Release Date: April 11, 2003

Rated R for strong sadistic violence/gore, sexuality, and language

Written and Directed by: Rob Zombie

Starring: Karen Black, Chris Hardwick, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Michael J. Pollard, Sheri Moon, Jeanne Carmen, Chris Hardwick, Chuck Aronberg

Plot:
Set in the 1970's, two young couples take a misguided tour onto the back roads of America in search of a local legend known as Dr. Satan. Lost and stranded, they are set upon by a bizarre family of psychotics. Murder, cannibalism and satanic rituals are just a few of the thousand horrors that await.

Review:
Rob Zombie shows us that his sense of direction for horror is somewhat interesting, but fails ultimately because a lack of a solid screenplay. A horror movie is not an easy task and at times it can fail horribly. This is what occurs with House Of 1000 Corpses.

Okay, so lets see. The movie begins and a group of teenagers are driving down a road late at night. The car breaks down and they notice a house near by. Since they have such high intelligence they enter the house and a freak show begins. The teenagers are greeted by a character named Captain Spaulding. I must say that there was no signs of good acting at all. Neither the teenagers nor Spaulding himself were even passable, acting wise. And it just seems that everytime these characters meet humans(not that they are one themselves, but who knows) it humors them and they laugh hysterically, sometimes in groups.

The movie plays along like a haunted house so to speak. The four teenagers explore much of what Spaulding knows about evil, Dr. Satan etc. It strikes as odd to everyone who witnesses whats inside the house because there are machines that are killing one another.

While witnessing House Of 1000 Corpses, I knew what this movie was leading too, but I still had some hope for it. Maybe something up Rob Zombies sleeve. Well that didn't happen. This "horror" film turns into a complete comedy fest with a spice of stupidity on the side. Very repetitive I must add.

The characters in the movie also must have been struck with laughing gas because for every tiny situation they will pull off evil laughs so to speak. What is extremely rare in bad horror films is a solid plot, House Of 1000 Corpses is no different because thirty minutes in and there was no plot in the movie, but plenty of bad acting and comedy instead.

It almost seems like this film borrowed many ideas from different films and hashed it together to form the final product. In one particular scene, the teens enter a room where there is a woman lip singing which reminded me of the film "Mulholland Dr". Which is a masterpiece by David Lynch, something that can't be said about this film.

This book reads "there will be a bad horror film very soon."

There are very annoying situations in this movie that involved the teenagers not making up their mind where to stay at. When they found something frightening and odd they would leave the area in their car, but then return later. If I was in the car, I would crash it and end the misery of this torture. During witnessing the film I still eagerly searched for a point or a sense of a plot developing, but there was nothing whatsoever.

Many odd characters approach in the movie every few minutes and every single one enjoys torturing people and the sight of blood. Mentioning blood, House Of 1000 Corpses is extremely gory and violent. However, where are the elements in making a horror film interesting. Its not visible in House Of 1000 Corpses and the ending is even a bigger tragedy.

Some can say the film is almost exactly like The Texas Chainsaw Masscre. They definitely look alike, but when you compare Texas Chainsaw Masscre to this film, Texas Chainsaw Masscre is twenty seven times better. When the ending hit the audience and the words "The End" came on the screen, I had just completed a viewing of a very badly crafted horror film."

Perhaps the only good thing from this film was the killings towards the end which were quite brutal and gory. There is also a part when a man is on the ground and another man has a gun pointed at the man. The scene is slowed down and then about two minutes later, the triggered was pulled. In the end, the film doesn't deliver much besides one or two scenes, thats about it.

Zombie expected blood and gore to provide horror to us, but it didnt and instead this film was an unintentional comedy. House Of 1000 Corpses is not even close to getting a recommendation. If I had contacts with Hollywood, I would tell them to change the genre from horror to comedy. This film was true torture and I will gladly not witness it again.

House Of 1000 Corpses

Rating: