After a title sequence that sets both the setting and the tone, "The Funhouse" begins with a nice nudge-nudge, wink-wink that combines the opening of "Halloween" with the shower scene from "Psycho." Amy Harper (Elizabeth Berridge) has a pesky younger brother, Joey (Shawn Carson), who violates their sibling propriety so badly that she pins him up against the wall and says not only will she not take him to the carnival that is in town, she will, one day, at a place and time of her choosing, get him in a way that will pretty much scar him for life.
Our story really begins when Amy's dad forbids her to go to the carnival, because a couple of girls were found dead after it left a nearby town. Of course Amy not only goes to the carnival with her date, Buzz (Cooper Huckabee) and her friends Liz (Largo Woodruff) and Richie (Miles Chapin), but after enjoying the freak shows and other tacky sideshow attractions, she ends up going along with Richie's brilliant idea to spend the night in the Funhouse. However, before the two couples can get really comfortable they witness a gruesome and unexpected murder on the level below them, and when they make the mistake of letting the killer know that they are there, the fun really begins.
This horror film really benefits from the setting, both in terms of the seedy carnival and the mechanical innards of the funhouse itself. There is a slight let down because the funhouse ride, which the quartet take so that they can jump off to hide for the night, is nothing special. On the one hand, that is not surprising, because this is a seedy little carnival. But the title credits heighten our expectations and it is actually not until the power is off in the funhouse and the figures are all still that they start to creep you out. You know most of our little group is going to end up dead and Amy meets the only requirement a young woman needed to survive a splatter flick way back then, but Buzz actually does a decent job of keeping his head and trying to fight back, which is a rather welcome surprise, even though it is obviously a doomed effort.
The script by Lawrence Block was based on a novel by Dean Koontz, but once it became clean the finished film was going off in a different direction, Koontz got his name pulled from the credits. Despite that badge of dishonor, "The Funhouse" is an above average splatter flick and one of the few that came out in the wake of "Halloween" that was not a wretched disappointment. Final Thought: I wonder if years later, when Cooper Huckabee and Kevin Conway (who plays the carny barker) both appeared in the film "Gettysburg" if they got together and commented on the fact that they got out of "The Funhouse" with their careers alive. Then again, Conway does give the best performance in the flick and has all of the good lines.
From the beginning of the opening credits start and the movie's title flashes up on the screen, John Beal's sinister soundtrack let's one know that there's going to be menace in store. It takes a while to get going perhaps, but the wait is well worth it.
The set up is okay, too. Amy (Elisabeth Berridge) is getting ready for her first date with Buzz (Cooper Huckabee). Their double date, who set them up, Richie and Liz (Miles Chaplin & Largo Woodruff) is joining them for a night at the traveling carnival, Early on in the film, one character mentions the previous year the carnival had came, it had coincided with a couple of murders in the town. Coincidence? Come to the funhouse to find out.
After Buzz and a rigid Amy get off on the wrong foot, eventually everyone relaxes and is having a good time at the carnival. There's some pot smoking, seeing a "boring" magic show with a great little ending, obnoxiously heckling a fortune teller and seeing an "Amazing Animals" show with all sorts of deformities, including what looks like a baby mutation.
Then Richie has a great idea! Spend an overnight in the funhouse at the park for kicks. The girls call home to make an excuse to their parents.
There's a nice scene in all of this with Amy listening intently to the announcer in front of the funhouse..."You will scream with terror...you will beg for release, but there will be no escape...for there is no release from the funhouse". Sets the tone well.
Liz saying to Richie, "this better be good", with he enthusiastically replying "It's gonna be great!", the quartet take a ride in the funhouse, jumping off their cars mid-ride. The park closes, and as the night's crowds are leaving, the growing danger can be felt and safety diminished with the four still inside as the camera pulls an aerial view of the diminishing crowd going home.
From there, it's a flat out horror movie. Period. It's scary and intense. After witnessing a murder, and being found out by carnival owner Kevin Conway and his son, visuals and sounds play an abundant part to the unknown terror that could be lurking around every corner, and director Tobe Hooper knows it. This movie ain't titled "The Funhouse" for nothing. It's all about the atmosphere.
The four "teens" are good in their roles. Miles Chapin was 27 when he did this, but I actually bought him as a college age kid. Huckabee does the requisite hunk hero adequately enough here. The girls are worth watching, though. My guess is Elizabeth Berridge's agent tried to set her up as the next scream queen with this one. Interesting that she's really more trained into theater and does a lot of stage work today. The real scream queen is Woodruff, however. She's really good and totally believable, and perhaps the most memorable scene of the movie involves her trapped in a vent with a scary visitor. She is absolutely terrified, desperately trying to talk her way out of her situation and I bought every minute of it.
Both Conway and his son, played by mime Wayne Doba, are also good. Conway is simultaneously disgusted at and affectionate towards his son, and Doba potrays a range of emotions just from his body language alone, and there is sympathy for him, although he is as frightening as hell.
Admittedly, some of the material seems a bit padded to fit a 90 minute feature and could be taken out. Some of it is mean spirited, and the little brother subplot is rather weak, although it does lead up to one nice scene involving a character reaching for safety that is close, but yet so far away.
Overall, however, "The Funhouse" is quite a good watch.
This is a creepy and fun movie based upon the novel of the same name.
Highly recommended.reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, page 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
