The Funhouse (Carnival of Terror) (1981)

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  June 22, 2011

  FilmFanatik

  I'm just going to be honest here up front and say that I've never really been a fan of Tobe Hooper. Outside of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, his work has been spotty and lackluster. Such is the case with The Funhouse. I do praise the score for the movie, even though it's overused,... read more and the design of the monster's mask, but other than that, there's nothing really spectacular about this one. Paying homages to Psycho and Halloween in the opening minutes didn't really help it much either. Sub-standard horror film fodder with plot threads and ideas that go nowhere fast, I don't really understand how this broken plot got put into production. I suppose the dolls and the animatronic characters in the movie would frighten some people, or even creep them out, but that stuff doesn't really work on me. This had potential, but it's such a slow build-up to essentially nothing.

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  May 1, 2011

  blkbomb

  An unknown and under appreciated movie. Tobe Hooper knows how to make great horror movies, and although this isn't as amazing as Poltergeist or Texas Chainsaw, it is still good. The opening scene is a great tribute/reenactment of the famous shower scene from Psycho.

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  January 11, 2011

  ajv2688

  A somewhat creepy movie without many real scares, it's more like they were trying to remake Freaks as a modern slasher flick, but without a story, or something. Anyway, I didn't like it at all, and I don't recommend it.

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  December 6, 2010

  TheDudeLebowski65

  The Funhouse is a terrifying gem of the horror genre. A film with loads of atmosphere and odd characters, this is one terrificpiece of early 8o's horror. Aside From The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this is the best film by Tobe Hooper. Elizabeth Berridge gives a fine debut performan... read morece as Amy, and Berridge would later land the role of Constance Mozart in Amadeus. A very talented actress, she pulls off something terrifyingly convincing here. Another unique performance is Kevin Conway as the Funhouse Barker, the villain of the film. Conway is simply diabolical and adds a lot of flavor to the film with his performance. Sure theres nothing really happening for at least the first 45 minutes of the film, but with a film like this, Hooper doesn't want to jump into the terror just yet. He wants us to connect with the characters, and when something happens to them, you feel something. The first 45 minutes was designed to establish a character relationship with the audience. Tobe Hooper manages to do something well here, and The Funhouse is a cleverly crafted horror film with tons of scares. When the terror starts, it starts. The Funhouse is awesome horror film that delivers top notch entertainment and scares The Funhouse is a very underrated film in my opinion. I personally feel that this is one of Tobe Hooper's best films after The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The thing that I really like the most about the film is that the setting is set in the Carnival. A very spooky, and chilling atmosphere. The acting is decent, some may fine the film too slow and the pacing not up to their standards. But The Funhouse is what I'd consider a semi classic film, in the sense that this is a film that take time to effectively build the tension and horror thats to come. The Funhouse is definitely a fun ride into terror, and is not a film to be missed. Recently, Tobe Hooper has lost more than his touch in the horror game. He no longer makes quality horror films, and falls short on many occasions. At least we have such a classic like The Funhouse, a film that doesn't attack the viewer with straight forward terror. The film steadily builds up it's characters and tension to get an effective reaction out of the audience. The Funhouse is definitely an underrated classic of the Horror genre, and is one of the finest films that Tobe Hooper has directed.

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  September 3, 2009

  adammahler1

  Of "Death Proof," Tarantino said something to effect that the Slasher film is such a definite form, that if you divert from it a little bit, you're in the middle of deconstructing/dumping the whole thing. The Fun House makes an interesting case study of that theory. In this one, ... read morethe teenagers actually follow the audience's advice and don't separate...like ducks in a barrel, as it turns out. The plot pacing goes into a sprint at the end, but most of this movie is virtuoso on a small-scale. It might turn some viewers off by leaving them wanting more.
  
  Others might feel cheated by the fact that a third of the movie takes place in a funhouse ride, a claustrophobic mousetrap when we're used to having a whole neighborhood to play hide-and-seek with a slasher. But the musical score is a classic, the cinematography is impressive (with an unbelievable high crane shot over the entire carnival grounds that makes you fear for the safety of the cameraman), the editing is psychologically precise, and the production design could net over $100 million on Antiques Road Show. The automatons featured are ingenious works of art, a startling assortment of monsters, eerie creatures from popular myth and history and Norman-Rockwell caricatures gone grotesque.
  
  The carnival, a menu of cheap and flashy thrills for the young and young-at-heart, is supposed to be the kind of entertainment people say movie audiences are looking for (in lieu of high art). But Hooper might be telling us that the old-time carnival attracted its audience by a phantasmagorical quality that the industrial Slasher product can't have, and good horror/monster movies can.

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  July 30, 2009

  YosemiteSamFan

  "The Funhouse" makes for a nice horror film filled with seedy and creepy carnival atmosphere. Great story premise of having a group of teens daring to spend the night in a Funhouse.The buildup with them walking through the carnival has clever foreshadowing. Once the fair shuts do... read morewn for the night, monstrous fates await the teens. My only complaint is how the Funhouse was filled with novelty puppets rather than traditional monsters which would actually frighten; perhaps the director was not wanting to upstage the real monster hiding within. Well-done 80's slasher, showing that Tobe Hooper has some talent beyond his Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame.

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  May 15, 2008

  creepfreak

  The Funhouse is a great little campy, fun, atmospheric horror flick. This is another popcorn flick with a good old Halloween holiday feel to it.
  
  Plot -
  
  "Against her father's orders, Amy goes to a sleazy traveling carnival with her new boyfriend Buzz, her best friend Liz, ... read moreand Liz's boyfriend Richie. Unbeknownst to the four teens, Amy's prank-happy little brother Joey (who happens to be obsessed with classic horror movies) sneaks out of the house and follows them to the carnival...which Amy's father was opposed to because a couple of girls were found murdered at its previous location; no one knows who killed the two children or how, although both girls had to be identified via dental records.
  
  At the carnival, the four youngsters smoke marijuana and sneak into a 21-and-over strip joint. They heckle Madame Zena the fortune teller , visit a freaks of nature exhibit, and view a magic show. Finally, the foursome telephone their parents and lie to them, so they can spend the night in the carnival's funhouse - actually a dark ride - after it closes. While Joey waits for them to emerge, the teenagers enjoy a sexual romp in the dark funhouse. Then they notice the Funhouse Barker's assistant - a huge man in a Frankenstein suit who never speaks - making out with a lingerie-clad Madame Zena (who is old enough to be the teens' grandmother). She demands a hundred dollars from "Frankenstein," and then refuses to "go all the way" as agreed. When she won't give back the money, "Frankenstein" attacks and strangles her to death. The four teenagers attempt to leave the funhouse, but it is locked up. It is now up to the group of four young teenagers to survive the night from the Frankenstein masked creature, and his crazed father Conrad Straker who is protecting him."
  
  More then half of this movie just shows the teenagers hanging out at the carnival getting into all sorts of little mischievous adventures, and that's all in the beginning of the film. It's in the middle of the movie when the terror starts picking up little by little, but everything before that was the perfect build up and it still managed to be creepy without even showing anything at all. It was the tone of the film that carried it so well...the weird carnival with a troubled past, the creepy homeless people just wandering around aimlessly, an angry old fortune teller, sad deformed animals, a drunken magician dressed as Dracula, and a whole bunch of freaky deaky carnival ride owners. It's later on when the horror really gets thrown into your face with the psychotic ride owner Conrad Straker and his horribly deformed, mentally challenged blood thirsty son.
  
  The acting isn't all that bad at all and the story, although not too original, was told in a very creepy fashion. Again, this is just a fun little horror flick, nothing's here that will stick with you forever but it is still enjoyable to watch(perhaps one of those movies that's good for a stormy night). This is another one that's not all about the gore, but more just for the creepy atmosphere and bizarre characters. I think this is one of Tobe Hooper's best films and I highly recommend it if you're a fan of campy little horror films with great dark atmosphere. I grew up on this one and I just love this movie!
  
  

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  August 14, 2011

  stevetheman1236

  Most of the time it was badly-acted, unoriginal, and dull-looking. In other words, it was pretty routine for a low-budget horror flick. Only one thing was missing... it wasn't scary! In fact, it kind of reminded me of the Goonies.

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  November 29, 2011

  StefanoEarnest

  Most of the time it was badly-acted, unoriginal, and dull-looking. In other words, it was pretty routine for a low-budget horror flick. Only one thing was missing... it wasn't scary! In fact, it kind of reminded me of the Goonies.

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  July 24, 2011

  fb100000185301014

  Interesting little piece of gem, the atmosphere was extremely eerie!!

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• Elizabeth Berridge as Amy
• Cooper Huckabee as Buzz
• Miles Chapin as Richie
• Largo Woodruff as Liz
• Sylvia Miles as Madame Zena
• Kevin Conway as The Barker
• William Finley as Marco The Magnificent
• Wayne Doba as The Monster
• Shawn Carson as Joey Harper

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• • Harper: I don't know where you're going tonight, but don't go to that damn carnival. It went through Fairfield last year, when they found the bodies of those two girls in the creek.
• • The Barker: They wiggle and they dance. Six beautiful girls. They wiggle and they dance. (Looks straight at Amy very eerily) They wiggle and they dance.
• • Madame Zena: Don't come back. Or I'll break every bone in your F**KIN' BODIES! Beat it!
• • Marco The Magnificent: A little history. In the fifth century, Vlad V of Wallachia, known as Vlad the lmpaler to his friends, tortured 23,000 prisoners in a device not unlike this. Tiring of his name, he decided to change it. He selected his father's name, Dracul, meaning devil. He added the letter A and became. Dracula; literally, 'son of the devil'. And so legends are born.
• • Carnival Manager: Alive, alive, a-live-ah. These are all creatures of God, ladies and gentlemen. Not men. They are authentic, and they are alive. Alive, alive, alive-ah.
• • Bag Lady: God is watching you!
  • Amy: Beg your pardon?
  • Bag Lady: He hears everything! (Walks in the bathroom stall)
  • Liz: I hate people who preach. Especially in bathrooms. Anyway, I don't know what you're saving it for.
  • Amy: Who says I'm saving it?
  • Bag Lady: (in the bathroom stall) God is watching you!

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