House of 1000 Corpses Review

Written by: alex1176   

Rob Zombie's predecessor to "The Devil's Rejects" is a tacky, psychadelic homage to low-budget exploitation slasher films of the 1970's. Its MTV-like visual style seems to have been inspired by Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers". Unfortunately, the movie is more laughable than scary. Only in the final act does it really begin to cast a spooky spell. However, there are some intense scenes sprinkled throughout. 

The movie introduces the Firefly clan, a family of wacko-killers which includes Captain Spaulding, a hideous clown, "Tiny", a "Leatherface"-wannabe and Otis, a Jim Jones/David Koresh-like madman. They all live in a huge house out in the middle of nowhere and just like in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", they are visited by a group of young people who eventually become their victims on Halloween night. The end sequence is truly spine-tingling in which a character named "Dr. Satan" appears to perform surgery on the last remaining survivor.

The film contains bad acting, but some of the "charm" comes in some of the hammy performances. Overall, this is a film (like The Devil's Rejects) that will have a limited number of fans. However, "Rejects" is a much better, more focused horror movie. You don't have to see "Corpses" to enjoy it.