Runtime: 95 minutes
Directed by: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Elizabeth Berridge, Cooper Huckabee, Kevin Conway, Largo Woodruff, Miles Chapin
From: Universal
Pro tip: Never go on a date with a guy named Buzz who works at the filling station.
As the official October deal of watching horror movies on Letterboxd is named after Tobe Hooper, I might as well see one of his pictures even if I have never officially participated in that. The premise sounded interested (something I have thought for all the years I have known of this) so this is what I went with.
After an opening that pays blatant homage to both Halloween and Psycho (it's not a cheap ripoff due to what they were going for) we see that a quartet of young adults go to a skeevy carnival in town. I've been to county fairs before but nothing like this... along with the food stands, carnival games and rides are freakshow attractions-including deformed animals & a burlesque act-and the titular funhouse, which is a dark ride. The carnies (more than one played by Kevin Conway, believe it or not) are all as peculiar as you'd expect-I don't want to paint them all w/ the same brush but they do not have the best reputation-and trouble starts with a mysterious figure that wears a Boris Karloff Frankenstein's monster mask, for good reason.
The various negative reviews I've seen for The Funhouse... I get it. The first half is setup and time spent with characters that are not terribly complex. Furthermore, this is not to be seen if you want inventive gore and unforgettable kills-then again, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was not about the kills either. Personally, this gets by due to the setting & atmosphere. That carnival was brought to life pretty well & the funhouse itself is a ghoulish delight filled with plenty of fun and appealing bric-a-brac. It was fine seeing the movie take its time and let the audience experience this distinctive setting, where there is plenty of different activities.
While not the boldest or strongest heroine, Elizabeth Berridge at least did a pretty good job bringing her character Amy to life. Some things did amuse me, not all that I can reveal due to spoiler reasons. Amy has a younger brother-Joey-whose presence always amused me. This included his room (their parents must be rather liberal if they allow a boy to be a horror fan and possess all those items in his room) and what he does in the opening. Also, I did crack wise at the Buzz character and him smoking weed while driving his muscle car isn't the most prudent thing to do... at least he was not a lout or a detestable character. While not my favorite Tobe Hooper by any means, I had enough of a good time with this to apply a nice rating.
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