The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Paperhouse
Drama · Fantasy · Horror · 1988
A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
Movie details
Paperhouse
“A drawing that became a dream. A dream that became reality.”
1988 Drama · Fantasy · Horror 1h 32m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.5 / 10
Community rating
A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Paperhouse?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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The Babadook
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A grieving single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book manifests in their home.
Closet Monster
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A creative and driven teenager is desperate to escape his hometown and the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood.
Before I Wake
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An orphaned child's dreams—and nightmares—manifest physically as he sleeps.
Dust Bunny
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Ten-year-old Aurora asks her hitman neighbor to kill the monster under her bed that she claims ate her family. To protect her, he must battle an onslaught of assassins while accepting that some monsters are real.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Bernard Rose
Written by
Matthew Jacobs
Charlotte Burke
Anna Madden
E
Elliott Spiers
Marc
Glenne Headly
Kate Madden
Gemma Jones
Dr. Sarah Nicols
Ben Cross
Dad
Jane Bertish
Miss Vanstone
S
Sarah Newbold
Karen
Court is in session
Put Paperhouse on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.