Before Carpenter’s Halloween, was Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  These two films are said to be what made slasher films a hot commodity in the 80's. They spawned a bunch of terrible clones and then the occasional one that would easily be remembered apart from the rest of the pack. Tobe Hooper’s own The Funhouse happens to be one of those. Although it does have a deformed killer in it, one of the things that a lot of the others lack that Hooper brings to the table is a bit more character development. Some might say too much, but as we got to know the main characters better, the movies location made all my own memories come rushing back.

     The story follows two couples who are out for a night on the town at the traveling carnival in their area. While they are all getting to know each other better, one of the guys decides it would be a good idea if they didn’t go home just yet and instead sneak in to stay all night in the funhouse. They are enjoying the moment inside the ride when a noise from somewhere nearby causes alarm. They search to discover they are above a floor where the carnies who run this ride must live. The guide for the ride was dressed up in a Frankenstein’s monster costume and is the person they are spying on now. He has brought the fortune teller, who our friends had had a run in with earlier in the evening, in to “pay her for her time”. That is short lived and the monster feels cheated and gets upset with her. They start to fight and he ends up killing her. Now our trespassers decide that is probably a good time to call it a night. The problem with that, however, is that the exits all seem to be locked. Now they have to keep it down in the hopes of making it until morning to escape the ride turned true horror show. There a couple of other details along the way, but that is the gist of the story.

     The acting is another thing that puts this one apart from some of the other horror movies in that era. It wasn’t the best around, but they did seem to put a lot of work into what they were doing. That is saying a lot comparatively. I especially liked Kevin Conway’s job as the many barkers. He sounded very authentic. I also liked Elizabeth Berridge’s performance as the main heroine, Amy. It wasn’t as good as her Amadeus role, but she did a good job. Only problem I had with her was when she began getting scared and started making some very annoying noises. Overall, a well rounded cast.

      The effects were quite nonexistent. The movie had a very low body count and the few murders that take place don’t require a whole lot of make-up. It was another rubber masked killer, only this time the rubber mask was actually supposed to be his actual head in the role. I remember being scared of this as a kid, now I couldn’t really tell you why.

     This movie was enjoyable for me. I’ve been kind of walking well behind any Hooper bandwagon’s these days, but it was nice to watch this and remember what he used to be about. I obviously am not forgetting Chainsaw Massacre, but this was good, too. Not on the same level, but I’ll watch it again. If for nothing else just to remember what it was like back when a parent could drop their kids off at a local fair and not have to worry about anything terrible happening to them. Of course, this movie isn’t such a good example of that in the end, the ride before the monster shows up is a nice reminder of what used to be.