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House of 1000 Corpses Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 45 Reviews)
Gore, guns and gasoline... whoo hoo!
As a huge fan of Rob Zombie, I wasn't sure what to expect from his film work, being that Rob has generally stayed within the realm of music. With that said, I can say I was genuinely pleased that his film debut, House of 1000 corpses, remained true to his musical vision. Watching this film was not unlike listening to a Rob Zombie/White Zombie album -- the interspersed film clips and negative imagery taking the place of the horror movie samples that one would normally find in a Zombie tune.
The film wasn't scary... not in the way that one would expect from a "horror movie," but was truly fun to watch, something that's been missing in horror for a number of years now. The cheesy horror show clips and weird musical choices brought this campy cult movie to life, and created not necessarily a sense of dread, but a curiosity about what exactly was lurking around the next corner. Speaking of weird musical choices, by the way, the soundtrack was wonderful! A juxtaposition of disgusting and horrifying imagery with odd and sometimes beautiful music ala Clockwork Orange or Natural Born Killers works very well here, and all the music works, whether it's a Zombie original, or a well chosen classic. Pay special attention to the music during the torture scenes!
On to the plot... the plot was very thin, and anyone reading this should take warning that if they go into this experience expecting a great story, well... you may wish to go elsewhere. Strangely though, this lack of focus on story works in the world of "House of 1000 corpses." The witty B-movie dialogue and music video style shots would be misplaced if they were sandwiched in between major plot points. One gets the same feeling from House of 1000 corpses that one does from the footage playing behind Zombie at his live concerts... a mood is set, and he runs with it to give you more of a specific feeling, than an intellectual workout.
Characters are surprisingly well defined in this flick... not well rounded, per se, but well defined. We know from the moment we see a character on the screen what kind of person they are, their primary motivation, and in many cases, whether or not they'll be horribly murdered by the end of the film. For those of you who only like movies with happy, sunny, good ol' fashioned endings, I would advise you to rent something like Steel Magnolias. This is the way horror is meant to be... remember all those unlikable characters that survive in typical horror movies? No worries about that here. Without ruining the ending for you, I would recommend that you and your friends each pick a character and see whose choice survives the longest. You might be surprised.
B-movie horror luminaries abound in this flick. Pay special attention to the disturbingly wonderful Karen Black, and also the daughter in the family of evil, played by Rob Zombie's real life girlfriend. Both give a disturbing, yet strangely (in Karen Black's case) and extremely (in the girlfriend's case) SEXY performance.
The legend of Dr. Satan will forever be etched in to cult classic status after this movie hits DVD players everywhere. A good solid B-movie, designed as a B-movie. Don't expect Casablanca... expect a rollicking, gore-filled good time!
Cool technical aspects, highly flawed script and direction
Let's face it, if it wasn't Rob Zombie who directed this movie it would've never had made it in theaters. Hell, it was Rob Zombie and it got such limited release anyway. So I had been waiting to see this for the longest time, I was like "finally, someone who's a fan of old school horror and knows what real horror films are like and not teeny bopper horror shlacks of today!" Unfortunately, a lot of those old horror films were an absolute waste too, this would've been one them had it been released back then.
The film takes place in 70's Texas, where a group of four teenagers set out to discover a myth about a murderer called Dr. Satan as told by them by a local clown who owns and runs a gas station and shock shop. They become victims of their own curiousity and a screwed up family takes them in and begins to torture them and kill each one by one.
Now, upon the first "scary" scene where the kids are trying to flee the house because they know something is wrong and are captured by a bunch of scarecrows come to life, I noticed something missing. I was neither scared nor interested in what was going on. I didn't know whether it was because the kids were basically used as fresh meat for the grinder and had no character whatsoever, or just that the script made the whole scene so cliched. During the entire movie you're never interested in the outcome of these kids just because they're not interesting, the movie as a whole has cool camera work to watch but boring the whole way through. You do get treated to some cool cinematography though, I mean the make up work in this one was one to check out, all the gore, blood and all was just great, and definitely a lot stronger then today's stab-them-and-run type of murders in films. Zombie does use some cool color mixing and video shots throughout the film too, giving it almost a documentary feel, ALMOST, but in the end of it all, the whole thing becomes more like one long, boring goth-flashy music video instead of an artsy horror film (which I think was what Zombie was going for). I did give it 2 stars though just because it wasn't absolutely unwatchable and completely stupid, just mostly stupid. There are a few laughs here and there and some nice eye candy by the pyscho family's hot teen daughter.
So you can check this out if you want, but I'd highly suggest a rental before a purchase. Oh yea, I thought Rob Zombie said he would release an X rated version on DVD, oh well.
Yuck!!! All the wait for this???
I don't understand the hype surrounding Rob Zombie's much-awaited directorial debut, which becomes nothing more than a bloodier, gorier rehash of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,"and not even a good one! While it does have dazzling visuals, gob smacking editing, flamboyant sets and deliciously over the top characters, that's the only merit I can give it.
Taking its cue from vintage 70s horror films, "House" centers on very little, but one might make out that it's about four kids whose car breaks down and they end up in a house full of lunatics. You see, the kids were on the road looking for eerie and abnormal tourist attractions and are about to stare a couple in the face, most notably the manic cannibalistic Dr Satan.
If an hour and a half of undecipherable plot and sickening - but not exactly novel - horror tickles your fancy, then "House of 1000 Corpses" should get your heart palpitating. Some of the characters in this movie are truly terrifying. Sid Haig's Captain Spaulding, the owner of a roadside attraction chronicling serial killers, is an obvious highlight. He's freakishly uncomforting, but refreshingly entertaining. It's a pity the movie didn't feature more of him in it's plot. Karen Black's over the top performance is also a highlight, but hey, she's a legend in my book.
Once the kids get to their 'Final Destination'--the house of horrors, if you will--the film goes down hill. One by one the freaks come out of the woodwork, and one by the one the kids are slaughtered. Nothing very novel there - and horror fans, it isn't done very imaginative either. In fact, most of the horror sequences are clouded by either foggy edits, shots of old horror films or TV shows, or unfathomable imagery. For a film that's been shopped around to that many distributors and been removed and re-slotted into different release dates, I fail to see what the attraction is with this film. In my opinion, it's not better than an MTV video clip that some hard rocker would helm. Yes, it's similar to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but more "The Next Generation" than the original. Now does a film like that deserve so much of your attention?
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