Watch horror Movies for free with Amazon Prime

House of 1000 Corpses

House of 1000 corpses
2003
9
Director: 
Rob Zombie

SYNOPSIS: 

Taking his cue from such 1970s horror classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977), animated rocker Rob Zombie goes celluloid with the throwback shocker House of 1000 Corpses. Running low on gas as they travel the highways of America in search of the ultimate roadside attraction, a group of teens pull into Captain Spaulding's (Sid Haig) museum of oddities (which also offers fried chicken and gasoline) only to become obsessed with uncovering the mystery of a legendary local maniac known only as Dr. Satan. When an attractive and mysterious hitchhiker subsequently offers to give the thrill seekers a personal tour of Dr. Satan's old stabbing grounds, a breakdown forces them to take refuge with a group of menacing oddballs as a fearsome storm rages outside. As the evening progresses and the backwoods hosts' Halloween festivities become ever more threatening, the teens soon realize that the legend of Dr. Satan may hold a bit more contemporary weight than any of them had previously thought.

REVIEW: 

Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses has nostalgia on its side but not much else. Pretending the last 20 years of teen slasher flicks never existed, Zombie creates a strange burlesque cocktail that reimagines The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by way of Vulgar. Four teenagers go chasing after an urban legend (Doctor Satan) in backwater USA and meet strange with an ex-prom queen (a busty Karen Black) and her immediate family. The kids have to wear masks before they can chow down on Halloween dessert and soon find themselves rubbing shoulders with several corpses-cum-scarecrows hanging outside Mother Firefly's lovely estate. Zombie's film-stock fetish gives 1000 Corpses a welcomed homespun quality but the effect quickly wears off. Not unlike Zombie's clip for his song "Living Dead Girl," 1000 Corpses is a playful shout-out to the horror films of yesteryear but there's little meat beneath the admiration. In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, anticipation was Tobe Hooper's weapon of choice. Only once does Zombie successfully channel the hellish dread of Hooper's masterpiece. High above the Death compound, Zombie's camera observes the preening Otis (Bill Moseley) as he aims a gun to a man's head and it feels like an eternity before he pulls the trigger. If not for the blink-and-miss sideshow attractions (most notable is the sight of the howl-inducing Fish Boy) and stockpile of memorable quotes (if "He performed lurid acts on my person" and "You stupid fucking whore" don't tickle your fancy, there's also "I'm going to cut you like a pig and make you eat your own intestines"), 1000 Corpses would have been easier to shrug off. This vintage curio is proudly and humorously derivative but that familiar aftertaste is that of wasted opportunities.

Post by Frank Moran on 23/03/2015 - 13:52
Tags: 
clown massacre gore splatter blood Texas

SIMILAR MOVIES REVIEWS

Mockingbird movie Mockingbird

2014

I have always believed that it’s not always the way the movie ends that matters, it’s how you get there. While it’s true that many a bad ending have ruined films for me in the past, it isn’t always the case. Of course it’s ideal that the viewer be left in the dark when it comes to big twist endings that everyone will be talking about; but if the film is strong enough throughout, the setup should be as important than the ultimate payoff. In real life, when people are faced with the things similar to what we see in horror films, there isn’t always closure. It’s probably quite rare to have everything tidied up all nice and some form... Read More

Clown the movie Clown

2014

Hating clowns is pretty much a religious observance in Western culture. No one really needs to explain, ‘I hate clowns’, and no one ever seems to be indifferent to them, let alone like the things, save for women of a certain age who are into naff figurines; it’s weird, though, that so many people have an opinion on something they haven’t ever seen first-hand in their original environment. I don’t know many people who’ve even been to the circus or ever had clowns turn up to entertain them at parties, or if they have, it’s certainly not frequent and/or traumatic enough to create a genuine aversion to them. In fact, most folk seem to... Read More

OTHER MOVIES REVIEWS

Candyman

2021

Sequel to "Candyman" from 1992, based on the story "The Forbidden" by Clive Barker which was in turn inspired by a popular belief. Candyman is an iconic character especially for African-American audiences, a sort of Freddy Krueger but with a big hook instead of blades. I loved the original film, but this one is not bad at all, a sharp and ruthless film, crossed by a constant and growing uneasiness, without an excessive use of splatter it is still visually hallucinatory. Excellent direction by the unknown Nia Da Costa and the performances of the cast.

Occhiali neri

2022

First part is good, it seems to return to the atmosphere and style of Italian thriller/horror cinema from fifty years ago and this is a good thing, we immediately recognize the unmistakable style of Dario Argento, good Asia Argento and Ilenia Pastorelli... but then the collapse begins! When the whole story is reduced to running away from the murderer, we enter the paradoxical and inexplicable, such as to provoke contrasting reactions from laughter to indignation. Dialogues so simple that they seem written by a child. Tragicomic ending, but still a particular film that in... Read More

Tarot

2024

A light film with a standard scheme packaged very well, captivating images, designed for a young audience and in this case more female, dealing with topics related to the supernatural such as astrology, and tarot reading, always much loved by girls. Hence also the choice of a very soft horror without gruesome scenes, built around four or five deaths and with a happy ending. Based on a novel "Horrorscope" by Nicholas Adams.

Knock at the cabin

2023

Freely adapted from the novel by Paul G. Tremblay, "The House at the End of the World", a psychological thriller that for an hour and forty minutes, plays excellently on ambiguity and sadism, sowing doubts and clues that, even before putting us in front of the apocalyptic fait accompli, prefer to push the characters and the viewer himself to ask who we should give our trust to. Shyamalan inspired the one who holds the anxious helm of Knocking at the Door, with a rhythm and a staging of great value, in which the violence is not explicitly shown but leaves room for the... Read More

Longlegs

2024

A satanic and unrecognizable Nicolas Cage in one of the most complex and successful horror films of the year. Oz Perkins, son of the iconic Anthony (Psycho) directs a horror for adults, finally without screaming and laughing teenagers. Very beautiful images in a sulphurous, depressing and morbid atmosphere... it reminds us of cornerstones such as "The Silence of the Lambs" in particular for how it proposes the detective-killer scheme. A cynical film, about the fall of illusions instilled in us as children by weak mothers, and it is the detective's mother who... Read More