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House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
To Experience Rob Zombie
Directed By: Rob Zombie
Starring: Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon, & Karen Black
MPAA Rating: “R” (for strong sadistic violence/gore, sexuality and language)
Starring: Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon, & Karen Black
MPAA Rating: “R” (for strong sadistic violence/gore, sexuality and language)
Allow me to begin with a blunt statement: I did not like House of 1000 Corpses. Regardless of all of the praise it has received from other horror critics, I found it to be a waste of talent and a truly dumb film. Now, I must also add that I really respect Rob Zombie and most of the cast from the film and that this was a film that I could not wait to watch and review. The film had a great premise that clearly paid homage to the horror of the seventies, ala The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and it seemed as though this was going to be a “real” horror film. After all, Zombie is famous for being a hardcore horror fan. He’s just like us...except that he has the money and the ability to turn his passion into an actual film.
Four college kids are on a road trip across the United States to document off-beat road attractions that would normally go unnoticed. When they stop at a gas station owned by a crude clown named Captain Spaulding (Haig), he tells them the legend of Doctor Satan who supposedly was trying to create his own race of super humans by doing gruesome and violent experiments on unwilling participants. When the townspeople found out about it, they took Doctor Satan and hung him in a tree just a few miles away from the station...except, the very next day, his body was missing. The friends decide that this would be perfect for their adventure and so they head off to find the tree. Instead, they find themselves kidnapped and tortured by a sadistic family of serial killers.
So, you have probably heard plots similar to this a thousand times...but remember: this film was meant to honor, not rip off. Zombie blurs the line here, essentially taking an age-old story and giving it a few wierd and quirky twists. The only time he ever really dares to strike out on his own is in the last twenty minutes when our poor twenty-year-olds (those that are left, anyway) stumble upon underground tunnels that are filled with all kinds of deformed people and, of course, the mutated Doctor Satan. And this is where things go from bad to much, much worse. It is as though Rob Zombie was playing baseball for much of the film and then, suddenly, he switches over to football...and we are the ones who get tackled. The two different aspects may have worked quite well separated, but when they are meshed together so haphazardly, they don’t gel.
So, what did I enjoy about House of 1000 Corpses? I dug much of Rob Zombie’s direction, which perfectly mirrored the seventies-style vibe. At times, he tried too hard to give it a surrealistic aura and the film came off looking very ugly (I loved everything about the ride at Captain Spaulding’s...but the quickly-edited montages with inverted colors in between scenes were very annoying). I also really enjoyed watching Sid Haig work so wonderfully as Captain Spaulding. In fact, the cast as a whole was generally solid...though, Sheri Moon’s shtick only entertains for so long and all of the victims are basically bland. When House of 1000 Corpses ended, I felt completely disappointed and, though I applaud Rob Zombie for taking familiar material and running with it in his own direction, I wish that that direction hadn’t been so filled with pitfalls...and that he hadn’t fallen in every single one.
Four college kids are on a road trip across the United States to document off-beat road attractions that would normally go unnoticed. When they stop at a gas station owned by a crude clown named Captain Spaulding (Haig), he tells them the legend of Doctor Satan who supposedly was trying to create his own race of super humans by doing gruesome and violent experiments on unwilling participants. When the townspeople found out about it, they took Doctor Satan and hung him in a tree just a few miles away from the station...except, the very next day, his body was missing. The friends decide that this would be perfect for their adventure and so they head off to find the tree. Instead, they find themselves kidnapped and tortured by a sadistic family of serial killers.
So, you have probably heard plots similar to this a thousand times...but remember: this film was meant to honor, not rip off. Zombie blurs the line here, essentially taking an age-old story and giving it a few wierd and quirky twists. The only time he ever really dares to strike out on his own is in the last twenty minutes when our poor twenty-year-olds (those that are left, anyway) stumble upon underground tunnels that are filled with all kinds of deformed people and, of course, the mutated Doctor Satan. And this is where things go from bad to much, much worse. It is as though Rob Zombie was playing baseball for much of the film and then, suddenly, he switches over to football...and we are the ones who get tackled. The two different aspects may have worked quite well separated, but when they are meshed together so haphazardly, they don’t gel.
So, what did I enjoy about House of 1000 Corpses? I dug much of Rob Zombie’s direction, which perfectly mirrored the seventies-style vibe. At times, he tried too hard to give it a surrealistic aura and the film came off looking very ugly (I loved everything about the ride at Captain Spaulding’s...but the quickly-edited montages with inverted colors in between scenes were very annoying). I also really enjoyed watching Sid Haig work so wonderfully as Captain Spaulding. In fact, the cast as a whole was generally solid...though, Sheri Moon’s shtick only entertains for so long and all of the victims are basically bland. When House of 1000 Corpses ended, I felt completely disappointed and, though I applaud Rob Zombie for taking familiar material and running with it in his own direction, I wish that that direction hadn’t been so filled with pitfalls...and that he hadn’t fallen in every single one.
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