Even some of the greats have their bad days. Spielberg struck out with Hook, Stone with U-Turn and Hooper was out to lunch with this poor effort. Funhouse takes a typical premise but does nothing with it. Four teens are out for an evening of fun at a carnival and they end up paying for it with their lives. It is a great idea to have two guys and two girls spend the night in a funhouse but the execution of it is quite banal. And that is too bad because it had all the ingredients to be quite scary.
What is good about the film is the opening which pragmatically tips it's cap to Carpenter's opening shot in Halloween. It is a nice touch to see a Halloween mask put over the camera as a little boy, heavy breathing and all, walks slowly into the bathroom where his sister is taking a shower and then pretends to stab her with a plastic knife. The other decent part in the film is when the first guy dies, he is then hit in the head with an axe by one of his friends. They thought he was the killer coming around a dark corner and they split his head open with an axe. These two parts were very well done. The rest of the film is not.
The killing doesn't even start until almost an hour into the film. And that is fine if the movie and the screenplay in particular would have done a better job of setting it up. But all we get is some inane scenes of the kids going on carnival rides and smooching. Nothing forbidden is even remotely mentioned about the funhouse except that a couple of years ago a couple of kids were found dead in a funhouse a few states over. But then they leave it alone. I wanted to know more about this funhouse a few states over. How did the kids die? Was there a suspect? Was anyone indicted in the murders? There was nothing to make me afraid for the kids to enter that house. And that is where the film fails. Sure the killer is deformed and ugly and blah blah blah but even he isn't that scary.
Funhouse is a disappointment but Hooper is to be forgiven. He directed TCM and Poltergeist and that is a good enough track record to be exonerated from any wrong doing with this film.
4 out of 10
**** Just a side note. Has anyone ever given any thought to Hooper being somewhat of an animal rights activist? I have. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there was great detail not only verbally but visually to the slaughter of animals. And this one had a carnival full of deformed animals on display for everyone to gawk at. I can't put my finger on it but there has to be some sort of connection there. If anyone else has any theories, please email me. And if that is the case, then kudos to you Mr. Hooper.
What is good about the film is the opening which pragmatically tips it's cap to Carpenter's opening shot in Halloween. It is a nice touch to see a Halloween mask put over the camera as a little boy, heavy breathing and all, walks slowly into the bathroom where his sister is taking a shower and then pretends to stab her with a plastic knife. The other decent part in the film is when the first guy dies, he is then hit in the head with an axe by one of his friends. They thought he was the killer coming around a dark corner and they split his head open with an axe. These two parts were very well done. The rest of the film is not.
The killing doesn't even start until almost an hour into the film. And that is fine if the movie and the screenplay in particular would have done a better job of setting it up. But all we get is some inane scenes of the kids going on carnival rides and smooching. Nothing forbidden is even remotely mentioned about the funhouse except that a couple of years ago a couple of kids were found dead in a funhouse a few states over. But then they leave it alone. I wanted to know more about this funhouse a few states over. How did the kids die? Was there a suspect? Was anyone indicted in the murders? There was nothing to make me afraid for the kids to enter that house. And that is where the film fails. Sure the killer is deformed and ugly and blah blah blah but even he isn't that scary.
Funhouse is a disappointment but Hooper is to be forgiven. He directed TCM and Poltergeist and that is a good enough track record to be exonerated from any wrong doing with this film.
4 out of 10
**** Just a side note. Has anyone ever given any thought to Hooper being somewhat of an animal rights activist? I have. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there was great detail not only verbally but visually to the slaughter of animals. And this one had a carnival full of deformed animals on display for everyone to gawk at. I can't put my finger on it but there has to be some sort of connection there. If anyone else has any theories, please email me. And if that is the case, then kudos to you Mr. Hooper.