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This article is about Nebbercracker's House as the main antagonist of the film, for the article about it as a location from the film, see Old Man Nebbercracker's House.

Constance Nebbercracker: "Hurt? Yes, I'm hurt! Those criminals are attacking our house!"
Isaac: "Trick-or-treat!"
Mr. Nebbercracker:: "Now, now, they're-they're just kids, dear. It's Halloween."
Constance Nebbercracker: "No, no, no. It's my house, and they're HURTING ME!"
— Constance to Mr. Nebbercracker moments before her death.

Constance Nebbercracker (formerly known as Constance the Giantess or known as the Monster House) is a posthumous character and the main antagonist of the 2006 computer-animated film, Monster House.

She was a human performing as a "circus freak" in a circus until Horace Nebbercracker saved her and married her. During the construction of their house, her sudden untimely death occurred due to falling into the basement and getting covered in wet concrete, after which she took possession of the house instead of going to heaven, which developed monster-like characteristics. She is also the arch-nemesis of DJ, Jenny and Chowder.

Role in the film:[]

One day, when Chowder's basketball accidentally flew into Nebbercracker's lawn and prompts DJ to bring it back, Nebbercracker ambushes and storms toward him. DJ tries to calm him down, but this does not change Nebbercracker's mind to scare him further. Nebbercracker proceeds by lifting him upwards and unleashing several tantrums on his face. This is however a great mistake; due to his elderly age, he forgot that his body could no longer endure the boy's weight and he had a heart attack at the same time. His bones cracked in the process, causing him to fall unconscious on DJ's body.

Both the boys are horrified by this, believing that Nebbercracker had died. They are unaware that they have unleashed terror on their housing complex.

When Nebbercracker was immediately brought to the hospital, Constance ghost immediately awakened from her years of slumber. The house's furnace (the heart) burns on its own, and with both the house and lawn under her control, she caused them to emit sad, groaning voices as the ambulance approaches to carry her husband away. As the medics put Nebbercracker's body on a stretcher, she possesses the grass on the lawn and tries to prevent them from leaving albeit failed, while her spirit, from the house's windows (the eyes), glares at unsuspecting DJ and Chowder, causing it to crack as they leave.

That night, she possesses the telephone in her house (off-screen) and calls DJ through the telephone. When DJ got the call, he only hears furious growls instead of a word. Thinking that it may be a trick, he tries to call the house itself, only for no one to answer him. Afterward, while DJ sneaks away, Bones (who had lost his kite when he was 10 years old) expresses his anger and sadness over his stolen kite on Nebbercracker's house by damaging the lawn. When Constance sees this, she proceeds to possess his kite within the basement (the stomach) and uses it to lure Bones into the house. Unaware that this was a trap, Bones approaches the kite, only to have it coil around him and the house quickly devours him.

Later on, when DJ and Chowder sought to investigate the house, Chowder, who doesn't believe strange things that occurred inside the house, starts to fool around on the house's lawn. They discovered Bones' empty bottle but dismissed it and toss it aside, unaware that the possessed grass on the lawn pulled it underground. Everything seems normal until Chowder pressed the bell, and the house awakened. The door (the mouth) suddenly opens, revealing its interior's fractures, and shifts into a mouth-like cavern. Even the house's exterior turned into a demonic form while retaining its former appearance. The horrified Chowder is then chased by the house's rug (the tongue) that acts like a chameleon's tongue, and barely escapes. The house roars, prompting them to flee in terror. Chowder looks behind, where the house became more deformed than it previously was before returning to normal.

The house remains still until morning, though DJ and Chowder continue to watch it from DJ’s room for hours even with Zee’s interference and resort to peeing in bottles, so they won’t miss any of the possessed house’s activities.

For a brief moment, they are distracted by a beautiful girl named Jenny who, much to their horror, approaches the house. Before it was too late, they rushed toward her and convince her to go away. Just then, Constance, who already set her sights on Jenny, possesses the porch causing the concrete slabs below her to rise and led her to the houses mouth, only to be failed by Zee and the boys' interference. DJ and Chowder then return to DJ’s room with Jenny to continue the investigation. They later witness a dog who approaches the lawn, only to be eaten by the house. Witnessing this, they realise that the house only moved when the unsuspecting victim approached, and Jenny decided to call the police As they were waiting, the trio imagines what would happen if many children came to that house due to tonight being Halloween. Just then, the house moves again and taunts Chowder by playing his basketball that is marked with Jack-O-Lantern's face, which Chowder perceives that the house would start the real killing spree tonight. Just then, Officer Landers and Officer Lister arrive, but they didn’t believe him at all and instead scold them for “vandalism” toward the house (due to any attempt to taunt the house was vain and Jenny discovers that the possessed house was very intelligent to do so). They later decided to have a discussion on Reginald “Skull” Skullinski at Pizza Freek, where he believes that the possessed house was a monster named Domus Mactabillis (Deadly Home in Latin) or at least that was he believed as he knew about from comic book conventions. He stated that like mortal beings, they can only be killed by the destruction of its heart. The trio assumed that the house is inhabited by Mr. Nebbercracker's soul As the trio went home, DJ believes that the possession of the house started when the furnace inside the house was set alight, implying that the furnace was the house’s heart. So, they schemed a plan to make a dummy full of cold medicine, hoping that the drugs were enough to render the house sleeping. Unfortunately, Officer Landers and Officer Lister interfere, and upon seeing objects that they used to render the house asleep, they wrongfully arrest the kids.

Before they could drive away, however, the house makes a groaning sound to lure the two cops closer. Oblivious to what has lured them, the two officers decided to investigate the house against the kids’ wishes. Officer Landers notices that something seems not right as the other one is suddenly driven away by the tree’s roots. Officer Lister taunts the tree, which suddenly, prompts it to move and grab his leg. Things then suddenly became worse as the house attacks them and devours Officer Landers alive while sadistically playing with Officer Lister whom it grabbed via branches before eventually tossing him into its mouth.

The police officers, however, were not the sole target, as they had the trees grab the police car and devour it into its mouth inside along with the kids. The kids managed to escape but are trapped inside the house as they witness the house’s interior revert back to normal.

DJ convinces his friends to keep up with their search for the house's furnace. There, they discovered Nebbercracker’s old explosives and photographs depicting Nebbercracker when he was young alongside his wife Constance when she was alive. DJ stated that Zee and Bones had a conversation about Nebbercracker’s past life and assumed that he devoured Constance much to Jenny’s disgust. Just then, Chowder spotted the hanging lamp (the uvula) in the house’s hall, prompting them to shoot it. This, however, nearly caused the house to awaken as the house' main hall turned into a mouth-like cavern before spitting a large amount of green slime water. It then had a beam of light search the house's main hall where the beam came from one of the windows. Here, Jenny stated that the main hall was deformed into some kind of mouth cavity where the opened hole acts like a throat, the rug acts as a tongue, deformed woods around the door acts as teeth, while the hanging lamp acts as a uvula.

The kids then resume the investigation when suddenly, the floor below them opened, sending them to the basement where Nebbercracker kept the stolen toys from the children. There, they also discovered what appeared to be Constance's carriage that DJ opened with a key that he found back when Nebbercracker's body was taken away by medics. When they entered it, they discovered Constance's corpse which was covered by a cement layer. Around her dead body, they found some flowers and photos that people would normally place on the grave of their loved ones.

However, DJ accidentally desecrated Constance's remains by breaking the concrete casing that covered the corpse, revealing the skeleton and inciting the house's fury. The house then picks them up one by one after spotting the kids before they find the place to hide. The house had the slinkies snatch Chowder before doing the same on the pipes (organs) that snatch Jenny and had the wooden stairs attack DJ, who barely escaped back to the hall that turned into a mouth cavity, with his friends nearly devoured. Thanks to Jenny's quick actions in pulling the house's lamp, the possessed house ended up vomiting them to the outside, along with the contraptions that they supposedly used to make it sleep.

Terrors that they endured caused Chowder and DJ to argue with each other with Jenny breaking up their fight. DJ has considered abandoning the case after being fed up with the argument, only to be unexpectedly hit by an ambulance by accident which turned out to be hijacked by the still-living Nebbercracker. DJ was happy that he didn't cause the old man to be killed, but only crippled him instead. Nebbercracker then lashed out to the trio to leave, but his wrath quickly changes into worry as he realised that it was Halloween and kids would be approaching his house. He then approaches his house which becomes possessed again but somewhat became gentle to him. By this point, DJ learned that all this time, the house was possessed by Constance's restless spirit and they didn't know that it became a monster and Against his friends' protests, DJ tries to talk some sense with Nebbercracker about the truth behind his wrathful and suspicious behavior. Nebbercracker was at first furious after he had discovered the truth, but eventually relents and tells them both his and Constance's story. All of his bad deeds toward the children were merely ruse to keep them away from his wife's wrathful spirit after the latter's accidental murder by bullies and because of it, he was forced to become a child hater so Constance, now as the possessed house and wrathful spirit, won't be able to destroy and consume everything on her path.

Aware that the old man cannot do that forever, DJ convinces Nebbercracker to put her out of her misery as this is the better way. Therefore, Constance has suffered too long and despite his benevolent intentions to keep the children away from the house, it won't improve either of their lives Having overheard the conversation and witnessing her husband holding another's hand, Constance becomes consumed with rage and goes berserk and tears the house free from its foundations and begins to chase her husband and the kids via arms/feet made of trees on the property. The four of them run in terror, going down an alleyway where Nebbercracker is forced to stay behind due to his old age preventing him from keeping up and encouraging the kids to go on without him. The house continues to chase down DJ and his friends until they were near a construction site, where, for the safety of the children, Nebbercracker throws a stone brick at his house and stands up against Constance, revealing his non-child-hating ways in the process.

Whilst managing to calm the house down, Nebbercracker laments over the fact that he has failed to keep his wife's wrath from hurting others and turning her into what she is now a true monster. This saddens the house and provides Nebbercracker an opportunity to end his wife's suffering using a stick of dynamite. The house, however, does not take this well and grabs Nebbercracker to eat him for this apparent betrayal before DJ, Chowder, and Jenny arrive just in time with an excavator, which proves effective against the house. As the house fights with Chowder, who is controlling the vehicle, DJ is given the dynamite and is told to destroy the house for good.

DJ and Jenny are knocked into the construction site as a result of the house and Chowder's battle on top of the cliff that leads down to the site. They manage to formulate a plan where Chowder will lure the house under a crane so that the two can drop the stick of dynamite down its chimney which leads to the heart. This plan is stalled, however, when the house is dragged down the hill and it breaks apart as a result, leading to the heroes celebrating their apparent victory. This celebration is short-lived, however, as Constance's control over the house is still intact and she manages to reform it from its broken remains, resulting in a more horrific and monstrous form that proceeds to devour the excavator before chasing Chowder.

Upon reaching the crane, DJ uses it to swing over the house's chimney and throws the dynamite down to its heart. This causes the house to explode and Constance's spirit to be released, allowing her to spend a peaceful and loving moment with her husband before passing on, signifying that her wrath is finally gone. Nebbercracker is happy that both she and him are finally free from their torment and proceeds to return all the toys he had taken back to the children of the neighborhood. In the end, all the house's victims were revealed to be alive as well as they crawl out of the house's foundations.

Appearance:[]

Constance was a tall obese woman with short black hair, pale pink cheeks, and grey eyes. Her legs are short with seemingly fat arms, giving her poor ability to reach, run or climb. In her first appearance, she wore a green dress with white flowers and heels. Before her death, her dress was full red.

After taking possession of the house, Constance's physical appearance is shaped like a head; the hair is made of black trapezoid roof tiles with the chimney placed on the right side where the heart is, although the location of the furnace is yet unknown. Her wooden skin is a desert sand colour. Her eyes are windows of different shapes, her left eye is square and her right eye is arch. The eyes have blinds similar to eyebrows to express her emotions. Her eyes can glow depending on the time of the day. The lower part of her face has the same wider roof and a platform where the door should be. When awakened or disturbed, her mouth shows small wooden plank-like teeth framed by the door. She also has extra-large ones to give a powerful bite. The house becomes dirty due to the age Constance is reaching.

Inside the house, the room functions similar to a human's inner mouth. Her tongue resembles a red elongated carpet, a chandelier resembling a uvula, and a green throat which is an opened pit with sharp boards circling.

When consumed by rage, the house has two trees linked to its head that are its chimney emitting a red glow and smoke, indicating its heart is racing. Its overall appearance is more ferocious than its previous state, having several large boards protruding from its jaws. Its windows are now a fiery orange colour.

In its final form, the house resembles a porcupine made of timber boards, with the shattered yet same windows and a triangular mouth with a longer flange chimney set in the center of its head. Its left tree arm is placed at the end of its tail and its right arm(still intact) is smaller and thinner.

The way the house resembles a human is simple, the roof tiles are the hair, the windows are eyes, the door way is the mouth, the floorboards and timber are the teeth, the frame work is the skeleton, the blinds are eye lids, the light fitting is the uvula, the hole in the floor is the throat, the pipes are the organs like intestines or vanes, the furnace is the heart, the trees are the arms, the carpet is the tongue, the walls are the skin, the vents are the windpipe and lungs, the mains water is the blood, the electrical wiring is the nerves and spinel cord, the brain is possibly the attic, the basement is the stomach and so forth.

Relationships:[]

Mr Nebbercracker

The complex relationship between Nebbercracker and Constance can be described as a mix of love, fear, and tragedy. While they are married and have a history together, their relationship goes through profound challenges.

Nebbercracker, deeply concerned about the destructive and dangerous nature of Constance, takes it upon himself to protect their community by confining her within their house. He becomes the caretaker of the house, making sure she remains contained.

However, this containment also represents a sense of imprisonment for Constance. Being trapped within the house for years, Constance's anger and frustration grow, leading to destructive outbursts aimed at anyone who comes near the property.

Despite Nebbercracker's intentions to protect their neighborhood, there is an underlying sadness and regret in his interactions with Constance. He remembers her as she once was, before her transformation, and likely mourns the loss of their former life. This mixture of love and sorrow is evident in how he interacts with her whenever he can temporarily calm her down.

Ultimately, the relationship between Nebbercracker and Constance serves as a tragic tale of a once-loving couple torn apart by unfortunate circumstances.

DJ

Constance hates DJ mainly because he is trying to stop her plan from eating all children on Halloween night and when he tells her husband to let her go.

Chowder

constance hates chowder as much she hates DJ and Jenny, in fact the two of them mock each other back and forth throughout the movie.

Jenny

Constance hates Jenny because she helped DJ and chowder to stop her evil plan and was the one who cause herself to throw her, DJ and chowder out of the house.


Trivia:[]

  • In terms of her backstory, Constance was similar to the Onryō vengeful spirits from Japanese mythology as they both were wronged in their lifetime and are ultimately killed (though Constance's murder was accidental) and resulting in them becoming restless souls that terrorise the living. Unlike the Onryō however, Constance's restless spirit possesses her house most of the time though she briefly manifests a shadowy apparition when DJ took a peek into his house.
  • Constance also shares similarities with Martha from Hotel Transylvania, another animated movie from Sony which is also about Halloween and also starred Steve Buscemi. They both loved their husbands so much before they perished (Constance died in the construction of the house and Martha was killed by enraged humans). However, both movies are six years apart from each other. Monster House (directed by Gil Kenan) was made in 2006 and Hotel Transylvania (directed by Genndy Tartakovsky) was made in 2012.
  • Constance was also similar to Lady Mamiya from Sweet Home as they both came back as restless spirits haunting their own homes and will attack anybody who comes near them.
  • Despite being the main villain in both movie and the game boy advance and Nintendo GameCube versions, Constance does not appear in the Nintendo DS game version.
  • Early drafts of the film revealed concepts for Constance's character that were not used due to being deemed too disturbing and to keep the rating:
    • The interior of the house possessed by Constance was warped that it resembled much more interior of human organs.
    • When Chowder explores the house and stumbles upon a large mirror that used to be Constance's mirror, Constance's spirit appears in the mirror and attacked him.
    • The early script also further cemented Constance's status as an antagonist who posed a greater threat than either Bones or Zee as there was a scrapped scene where Zee also ends up being attacked by Constance
    • Constance's victims were supposed to die, but the creators decide to have them alive.

Quotes:[]

  • "Aah! Get away from my house! I'm gonna rip them to bits!"
  • "Hurt?! Yes, I'm hurt! Those criminals are attacking our house!"
  • "No, no, no. It's my house, and they're HURTING ME!"
  • “(Roars)”

Gallery:[]


Characters
Children: DJ Chowder Jenny Eliza
Adults: Mr. Walters Elena Walters Zee Bones Skull Horace Constance Officer Landers Officer Lister
Animals: Kevin
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