Alex Weller’s Reviews > House of Leaves > Status Update

While it looks like Navidson might have little regard for Karen due to his sarcasm about her hair and intrusion of her personal belongings, the way the scene is arranged shows the opposite, with Navidson actually preserving her hair on film. Sure thing.

Here we have the first significant scene: Navidson arrives in his and Karen's bedroom, only to impulsively look inside her jewelry box, though we don't see its contents. He then becomes intrigued by hair caught in Karen's hairbrush before Karen comes back in.

A chunk of Navidson's project was captured by CCTV video cameras hung up in every corner of the room. Navidson hoped to catch notable moments in his family's life to put on film. However, two specific scenes, which it appears might be pivotal to the film, were captured with these cameras. I wonder what they were.

Navidson's original goals for making the movie were to showcase his family moving into their new house and getting used to it, while also healing the strained relationship between Navidson and his family due to his constant travels for work. While Navidson's daughter Daisy likes the house, his son Chad, used to the noise of city traffic at night, can't sleep because he's afraid of people hiding in the silence.

Just started reading Chapter 2. Zampanò talks about how the opening of "The Navidson Record" is the most disturbing part of the film because Navidson intended to make a completely different movie in the beginning before everything went south. A philosophy doctor, however, believes the entire film was fabricated, and that Navidson's attitude in the opening was just bad acting.

Finished Chapter 1! Once Pulitzer-winning photojournalist Will Navidson was outed as the man behind the shorts, people started questioning their authenticity, citing Navidson's credentials and the shorts' lack of any clear major editing. Three years later, "The Navidson Record" came out and was a hit, becoming widely talked about and winning awards, though people still questioned the movie's authenticity.

Shortly after Navidson's first short film, another one was released, this time more abstract. In it, it's implied that somebody went into the strange hallway and explored it. It appears Navidson found a tape showing a bearded man lost somewhere, believing someone is stalking him. Add to that, a few random shots of stuff and ... what the hell was all that?

Zampanò talks about a short film by Will Navidson that served as a precursor to "The Navidson Record". In it, Navidson shows a door in his wall that shouldn't lead anywhere, since his backyard is on the other side of that wall. But upon opening the door, Navidson finds a huge hallway on the other side that shouldn't be there, which he doesn't enter. This story has already become interesting.

Just started reading "The Navidson Record" and Chapter 1. Zampanò talks about the debate on whether the documentary is true or a hoax. Sadly, most of the people who believe in it also believe in UFOs. Those who have seen it can't describe what kind of horror movie it is, but feel that the house resembles the hopeless Hell in Milton and Dante's poems, with Will Navidson encouraging people to avoid the house.

In his final days, Zampanò had several readers come from universities to read to him, all of them female. He found himself comforted in the presence of women, especially after several failed loves. Some found him insane, while some found him romantic. One believed Death took him because he was too obsessed with writing, and dying was the only way he would stop.