Peewee's Spookhouse

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2002)

Spoilers herein.
I revisited this film for a specific project. IMDB comment-writing has given me an excuse to resee and think about what films were important (or good in some way) and why. Now after almost two years, I'm developing a list of filmmakers and a few actors worth following. Should Tim Burton be on the list?
Tim has at least one rare quality of an effective filmmaker: he has the ability to shape some critical mass of the elements of his work to adhere to a coherent vision. A Burton film is pretty recognizable. But have any of his films struck me in a particularly strong way? Have any been life-altering (some by others have) or even remembered particularly fondly? The strongest candidate was this one. It is also of passing interest for Geena and Winona history.
There are only two things in this film to recommend it: Keaton's slapstick performance. But his three or four frenetic appearances alone are not enough to justify sitting front of the screen. The other element is remarkable: Efman's score. Our old Boingo man I think has literally helped Burton define himself, so the sonic texture here is more than perfect.
Burton does not go on my list of greats. But I think I'll start a list of film score composers.
A remark on the architecture. I have a special interest in how films handle space, and a part of that is the architecture. What Otho supposedly did to the outside of the house is pretty good actually, very apt for the notion of the film itself: what you see is some distance removed from reality.