 A
Review of House of 1000 Corpses
I saw House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects
back to back on a Sunday night. House of 1000 Corpses
satisfied one of the needs I have in movie-going now: it was
different from anything else I'd ever seen. While it certainly paid
homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre school of filmmaking,
it certainly put its own spin on the artform.
House of 1000 Corpses is about two teenage couples on a
road trip who fall afoul of a family of serial killers after
exploring a sinister clown's museum of the macabre. The serial
killer family (The Firefly family) torture, degrade, and utterly
foul their victims in a bizarre comedy of horrors that is
surprisingly gruesome. Even an old cynic like me occasionally was
more than a little aghast at their behavior.
The Performances
Sid Haig's performance as the evil, bearded,
fried-chicken-cooking clown was brilliantly funny and creepy at the
same time. Sheri Moon Zombie is beautiful and eerie at the same
time, and Bill Moseley portrays his serial killer as a demented
madman that's utterly terrifying because he's probably closer to the
truth of serial killers in his portrayal than most. Moseley's
character is no urbane, sympathetic Hannibal Lector; he's a twisted,
sinister, ugly misshapen beast of a man.
House of 1000 Corpses
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The Director
This was Rob Zombie's debut as a feature film director, and the
movie was so out-of-the-ordinary and offensive that Universal backed
out of distributing the picture. Luckily, Lion's Gate picked it up
and ran with it. Zombie's direction is stylish and unusual. No
matter how offensive or gruesome this film might get, it's never
dull.
Recommendation?
I'm not sure I can recommend House of 1000 Corpses to most
movie-watchers. Unless you're a fan of this genre, you probably
won't like the movie. It's disturbing, it's gruesome, and most of
the characters have no redeeming qualities, even the victims.
There's no happy ending to look forward to in this film either.
On the other hand, if you loved all the Texas Chainsaw
Massacre movies, you'll probably enjoy this too. I enjoyed
watching it, but I don't know that it's a movie I need to see more
than once though.
House of 1000 Corpses
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