The Funhouse (1981): Pay to Get In, PRAY to Get Out.

The Funhouse

I'm not a huge Tobe Hooper fan.  I'm a fan, just not a huge one.  I think he's a talented guy and all but I don't see him as some kind of grindhouse god or anything, and other than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I don't think any of his films stand out as being amazing.  Saying that his later works don't quite live up to the majesty of Texas Chainsaw is a massive understatement because most of his other films have been absolute crap.  Compared to Texas Chainsaw or not, they are just horrible movies.  Poltergeist was a great film but I have a feeling Steven Spielberg had more to do with that than Tobe Hooper...

And now The Funhouse.  The plot is pretty simple.  Four teens or young adults or whatever the hell they are go on a double date to the carnival.  They wander around for a while and take in the sights when one of the guys has the brilliant idea to spend the night in the funhouse.  They sneak in and hide until the carnival shuts down for the night and then witness something horrifyingly awesome.  A disfigured monstrosity of a man pays the geriatric fortune teller for some sweet carny lovin', but things go wrong.  He finishes too soon and wants his money back.  She refuses and he kills her.  The freak's father realizes the teenagers are in the building and that they saw the whole thing, so the four of them are chased through the funhouse by the monster and his carny dad for the rest of the movie in a gruesome Scooby Doo kind of way.  That's more or less it.

Just another weekend at Grandma's.

The Funhouse is one of Tobe Hooper's better films, in my opinion.  It's genuinely creepy in parts and is worth seeing just for the sleazy, old school carnival atmosphere.  The pacing is sometimes off, but everything else seems to work in this film so I'm going to go ahead and give it a thumbs up.

Violence Rating:  3.5 out of 5
Booby Rating:  2.5 out of 5