The Funhouse - Movie Review

A review from Michael G. Kelley (Michael Kikle).

The Funhouse
(or "Tobe Tries Again")

Right at the seven-year mark of the anniversary of his then-and-still-now classic, Tobe Hooper, the man responsible for "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", creates a film very much in the vein of Massacre. This film is called "The Funhouse", and--by God!--is it worth at least a single viewing from every horror fan on the planet!

After her little brother pranks her whilst she's in the shower, our sort-of main character (a teenager, of course) refuses to take him to the local carnival. Instead, she goes on a double date with her friend, even though her father asks her not to go to the carnival due to the passed year's discovery of bodies in one of the areas of the carnival. After trying to convince her date to just go to a movie, she is reluctantly talked into going to the carnival, anyway. Eventually, though, our protagonist's little brother sneaks out of the house and walks to the carnival, only finding himself not being able to leave the land the carnival is at due to his insatiably stupid character motives. If that sounded harsh, I promise you that I didn't totally dislike this kid; I kind of admired him, to be honest, because he reminds me a lot of myself, not just when I was his age, but now, as well. He's a lot like the teen from another Hooper flick, "'Salem's Lot". These two boys are both enormous classical horror fanatics, and Hooper might just be, too, because the film has a TON of references to "Frankenstein" and "The Wolfman" (which are two of my favorites). Even the debatable villian of the film has many parallels to the Monster, and that adds a new layer to the film that gains my curiosity as well as my confusion. What I mean is that I'm not sure the hint of themes I think I'm seeing, vaguely, in the film are really there. But, for some reason, I can't fault the film on that mentality, because I feel as though it adds to the paranoia sense the film executes extremely well. Thinking back at the film, it's definitely violent, but there wasn't a single drop of blood. As a longtime fan of the genre, I was stunned. I like that about Hooper's films.

After that little ramble, though, I'll get on track again: The main teens we've followed around the carnival decide to spend the entire night in the horrific Funhouse attraction. This is stupid, yes, but this film really utilizes the Funhouse setting to access some of the nerves in me that haven't been touched since the Funhouse in "Dark Ride" (which is a more recent film).

That laughing dummy? Yeah, I'll never get to sleep tonight, because of that f****r-with-a-capital-eff.

Another trait this flick has inherited from Massacre is that the characters are interesting, to some degree, but really aren't developed too much. I actually found myself hoping that three of the four main teens would make it out of the Funhouse scenario. The blonde was the most lacking of the four in personality. If there's a blank slate in the film, it's her. But I feel like the rest of the cast (including the little brother of our main character) were fine in their roles.

Another prize worth collecting in "The Funhouse" is Hooper's fantastic directing. That quality, in my opinion, easily hits the levels of Massacre". It might even be punching Massacre's teeth in.

What a creepy ride.

If you want an older horror flick that no one really talks about anymore, this is your dude.

My rating for "The Funhouse" is a 3/5.

Let me know what you guys think of the film, my review, or whatever in the comments!

God bless!

Author's Note

Love you guys! If you want to hear my opinions on other films and books, check out my YouTube channel, Michael Kikle!