavailable around here.

Critic Reviews


Adam Lippe
February 28, 2012
Adam Lippe, Examiner.com

The scenes of Anna running around mountains in a moment of escape or toward an enormous lighthouse don't have the feel of something whitewashed like The Sound of Music but rather the dark undercurrent... Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
August 28, 2004
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

A mesmerizing English film exploring the dreamscapes of a lonely eleven-year old girl. Full Review

James Sanford
August 26, 2004
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette

A real sleeper: charming, scary, enthralling

Ken Hanke
November 26, 2003
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

More peculiar than actually good.

Shane Burridge
January 1, 2000
Shane Burridge, rec.arts.movies.reviews

Loses the children's audience that might have otherwise been attracted to the story

March 26, 2009
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Hal Hinson
January 1, 2000
Hal Hinson, Washington Post

Click to read the article Full Review

Derek Adams
June 24, 2006
Derek Adams, Time Out

Click to read the article Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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