Fun House

One of these is Tobe hooper, the other a killer mutant.  Only the Director's Guild knows for sure!

Poor Tobe Hooper, well perhaps not so poor I believe his career has done well enough. But, he has a weight, no, a monster on his shoulder. His first film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," was an out of the park home run It is so good our government has declared it a cultural treasure woth perserving (take that "Friday the 13"). The problem is that the rest of Hooper's films have not been homeruns. There have been a quite a few bunts and a couple of strikes to be honest. I mean it doesn't do your reputation as a horror director any good that there has been the persistent rumor that Stephen Speilberg didn't think you were scary enough and had to do basically take the helm of "Poltergeist."




"Lifeforce," is also not something to put on a resume, as much goofy fun that is.



But, "The Funhouse," harkens to an earlier day, when Tobe was still an up and comer. I remember both reading the novelization (written under psuedonym by Dean Koontz), and seeing the film itself at about 3 o clock in the morning on HBO. I remember enjoying both experiences vaguely, so it's fun to go back to the funhouse.



Firstly, I have to say I greatly enjoy the title sequence. It really sets a good feel for the overall film, and it is just beautifully shot. A series of wind up toys shot in a series of small cut outs as the titles flash on. The music is circus colliope sounding then descending into a horror movie motif. I would say without hesitation its the best titles of any Hooper movie bar none and was amused as it ended with a huge fat laughing lady automaton as the name of Hooper as director is revealed.



We then find ourselves in a small boy's room. If this was a film made in say the sixties, I can imagine this room being later used as an excuse for the heroine waking up declaring "Was it all a dream???" The room is a microcosm for the coming carnival. A foreshadowing if you. There is a carnival poster on the door featuring a fat lady akin to the fat lady automaton, and a poster of Frankenstein on the wall whose importance we'll see later. The walls are peppered with masks and weapons. In an obvious ode to "Halloween" and "Psycho" we are witnessed as someone takes a mask and knife and then goes and tortures the sweet nubile heroine in the shower.



Oh wait, it is a psych. It is the little brother with a rubber knife. Brief aside here, I have a brother and we played tricks on each other. But we were never near as dickish as this. Yes scaring someone one going boo in the mask is dickish but acceptable. Wrestling with your nude sister in the shower for an extended period is just wrong.



So with possibly the most embarrassing entrance since "Carrie," we meet Elizabeth Berridge as Amy Harper. She is getting ready for her big date. Her parents have obviously been stuffed and stapled to the furniture and are not amused. The Dad doesn't want her going to the carnival cause of the bodies they found last year. The Mom thinks she's dating below herself by dating the older guy who's a gas pump jockey with a hot car. I guess mom isn't worried about statutory issues.



Anyhoo, Amy is goes anyway but feels conflicted. We meet Buzz (jerk), Liz (jerk) and Richie (jerk and comedy relief). I wonder why she's with these people besides being the obvious final girl of this film. I think the idea here is that she's going to the carnival to be wild. She isn't so much being seduced by Buzz as seducing herself. Daring herself to lose it (and perhaps LOSE IT), and so it doesn't really matter that they aren't obviously soul mates. She's playing at being the bad girl getting high and making out and making really bad life choices, but a part of her is still literally holding a small stuffed animal and feels very self conscious about where she is This contrast really helps fuels the first half and keeps things interesting.



This part is fairly rich and visually dense. Like the carnival itself, it is a lot of rides and diversions. For example, we alternate between our gang of four and idiot little brother. As he sneaks over to the carnival he meets real fearful things like mean dogs and crazy people in cars with guns stopping by asking what they are doing out all aone where no one can hear them scream. Meanwhile the others are enjoying themselves with fake scares from the various rides. By the way, again these scenes are beautifully shot and are some of the best carny ride footage I have ever scene. Bonus is I understand it that Hooper and crew forgot there were extras in one ride and left them in there for twenty minutes. Ambulances had to be called but no one was really hurt.



Another game or diversion at this point is there are several scenes that harken back to other universal horrors. We already had the false "Psycho" scene. There are at least two others. One is a mirror (a funhouse mirror of course) of the classic scene in "House of Frankenstein," where dracula is a sideshow attraction. Now it is a magician dressed ala dracula doing the coffin staking. The second is a reference to the classic larry talbot/gypsy scene. Unfortunately our kids are too stoned for wisdom and so the gypsy breaks character and threatens to break every bone in their body. Oh, and there's someone in a Frankenstein mask wandering around... wonder if that has any meaning.



As the night wears on, and the teens get more stoned, things get darker and crazier. Freakish bag lady comes to tell them "God is watching you." A scene of them sneaking a look at hootchy kootchy dancers becomes as lurid as anything bakshi has done at his best. Everything just seems about ten percent more crazy. It's then that they hatch the hare brained idea to sneak out of the cars and spend the night in the funhouse. They managed to pull it off (Guy in frankenstein mask is obviously otnay ootay ightbray) with only little brother witnessing it.



Now we pull into the meat of the film. Teens are making out then hear a noise. The floor under them lights up and they peer down. Frankenstein mask is trying to get it on with the gypsy fortune teller. It's sort of creepy and sad because the guy can't talk, is probably retarded and the gypsy is is asking macy prices for salvation army goods. Things turn ugly and in a rage we are now short a fortuneteller. Our teens try to leave, but find all the doors locked.



Things are getting bad.



They get worse when daddy comes home. Daddy is the ride owner and barker, and is frankenstein's father. He's upset not that son has killed but that he killed family. Uh oh, remember all those bodies alluded to earlier? Yeah, son gets frustrated easily. Oh and all their money winds up missing courtesy of light fingered comedy relief jerk. Daddy's now really upset and makes son beat himself till mask falls off. You know when someone perfers to wear a mask it is never good when it falls off. Idiot comedy relief drops lighter and now things are very very clear. The rest of the film is teens versus carny mutants as carnies and parents and little brothers try to get a clue.



This section puts the fun house setting to good use. The flickering lighting is dramatic. The mutant is frightening but also an obvious wild card (How much abuse from daddy is it going to take? Might it fall for the charms of sweet innocent, or maybe not) I like this part of the film, but it is also the most like every other film of this genre. Thankfully, it has given so much richness earlier that it is still a lot of good scarey fun here. In the end, SOMEONE will see the dawn in front of the automaton laughing fat lady.



Overall, this is a strong little horror film. It's not top of the line, but its a suprising little over looked gem. Certainly worth a rewatch. I hope this will be part of the Final Girl Film Club, you can look over here for more fun:   http://finalgirl.blogspot.com/