The Funhouse | Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson | terrifies, shocks, amazes all at once

The Funhouse | Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson | 4.5 STARS: "...but there is no escape, from The Funhouse."

DVDs:

The Funhouse

	The Funhouse Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson Universal Studios, 1999 average customer review:based on 87 reviews view larger image
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terrifies, shocks, amazes all at once

had some humor in it
full of terror
that deformed son of the carnival master's is quite terrifying
it's like looking at an ape
putting him on drugs/steroids
splitting his face, and then bashing him 2 times with a baseball bat
one ugly m.f. that creature
I didn't expect it to kill that fortune teller lady like it did. I figured they'd struggle. and he'd stop. and she'd keep counting the money for him. the scene where the cart goes in with the kid. and the Frankenstein monster (aka the freak one) pushes the cart so it stops and you see no one is in the cart anymore. so the boy gets out somehow. but the last couple in front of him which were 2 of Amy's friends are gone to never be seen pretty much. and these kids don't realize they're not in the house where fun comes out to play
they're in the funhouse. where fun comes out to slay. literally
great movie
great actors
glad I have it on dvd
a timeless horror piece from Tobe Hooper
see this movie.
I shall watch this one 90 years from now still and still be terrified
I could watch it today, tomorrow, etc and still be terrified and get a giggle in here and there

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4.5 STARS: "...but there is no escape, from The Funhouse."

Tobe Hooper does it again with another brilliant horror flick in his masterpiece, "The Funhouse". What makes this movie so great is that it separates itself from the other 80's slasher flicks exceptionally well. There is much more to this film than just someone slashing up his/her victims.

The movie starts out with a nice little scare as Amy is tricked by her little brother who enjoys playing pranks on his sister. What is the significance of this first scene? Well, it certainly acts a precursor for things to come for both Amy and her little brother...both will experience the horror of The Funhouse before it's over and let me tell you, there is nothing fun about this Funhouse!!

The Funhouse itself brings me to my next point and that is the whole carnival scene really adds to this horror flick by producing a setting and situation that is just ideal for a good scary movie. Against her Father's wishes, Amy and her friends go to the carnival where last year, some people were killed. So, the "Father knows best" theme is another precursor for things to come...if Amy had listened to her father, she would not be getting into this terrifying situation that is the Funhouse.

Well, to compound her error, Amy agrees with her friends to spend the night in The Funhouse and they witness a murder, but this is no ordinary murder as the killer is a freak! Indeed, the whole carnival scene with freak shows and quirky people really adds a lot to this flick and provides that sense of the "unknown" and darkness to this film that is so essential to its success.

Well, to really make things worse, one of Amy's friends decides to steal some money from the carnival caretaker and this sets up a game of survival in which Amy and friends must survive the night in The Funhouse in order to see daylight again. The "freak" killer is terrifying indeed and his superhuman strength only adds more horror to Amy and her friends as they must find some way to stop this creature and his father.

I really love this film and while I don't give it 5 stars, I highly recommend this film for its mood and the carnival/freak sideshow theme as it is quite unique for the genre and is very successful at producing a building fear and horror in the audience that the majority of slasher films simply can not evoke because of the mundane setting and common situations that horror audiences see time after time with these films.

But, Tobe Hooper's "The Funhouse" is unique and that is what makes this film one of my favorite horror movies and in my opinion, a must own DVD. I see that another reviewer says "The Funhouse" is better than "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and while I would beg to differ with him there, I can not stress how truly great and original "The Funhouse" is.

Tobe Hooper's "The Funhouse" is a horror film that really works its horror through the setting of the carnival/Funshouse and a terrifying situation much better than 99% of other slasher flicks and that is what makes this horror film so effective and special.

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Step right up for Chills! Spills! Thrills!

"Two young couples decide to spend a night in a carnival funhouse, only to witness a murder. Now they find themselves trapped by the sadistic funhouse owner, and his deformed, psychotic son. This exercise in horror was directed by genre regular Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist)." - jacket description.

Two young couples venture into the underworld of the Carnival, behind the wholesom facade of Rockwellian depiction, to reveal a world of murder, sadism, and physical contortion. No one escapes the Funhouse. The laughing fat lady echoes jollyingly throughout the makeshift faregrounds, seemingly amused by the eustress of the rubes who subject themselves to the many freakish attractions and displays, including a two-headed cow. Yet nothing quite compares to the dreaded funhouse, where all manner of shadowmantic manifestation lays dormant to arise from the dark side of the minds of the observers. The couples witness too much for comfort, & are heralded into situations of true distress, from the menacing stare of the showman with his menacing dialogue, to the twisted horror of the lusts of his horridly-deformed son, of whose monstrosity The Elephant Man cannot compare.

From the grotesque clown heads who laugh diabolically, to the actual homicidal intentions of the inhabitants, The Funhouse provides an environment of true horror amidst the couples. Only one girl survives, yet is driven insane by the terrors of the Funhouse.

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Pretty good horror film- 3.5 stars

Funhouse was directed by TObe Hooper , same guy who directed the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is in noway as good as TCM but it is a good horror film. I admire Tobe's directing. The movie is about 4 kids who go to a carnival and sneak into a funhouse on a dare. They encounter a freak and his father or master and the freak trys to kill em all, they are locked in the funhouse. This reminded me a little bit of texas chainsaw massacre only in the sense that they had the freak who acted like leatherface , who cowared when the master or father came home ( back to the funhouse). The begining scenes of the freaks from the funhouse and dolls were creepy and so was the atmosphere but like i said this in noway compares to the masterpiece tcm. It is worth owning though if your a horror fan.

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