Movie Title: The Funhouse
Writer: Lawrence J. Block
Starring: Elizabeth Berridge, Cooper Huckabee, Largo Woodruff, Miles Chapin, Sonia Zomina, Kevin Conway, Wayne Doba, Sylvia Miles, William Finley, Shawn Carson
Review: Four friends of the "teenage" variety decide to spend the night in a traveling carnival's funhouse. What could go wrong? Soon the youths hope they will live to regret their choice when they are stalked by a monstrous man sporting a Frankenstein mask. Buy a ticket and take the ride at The Funhouse!
Director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) brings us another frightening tale of young people at the mercy of a deranged murderous family. This time instead of blood-thirsty cannibals we get fairground folk known as carnies.
Once we've established our protagonists, who aren't very memorable, we get to the real meat of this movie, the twisted world and relationships of the carnival's employees. Kevin Conway as the lead carnival barker and his monstrously murderous son (Wayne Doba) are both creepy and frightening. The toughest part is determining which one is the most terrifying. What I find the most intriguing element is that the movie's premise is more bizarrely interesting that your standard horror fare. It's more of a "wrong place, wrong time" situation rather than a monster stalks kids for no reason other than he's got to get his murder on. The carnies' creepy bartering, wheeling and dealing way of life is their ultimate undoing.
Now, The Funhouse is not for everyone. It certainly has that gritty, sweaty, visceral feeling to it. You'll definitely want to shower after it's over. The down and dirty vibe makes it feel more "real" and the threat much alarming. The teens get picked off one by one in grisly fashion to match the slasher trend in horror movies at the time, but it's the low-budgeted realism that really make it worth a watch. It's a behind the tent, nostalgic look at traveling carnivals of the past with some morbid mayhem thrown in to put a good scare into you.
After seeing The Funhouse the next time a carnival comes to your town you might want to just grab a funnel cake and hit the bricks.
Fun Fact: The original plan was to have makeup effects artist Rob Bottin play the monster, before director Tobe Hooper caught a performance by mime Wayne Doba, who subsequently landed the role.