House of 1,000 Corpses
0.5/4
Starring: Jennifer Jostyn, Erin Daniels, Chris Hardwick, Rainn Wilson, Sid Haig, Bill Mosely, Karen Black, Sheri Moon
Rated R for Strong Sadistic Violence/Gore and Language
If you're going to pay homage to something, make sure that it's worthy of such an honor.
"House of 1,000 Corpses" is Rob Zombie's love letter to those cheesy exploitation films that littered the underground theaters in the 70's. Strictly speaking, I haven't seen one of them straight through, but I know enough about them to know what they are. While I can see the appeal of some of them to a certain kind of audience (Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino made "Grindhouse," a double feature designed to emulate these movies), I can't really see anyone finding much to appreciate with Rob Zombie's directorial debut.
There's really not much of a plot. It starts out like many other horror movies, where a few young people make an amazingly stupid decision and end up paying for it with their lives. In this case, the young soon-to-be-among-the-dead are Denise (Daniels), Bill (Wilson), Jerry (Hardwick) and Mary (Jostyn). They're on a cross-country road trip with the intent of writing a book on roadside attractions. When Jerry doesn't fill up the tank with enough gas, they pull into a gas station that also sells grisly odds and ends, and has an amusement park ride with a history of serial killers. Then the owner, who calls himself Captain Spaulding (Haig), tells them that the place where his most notorious killer, Dr. Satan, was hanged, is right nearby, the travelers decide to find it. On the way, they pick up a perky hitchhiker (Moon) who knows where it is. And that's when things go horribly for them.
What little there is of a plot is similar to just about every horror movie of this type. The teens think they're doing something fun and adventurous, but by the time they realize that they're in trouble, it's too late. The difference here is that Zombie knows nothing of escalating tension. Or tension at all. All he can manage is a few halfway decent jump scenes. The film also suffers from the fallback of every lacking serial killer movie: the talking killer syndrome. Only Zombie takes it to an extreme. These killers never shut up! And nothing they have to say is of any interest whatsoever.
It goes without saying that the acting is awful. That's a given for most horror movies, especially the "Grade Z" ones, which Zombie so desperately wants his film to be one of. Of the four leads, only Rainn Wilson is decent. The veteran actors are better, but only Sid Haig seems to be enjoying himself. Sheri Moon (who later married the director) is quite good as the appropriately-named Baby. She has the voice and mannerisms down to the point where it's actually creepy.
The film just looks bad. Everything looks like it was made on a set, and the camera movements are inelegant and cheesy. But what really kills the film is Zombie's ego. He's constantly changing camera filters, camera types and constantly adding in little cheesy inserts that tell us we're supposed to be getting creeped out with the subtlety of a nuclear warhead. At least Oliver Stone had a reason when he did this in "Natural Born Killers."
The trailer for this movie made it look like a insane freakshow, with lots of horrifying scares and jolts. The actual movie only has one of those descriptors. "House of 1,000 Corpses" isn't scary or an effective homage (although the opening scene is pretty funny in a dark sort of way). It's just demented.
Starring: Jennifer Jostyn, Erin Daniels, Chris Hardwick, Rainn Wilson, Sid Haig, Bill Mosely, Karen Black, Sheri Moon
Rated R for Strong Sadistic Violence/Gore and Language
If you're going to pay homage to something, make sure that it's worthy of such an honor.
"House of 1,000 Corpses" is Rob Zombie's love letter to those cheesy exploitation films that littered the underground theaters in the 70's. Strictly speaking, I haven't seen one of them straight through, but I know enough about them to know what they are. While I can see the appeal of some of them to a certain kind of audience (Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino made "Grindhouse," a double feature designed to emulate these movies), I can't really see anyone finding much to appreciate with Rob Zombie's directorial debut.
There's really not much of a plot. It starts out like many other horror movies, where a few young people make an amazingly stupid decision and end up paying for it with their lives. In this case, the young soon-to-be-among-the-dead are Denise (Daniels), Bill (Wilson), Jerry (Hardwick) and Mary (Jostyn). They're on a cross-country road trip with the intent of writing a book on roadside attractions. When Jerry doesn't fill up the tank with enough gas, they pull into a gas station that also sells grisly odds and ends, and has an amusement park ride with a history of serial killers. Then the owner, who calls himself Captain Spaulding (Haig), tells them that the place where his most notorious killer, Dr. Satan, was hanged, is right nearby, the travelers decide to find it. On the way, they pick up a perky hitchhiker (Moon) who knows where it is. And that's when things go horribly for them.
What little there is of a plot is similar to just about every horror movie of this type. The teens think they're doing something fun and adventurous, but by the time they realize that they're in trouble, it's too late. The difference here is that Zombie knows nothing of escalating tension. Or tension at all. All he can manage is a few halfway decent jump scenes. The film also suffers from the fallback of every lacking serial killer movie: the talking killer syndrome. Only Zombie takes it to an extreme. These killers never shut up! And nothing they have to say is of any interest whatsoever.
It goes without saying that the acting is awful. That's a given for most horror movies, especially the "Grade Z" ones, which Zombie so desperately wants his film to be one of. Of the four leads, only Rainn Wilson is decent. The veteran actors are better, but only Sid Haig seems to be enjoying himself. Sheri Moon (who later married the director) is quite good as the appropriately-named Baby. She has the voice and mannerisms down to the point where it's actually creepy.
The film just looks bad. Everything looks like it was made on a set, and the camera movements are inelegant and cheesy. But what really kills the film is Zombie's ego. He's constantly changing camera filters, camera types and constantly adding in little cheesy inserts that tell us we're supposed to be getting creeped out with the subtlety of a nuclear warhead. At least Oliver Stone had a reason when he did this in "Natural Born Killers."
The trailer for this movie made it look like a insane freakshow, with lots of horrifying scares and jolts. The actual movie only has one of those descriptors. "House of 1,000 Corpses" isn't scary or an effective homage (although the opening scene is pretty funny in a dark sort of way). It's just demented.
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