Angie's Attic – Halloween Specials

Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse (1981)

Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse is an underrated horror thriller that uses shadows, darkness and the fear of the unknown to create a sense of dread in the viewer.  The Funhouse was a very minor success theatrically upon its 1981 release, and I guess it’s a wonder that it even made as much as it did due to its lack of gore in the midst of the newborn splatter era.  It was mistakenly labeled as a “Video Nasty” in the UK, probably due to confusion regarding its title “The Funhouse” and the working title “The Fun House” of the 1977 torture exploitation film Last House on Dead End Street, but aside from some female breasts on display, the film would probably merit a PG-13 today.  Mainstream critic Roger Ebert gave it a surprisingly good review in its day, and the film was important enough to inspire author Dean Koontz to write a novel of the same name and based on the screenplay by Lawrence Block.  (Note:  Koontz, using the pseudonym “Owen West”, wrote and published the novel before the film hit theatres, which led many to believe the film was based on the book, but it was actually the other way around!)  The Funhouse has a wowser of a cast which includes veterans Sylvia Miles (Oscar nominee for Midnight Cowboy and Farewell, My Lovely), Brian De Palma regular William Finley (Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise), and chameleonic character actor Kevin Conway (Portnoy’s Complaint, Paradise Alley).

The Funhouse opens as a stylish homage to Psycho and Halloween, featuring a POV shot from the eyes of an unknown knife-wielding killer making his way down a hallway to the bathroom of busty teenager Amy Harper (Elizabeth Berridge, in her first film after Natural Enemies and shortly before Amadeus), where the girl is showering peacefully and unaware of the presence of the mask-wearing maniac as he creeps toward the shower curtain.  But when the “psycho” pulls open the plastic curtain and starts hacking away at Amy’s naked stomach as she screams in terror, the knife proves to be nothing but a phony rubber prop … and when Amy rips off the killer’s mask, the face behind it is the grinning, laughing visage of her younger brother Joey (Shawn Carson), a horror film buff whose room is adorned with vintage movie posters and props and who loves to pull practical jokes on his older sister.

Amy is infuriated and promises her little brother in a fit of rage that she will not be taking him to the carnival on Saturday, and that while she’s there later that night to remember her words.  After lying to her parents and telling them she and her date Buzz (Cooper Huckabee) are going on a double date with friends Liz (Largo Woodruff) and Richie (Miles Chapin of Bless the Beasts and Children and French Postcards) to the movies, the four teenagers promptly head over to the packed carnival and indulge in its entertainment, visiting the freak show, the fortune teller, the magician, and even peeping through the tent of an adult striptease act.  But things take a turn for the worst when the kids hatch a plan to spend the night in the funhouse, a freakish darkride.  When they witness through the ceiling the murder of fortune teller Madame Zena (Sylvia Miles at her trashiest best) by the gibbering funhouse usher in a Frankenstein costume in a room beneath them — and after stupidly stealing the monetary proceeds the attraction has earned — our four doomed characters find themselves trapped in the enormous ghost train and at the mercy of the funhouse barker (Kevin Conway) and the otherworldly usher, who it turns out is the twistedly deformed son of the barker and has a very short fuse regarding thieves.    

As mentioned, the acting in The Funhouse is universally superb and one of the film’s highlights, the standout performances coming from Sylvia Miles as the blowsy, drunken Madame Zena; versatile Kevin Conway in a triple performance as the funhouse, freak show and strip show barkers; and William Finley as the booze-sipping Marco the Magnificent, a powder-faced carnival magician whose cheesy shows conclude with him driving a stake through the heart of a young female audience member.  There’s a terrific, galvanizing musical score by documentary composer John Beal (Terror in the Aisles, Killer Party) that adds a sense of dread and menace to every scene, combined with rich, darkly colorful cinematography by Andrew Laszlo (First Blood, Streets of Fire, Star Trek V) that makes the shadows seem to come alive and keep viewers on the edge of their seats.  Director Hooper of Texas Chainsaw Massacre notoriety, fresh from helming Salem’s Lot and shortly before crafting his second masterpiece Poltergeist, provides solid direction and makes The Funhouse a suspenseful, gripping thriller in the old school tradition. 

The Funhouse is a slow burner for the thinking viewer that requires a bit of patience to fully enjoy its rewards.  It’s not another gory slasher but a tense murder drama set in a darkly lit carnival darkride with a supernatural undertone, so don’t expect Friday the 13th in a funhouse.  One of my all-time faves, I rate The Funhouse a 9 of 10 and recommend it enthusiastically to all intelligent horror fans.   

About the Author

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my review of The Funhouse, which can also be found at its original page http://funhouse81.blogspot.com.  Please visit my profile at http://www.blogger.com/profile/17200139233458760872 for my other in-depth reviews of classic horror films!

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