Movie Monday - The Funhouse

The Funhouse (1981)

[Elizabeth Berridge; Shawn Carson; Cooper Huckabee; Largo Woodruff; Miles Chapin; Kevin Conway; Herb Robins]

Plot: Teenage fun begets terror when two young couples spend the night inside a creepy carnival funhouse, where even the most harmless of objects can take on a distorted and sinister glare. Things really heat up when the kids play witness to a brutal murder at the hands of a disfigured killer who traps them inside with no way out and forces them to relive their waking nightmare. Directed by Tobe Hooper.

This film is one of the early 80s slasher flicks that has never had mainstream appeal, but is a classic to horror fans.

The story itself is simple, kids doing things they shouldn't be doing in a creepy, scary carnival funhouse. Of course, what makes it a slasher flick is that this particular funhouse is home to a deformed, deranged, murderous madman.

There are some very creepy/scary scenes in this movie, enough that I have been drawn back to it again and again. The climax of the film also has some major wince-inducing moments you have to see to believe.

I read the novelization of this film, which was written by Dean Koontz. It goes into more depth in regards to some of the characters, which makes some of their odd actions in the movie make more sense. This is especially true for the role of Amy's mother. She comes off as quite aloof and uncaring in the movie, with no explanation as to why. The details of her past are in the book, but I can see where it would have all been too much for a 90-odd minute movie to handle.

All in all, this is a good horror flick for fans of late 70s/early 80s stuff. Non-horror fans might not be so impressed.

A remake is supposedly in the works, with Eli Roth involved.

FINALLY!

It seems like the wait for this book has been longer than four years, but finally word came of a release date!

DEAN KOONTZ'S FRANKENSTEIN #3: DEAD AND ALIVE will be available on July 28, 2009.

Simultaneous with the publication of FRANKENSTEIN #3, Bantam Books is offering new editions of the first two volumes, available for the first time as premium paperbacks.

I really enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy, and am eager to read the final chapter.

Here is the info from Koontz's new Frankenstein website:

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Every city has secrets. But none as terrible as this. His name is Deucalion, a tattooed man and sleight-of-reality artist who’s traveled for two centuries with a secret worse than death. He arrives in modern-day New Orleans as a serial killer stalks the streets, a killer who carefully selects his victims for the humanity that is missing in himself.

Is this an age-old conspiracy? A near-immortal race of beings, and killers that are more – and less – than human? They are stronger, heal better, and think faster than any humans ever created – and they must be destroyed. But not even Victor Helios – once Dr. Frankenstein – can stop the engineered killers he’s set loose.

On the case is Detective Carson O’Connor, who is cool, cynical, and every bit as tough as she looks. Her partner Michael Maddison would back her up all the way to hell itself – and that just may be where this case ends up.

Now, the only hope rests in Deucalion, a one-time “monster” and Frankenstein’s first attempt to build a perfect human, and his partners, the all-too-human detectives O’Connor and Maddison. Together, they must destroy a monstrosity that even Dr. Frankenstein could not imagine. Deucalion’s journey is fated to end in the ultimate confrontation between a damned creature his mad creator.

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