House

Since the late 1980s, I have been a fan of the horror comedy House (1986) which starred William Katt and was written by my friend Ethan Wiley (see this post for more on our evening with Ethan). The film was released by New World Pictures in 1986 and became one of the highest grossing independent films of that era. Given that we were near the location of the actual house from the movie, I couldn't resist contacting the owner about making a visit.

The real name of the house is Mill's View and it is situated in Monrovia, California. Monrovia is a city located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County. Mill's View is a stately Victorian home, built for William Monroe, the founder of Monrovia, as an 1887 wedding gift to his eldest son, Milton Monroe.

The producers of the movie chose Mill's View as the ideal location for the tale of Roger Cobb (William Katt), a Vietnam veteran and horror novelist whose son Jimmy disappears somewhere inside the house. The house forces the author to face his darkest demons in order to recover his missing son.

The current owners of the house are Sabin Gray and Bryan Gerber, who were generous enough to open their home to a bunch of state-hopping Brits. The tour of Mill's View, led by Sabin, was spectacular, and demonstrated not only the locations of key scenes in the film and tricks used by the filmmakers, but also the real history of the house - how it was moved to face in a different direction; how it derived its name from the original owner's favourite top floor window; and how original features such as the 'Widow's Walk' will eventually be restored.

Although the interiors of Mill's View were not used in the film (it was mostly shot on a soundstage), Sabin told us that on special occasions, they screen the movie on the side of the house and hundreds of people turn up to watch it. I'm such a geek, I actually wondered whether I could return to attend a screening. I needn't have worried; we were soon upstairs in Sabin and Bryan's home theater screening key sections of the movie and comparing them to the route we had just taken around the house. I have now officially watched House in the house from House!

Standing on the porch of the house in the bright Californian sun, we had refreshments provided by Bryan and Sabin and enjoyed a lovely conversation about our trip, and movie fandom in general. We would like to thank them both for giving us some very special memories to add to our experience of crossing the states.