FUNHOUSE (1981)

[Friac]

Man.....what a crappy movie!:mad: :(

This movie is about a bunch of teenagers that're spending the night in a "spooky" funhouse at the local carnival. The retarted/mutilated son of the owner murders someone of the "family", and then the whole thing goes wrong...

The movie also goes VERY wrong!! Man, I can't believe I wasted 3,5 euros on this piece of absolute trash!

The director is...TOBE HOOPER! Come on, the man who made "Poltergeist" (which I didn't like, but it's a succes) and the hit-movie "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"!! How can he waste his talents on this terribly bad movie???

The actors are terrible, the story is one of the dumbest I've ever seen, that son really pissed me off,....

Is everybody with me, or are there some people who actually liked this movie?

If there are any, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but this movie belongs to the 5 most worthless movies ever made to my opinion...

Tobe Hooper, shame yourself :mad:

[Jason13thh]

Goeie dag mijn vriend ! Hoe gaat het ?

Okay dutch is not my mother tongue but you know I try.

Funhouse is average I have it but I expected it to be much better than that.
It has atmosphere but I don't know something was missing.
The "heroine" is gorgeous.

[spacemonkey]

I like this movie, its strength lies in its freaky circus characters and its constant hammering of its themes. Its like Tobe Hooper was constantly reminding us "this is a freaky circus!" Also (as in most of his movies) Hooper shows his love for old horror films.

The pacing lags in certain areas which is its main problem most of the time.

But once it gets going I think it works.

Heres (http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62528&highlight=Funhouse) my review for it.

[Cushing]

I think you'll find a lot of Funhouse fans out there .
I certainly think it's one of Hoopers best movies . I love the build up , the extremely creepy carnival , the monster ........ in fact the whole thing .
I especially like the Universal homage ending with all of it's crashing effects and lights . Then again it was made in an age when pathos was still considered important in movies .

[Kaos]

The book by Dean Koontz was a little better, it gave us a back story and motive for the carny and monster. They weren't just killing for the hell of it. There was a reason, and it was actually worked into the story quite well.

[spacemonkey]

Originally posted by Cushing
I think you'll find a lot of Funhouse fans out there .
I certainly think it's one of Hoopers best movies . I love the build up , the extremely creepy carnival , the monster ........ in fact the whole thing .
I especially like the Universal homage ending with all of it's crashing effects and lights . Then again it was made in an age when pathos was still considered important in movies .


I noticed Hooper homage to Universal films in this one too, specially towards the beginning. The girls room she had all sorts of horror posters on the walls like Frankenstein and The Werewolf and then when she goes downstairs her parents are watching The Bride of Frankenstein so that was obviously a nudge to those flicks.

[!MorganOnyx!]

STILL haven't seen it, and ARRRAAAGGGGHHHH!!! It pisses me off!! You see THE FUNHOUSE became unfairly slapped on the video nasty list in the UK by the BBFC because of it's relation to THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE! It's been banned since 1984 and is unlikely to see the light of day because it just isn't well known enough!! BOLLOCKS to the BBFC which proves they don't have a clue!!

But then again, I saw DEATH TRAP (EATEN ALIVE) for the first time recently, and I'm not sure TOBE HOOPER is actually a good horror director. I think he just got lucky with one movie. DEATH TRAP is fucking awful. Do I still want to see THE FUNHOUSE?...............................YES! What's wrong with me?!!

[XCoRyX]

its been a while since I saw it,I only saw it once when I was about 8,and from what I remember it was pretty cool and nicely atmospheric...

[Friac]

You people make me sick...:D

That heroïne wasn't gorgeous at all, my fellow belgian friend, she looked like a 10-year old girl with a weird-looking head :)

Nah, Funhouse definitely isn't my thing...Can somebody give me some other Hooper-titles please?

[countchocula]

Hooper's resume is inconsistent to say the very least, but The Funhouse is one of his better films. Friac, you might want to look into Lifeforce. It's about a vampiric space vixen. Personally, it didn't tickle my pickle, but it has a bounty of rabid followers.

[spacemonkey]

Originally posted by Friac
Nah, Funhouse definitely isn't my thing...Can somebody give me some other Hooper-titles please?

More Tobe fun:

Eaten Alive
Salems Lot
The Funhouse
Poltergeist
Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
Lifeforce
Invaders from Mars (1986)
Spontanious Combustion
The Mangler
Night Terrors
Taken (mini series)
Crocodile
The Toolbox Murders (still waiting for release)

[xlr8r]

This is the problem I have with Tobe Hooper. Almost all of his films are terrible, yet people seem to love them. I have seen them all. I honestly don't even see the big deal with TCM. I watched it again recently, and I thought it was OK, not the holy grail of horror like a lot of people think. "The Funhouse" is another one. It's pretty awful, folks. I own "Lifeforce", it is entertaining in it's big-budget badness, what a complete mess!
"Spontaneous Combustion" and "The Mangler"?? Are you kidding? They are terrible.
Just my opinion, but Hooper has put out a lot of crap over the years, but that's alright. I own a lot of movies by other directors that people would consider to be crap, so to each his own.
Hooper has really milked his one-note TCM for all it's worth.

[Jason13thh]

Not gorgeous ? Come on !
... To Friac.

[_eraserhead]

Originally posted by spacemonkey
More Tobe fun:

Eaten Alive
Salems Lot
The Funhouse
Poltergeist
Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
Lifeforce
Invaders from Mars (1986)
Spontanious Combustion
The Mangler
Night Terrors
Taken (mini series)
Crocodile
The Toolbox Murders (still waiting for release)

You forgot Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1)...

[SykkBoy]

I liked "The Funhouse" though I recently watched it and didn't care for it as much as when I was a kids and caught it a couple times on HBO.

I had a crush on Elizabeth Barridge too....maybe it was the brief glimpse of a nice set of nips...

[Friac]

I'm soooooo confused right now :rolleyes:

There's no way I could realise why you guys think this movie is any good :D Maybe I should give it a second chance, I'll keep you informed ;)


(And the heroïne is sleezy, not pretty :eek: Or maybe American girls just aren't as pretty as Belgian girls :p )

[SixStrangSmoker]

im not gonna sit here and say that its the best ever, but when i was young i really dug that freak w/ the big head

sos i give it a thumb up..
the butt HA

[SixStrangSmoker]

Originally posted by spacemonkey
More Tobe fun:

Eaten Alive
Salems Lot
The Funhouse
Poltergeist
Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
Lifeforce
Invaders from Mars (1986)
Spontanious Combustion
The Mangler
Night Terrors
Taken (mini series)
Crocodile
The Toolbox Murders (still waiting for release)

Please dont be mad, i hate know-it-all dorks,
but Crocodile was an alternative title to Eaten Alive, so its the same film

[Meep]

i'd rank this as one of tobe's best efforts.

There is some genuine grimness especially during the extended carnival sequences.

I also had a thing for berrige.

[SykkBoy]

Originally posted by Friac
I'm soooooo confused right now :rolleyes:

There's no way I could realise why you guys think this movie is any good :D Maybe I should give it a second chance, I'll keep you informed ;)


couldn't hurt ;-)

I didn't like Jeepers Creepers on my first viewing, but it's become one I've come to enjoy much more with repeated viewings...

[spacemonkey]

Originally posted by SixStrangSmoker
Please dont be mad, i hate know-it-all dorks,
but Crocodile was an alternative title to Eaten Alive, so its the same film

Nah man, Check it out Crocodile was a stv flick directed by Tobe in 2000, and Eaten Alive was the one he filmed after Texas Chainsaw I in 1977. I didnt put TCM I on my list because they had allready mentioned it before.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004YS98.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Crocodile (2000)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00002ZMNF.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Eaten Alive (1977)

[spacemonkey]

Originally posted by Friac
I'm soooooo confused right now :rolleyes:

There's no way I could realise why you guys think this movie is any good :D Maybe I should give it a second chance, I'll keep you informed ;)


Hey Im not saying its the best horror flick ever, most of Tobe Hooper films are so-so, but it is a fun carnival flick with its own carnival charm. I think theres room in the world for sleazy flicks like the ones Tobe makes. Funhouse included.

[SixStrangSmoker]

Originally posted by spacemonkey
Nah man, Check it out Crocodile was a stv flick directed by Tobe in 2000, and Eaten Alive was the one he filmed after Texas Chainsaw I in 1977. I didnt put TCM I on my list because they had allready mentioned it before.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004YS98.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Crocodile (2000)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00002ZMNF.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Eaten Alive (1977)

I apologize dude, you are 100% correct

Eaten ALive was also known as "Brutes and Savages", "Death Trap", "Horror Hotel", "Horror Hotel Massacre", "Legend of the Bayou", and "Starlight Slaughter."

I thought Crocodile was one of those but it is a different film. I owe you a Coke and a doobie:D

[MadmanMARZ]

The 70´s and early 80´s Tobe was OK...
Salem´s Lot , Funhouse, Poltergeist, Death trap and Texas chainsaw1 are true horrormovies, but int the mid 80´s it went wrong for him...it started with Texas 2, then Mangler, Night terrors, then TV...
Will he be back with a great Toolbox Murders???
I doubt it but only time will tell...

[spacemonkey]

Originally posted by MadmanMARZ
The 70´s and early 80´s Tobe was OK...
Salem´s Lot , Funhouse, Poltergeist, Death trap and Texas chainsaw1 are true horrormovies, but int the mid 80´s it went wrong for him...it started with Texas 2, then Mangler, Night terrors, then TV...
Will he be back with a great Toolbox Murders???
I doubt it but only time will tell...

Well the reviews have been great! Many have said that this will be the movie that will put Hooper back on the map.

Its the original Toolbox Murders but with a supernatural twist (like many of Hoopers flicks), so naturally me being the big ass Hooper fan that I am, I cant wait for its release.

[pyscho dude]

Hey Funhouse comes on tonight at 10:00 pm on AMC.

[XCoRyX]

Originally posted by pyscho dude
Hey Funhouse comes on tonight at 10:00 pm on AMC.

yeah i tried watching it,and my bro took the TV to watch a basketball game,and the upstairs TV doesn't get AMC,so I was a bit pissed...weird how this topic came to mind and then bam it comes on TV.

[!MorganOnyx!]

XCORYX -

Dude you should have kicked his ass!! Basketball is cool and all but unless it was the SUPERSONICS playing I would've watched the bastard film!!!

Anyway, I just want to point out that THE TOOLBOX MURDERS is utter shite. What a watse of my money that was. I've always said HOOPER was a one off! He just got lucky with one film, and has proved since he is not a good director. This remake bollocks will just push him further into obscurity. Why on earth would he want to do this movie?!!!! Is he braindead?!!

[Dr. Giggles]

Originally posted by Kaos
The book by Dean Koontz was a little better

Koontz didn't write that, Owen Wilson did.

[edit]

I remember reading in fango that Hooper had quite a few problems with THE FUNHOUSE because his first cut was too violent. He was forced to edit and re-shoot a few scenes so the film wouldn't get slapped with an "X".

Still a fun creepy movie though.

[teenkiller]

The Funhouse was one of the first non mainstream horror films I saw when I was a very young child, along with Bloody Birthday, The Pit, and Slaughter High. I found it to be a very cool film. Loved the carnival setting. The other night to my surprise I caught part of it on AMC. I think it still held up rather well after all these years. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[Kaos]

Originally posted by Dr. Giggles
Koontz didn't write that, Owen Wilson did.

True, but Owen Wilson was a pen name Koontz used. The copy of the book I picked up said "previously published under the pseudonym Owen West. It also has an afterword where Koontz talkes about writing in 1980 before he became a well known name and why he used a pen name.

[Grega77]

I saw this movie on AMC last night and i liked it.
Is this movie out on DVD?
I would like to see it on DVD to see the unedited version.
Let me know. Thanks.

[countchocula]

Yes, The Funhouse is on DVD and shouldn't be too hard to locate.

[Inglorious]

Originally posted by XCoRyX
yeah i tried watching it,and my bro took the TV to watch a basketball game,and the upstairs TV doesn't get AMC,so I was a bit pissed...weird how this topic came to mind and then bam it comes on TV.

That seems to happen alot around these parts I have noticed. Anyway, I am going to check this out. I like the Carnival flicks.