The Funhouse

This article is about the film. For the novel, see The Funhouse (novel).
The Funhouse

Original U.S. theatrical poster, a parody of The Rocky Horror Picture Show poster
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Produced by Steven Bernhardt
Derek Power
Mace Neufeld
Mark L. Lester
Written by Larry Block
Starring Elizabeth Berridge
Cooper Huckabee
Largo Woodruff
Miles Chapin
Kevin Conway
Sylvia Miles
William Finley
Music by John Beal
Cinematography Andrew Laszlo
Edited by Jack Hofstra
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • March 13, 1981 (1981-03-13) (U.S.)
Running time
96 min.
Country United States
Language English
Box office $7.8 million

The Funhouse is a 1981 American horror film directed by Tobe Hooper. It was written by Larry Block and stars Elizabeth Berridge, Kevin Conway, William Finley, Cooper Huckabee, Miles Chapin, and two-time Academy Award-nominee (Midnight Cowboy and Farewell, My Lovely) Sylvia Miles. The film's plot concerns four teenagers who become trapped in a dark ride at a local carnival and are stalked by a deformed killer.

Plot

A masked intruder attacks Amy as she showers (resembling the famous shower scene from Psycho). The "attacker" turns out to be her younger brother Joey, a horror movie buff, and his "weapon" is merely a realistic-looking plastic knife. He has played the first of several practical jokes on her.

Against her father's orders, teenager Amy visits a sleazy traveling carnival with her new boyfriend Buzz, her best friend Liz, and Liz's irresponsible boyfriend Richie. At the carnival, the four teens smoke marijuana, peep into a 21-and-over strip show, heckle fortune teller Madame Zena, visit the freaks-of-nature exhibit, and view a magic show.

Richie dares the group to spend the night in "The Funhouse"—actually a dark ride. After the park closes, the teenagers settle down inside the ride, at which point they witness the ride assistant—a man in a Frankenstein's Monster mask who never speaks—engage Zena as a prostitute. He experiences premature ejaculation, but despite his request Zena will not return her $100 fee. He murders her in a violent rage.

The teenagers try to leave, but find themselves locked inside the ride. As they attempt to escape, Richie secretly steals the money from the safe from which "Frankenstein's monster" took Zena's fee. The ride's barker, Conrad Straker, discovers what "Frankenstein's monster"—his son Gunther—has done to Zena. Conrad also realizes that the money is missing. Thinking Gunther took it, he attacks him. Gunther's mask is removed---revealing a gruesomely deformed face with sharp, protruding teeth, long white, thinning hair, and ruby-red eyes.

The teens see this, and Conrad realizes someone is watching after Richie's lighter falls on the floor from the ceiling he and the others were hiding in. Buzz figures that Richie has the money; he (Richie) insisted that he thought they were gonna get out and that he would have split the money to the others. Despite Liz wanting to return the money, Buzz knows it's too late since they are now in danger. Conrad stalks the ride to eliminate any witnesses and heckles Gunther into a murderous rage. Various ride props are used as murder weapons. Richie and Liz die by the hands of Conrad and (respectively) Gunther. Buzz kills Conrad, but is then killed by Gunther. During a showdown between Gunther and Amy in the funhouse's maintenance area, Gunther is electrocuted and crushed to death between two spinning gears.

As dawn breaks, Amy emerges from the funhouse while the animatronic fat lady perched atop the ride laughs.

Cast

Production

The film's opening sequence is a reference to both Psycho (1960) and Halloween (1978). Director Tobe Hooper was bitten by a brown recluse spider during filming.[1]According to actor Kevin Conway, director Tobe Hooper was a huge "cokehead" during production of this film;[2] Hooper allegedly consumed a minimum of 12 cans of Coca-Cola a day.

The movie Last House on Dead End Street (1977), made just a few years earlier, had 'The Fun House' as an alternate title.[3]

Reception

The Funhouse opened in 814 theaters in the United States on March 13, 1981, and earned $2,765,456 in the opening weekend and grossed $7,886,857 in total. Film critic Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune liked the film and gave it a positive review.[4] Tobe Hooper was specifically praised for bringing style and suspense to what could have been a standard early-1980's blood and gore-focused horror film, and his work here was largely responsible for him getting the job of directing the original Poltergeist.

Composer John Beal's mostly orchestral score was praised by critics, and the soundtrack CD later became a collector's item.[5][6][7]

The film received mixed to positive reviews and currently holds a rating of 62% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, signifying "fresh".

Classification as a "video nasty"

The film was unsuccessfully prosecuted as a video nasty in the UK a few years after its release. Some commentators have questioned its attempted banning, given that the film is fairly tame in comparison to other entries on the list, leading some to suggest it was mistakenly chosen instead of the infamous Last House on Dead End Street,[8] which was released under an alternative title The Fun House and oddly didn't appear on the list.[9] It was released uncut on VHS in 1987 and later on DVD in 1999.

Novelization

Main article: The Funhouse (novel)

A novelization of the screenplay was written by Dean Koontz, under the pseudonym Owen West. As the film production took longer than expected, the book was released before the film. The novel contains a great deal of backstory and characterization which was not used in the movie.

Release

On July 18, 2011 Arrow Video released a new Special Edition Blu-ray Disc in the UK, with the following special features:

January 30, 2012 also saw a UK release of The Funhouse by Arrowdrome DVD.

Arrow Video released a Special Edition of The Funhouse on Blu-ray on 26 November, 2012.

Universal Home Entertainment released the film to DVD in the US on September 7, 2004. Shout! Factory is planning a new US DVD, in addition to a US Blu-ray Disc release under their horror sub-label "Scream Factory". [10] Universal also released The Funhouse in a 4-film set, including Phantasm II, Sssssss, and The Serpent and the Rainbow.

Also noted that Gunther was meant to appear in the Boogeymen: The Killer Compilation; however, Gunther didn't make the list. He did appear in the TV commercials of the Boogeymen.

References

  1. Internet Movie Database Trivia
  2. IMDB Trivia section
  3. Internet Movie Database Trivia
  4. Interview with Gene Siskel in Fangoria #15 (1981)
  5. SoundtrackNet
  6. FilmTracks
  7. TerrorTrap
  8. "Video Nasties: The Funhouse". horror-movies.ca. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  9. "Did You Know?". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  10. http://www.shoutfactory.com/browse/470/scream_factory.aspx#axzz1wfCLxVlH

External links

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