House of Diluted Horrors

THE FUNHOUSE (1981)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Out of all of the early 80's slasher flicks, "The Funhouse" is slightly above most of them but there's not much more to say. Coming from Tobe Hooper who scared the bejesus out of me with his frighteningly intense and nightmarish "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," I expected a whole lot more. After all the Hoop made the sensational TV movie "Salem's Lot" and directed most of "Poltergeist."

Elizabeth Berridge (who some of you might know as Constance Mozart in "Amadeus") is Amy, the virgin who goes on a date with a hot guy! The guy is Buzz (Cooper Hucklebee) and they are on a double date with Amy's friend, Liz (Largo Woodruff), and her very nerdy boyfriend, Richie (Miles Chapin). They are off to the funhouse, a traveling carnival in town that has been plagued with trouble in other locations. Amy doesn't want to go since she would rather see a movie but Buzz convinces her. Once they are at the funhouse and see attractions like a two-headed cow and various goblins and skeletons and other spooky contraptions, the double daters decide to stay overnight. Big mistake when you consider the occupants of this funhouse including a foul-mouthed fortune teller (hilarious wickedness from Sylvia Miles), a possibly deformed male wearing a Frankenstein get-up, and the demented master of ceremonies (Kevin Conway, a sort of poor man's Oliver Reed). A murder ensues witnessed by the pot-smoking, sex-starved teens that leads to an inescapable dilemma.

I would almost recommend "The Funhouse" had it been more devilishly fun and made better use of its ominous sets. There are good set-ups, especially involving Amy's brother, Joey (Shawn Carson), who sneaks out of the house and checks out the funhouse. Why? Maybe because he fears for his sister's safety or because he has an affection for Karloff's Frankenstein monster (which he keeps a poster of in his house) or due to the strange Frankenstein-costumed carnival worker he sees. Hmmm. There are a few scenes where Joey gingerly tries to avoid getting seen after the carnival is closed but nothing comes of them. When one of the workers calls his parents and they pick him up, you kind of wished this whole subplot was eliminated altogether.

Little hints of something more foreboding are sprinkled throughout the misguided screenplay. The scene where the carnival worker wipes Joey's face while his parents look on is far more tense and scary than anything else in the movie. I also like Berridge's scene in the car with Buzz before they go to the funhouse where Buzz merely tries to manipulate her and she sees through it, though she retains her naivete (she also finds his jokes unfunny). It is such a good damn scene, so perfectly written and acted, that it deserves better than what follows. And whatever hope there is, and it is suggested, of seeing the glint of sadness in Kevin Conway's character is immediately eradicated by the usual shocks and "who goes there?" cliches.

I am not totally dismissive of Tobe Hooper's "The Funhouse" and I do see that he might have been trying for a more character-oriented slasher film, dependent more on mood and atmosphere than bloody mayhem. Unfortunately, there are one too many missed opportunities, not to mention a silly looking monster, homages to "Halloween" and "Psycho" and not much else. Elizabeth Berridge and the film's sense of atmosphere almost make up for it, but this carnival could've had more fright value.