Having been put on the back burner for nearly 3 years there was much hype and mystery surrounding Rob Zombies directorial debut House of 1000 Corpses. I have to admit I wasn’t particularly interested in this one and wasn’t hopeful of a negative opinion crushing experience. From what I had heard of the movie and from much of the promotional stuff mooching about on the web I was half expecting an over-the-top, colour filled, texas chainsaw-esque picture. And to some degree I was right.
In no way whatsoever holding back imaginative new directions in the genre Zombie takes us at great pace through an unusual tale of satanic and clearly psychotic family life. In this case it’s the Firefly family.
Typical dumb kids Jerry, Bill, Mary, and Denise pull off the road to meet Captain Spaulding and take a trip through his bizarre backroom ride. The two couples are hoping to collect enough material to include in a book they’re planning on putting together about offbeat roadside attractions – coincidence?, probably. The kids learn of the legend of Dr. Satan and head off to find the tree where he was hung from. Their car breaks down, or so they think, just as they pick up sexy hitchhiker, Baby. Baby takes them back to her house where the two couples meet the Firefly family, a murderous clan of bizarre people.
The film is certainly bizarre and probably unlike anything you have seen in a long time. It is filled with humour and strangeness, which makes it so appealing. The movie also uses abundant amounts of 16mm footage, old TV shows and other extra footage, which is spliced into the movie at many different moments. There is the use of split screen, slow-mo and tonnes of other samples of camera trickery. It’s like the horror version of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers.
I never expected to even enjoy House of 1000 Corpses but I did, very much so. Like I have mentioned on copious occasions previously I’m an admirer of originality, especially in this genre, which sometimes gets too bogged down in standard shocks and reworked ideas. But 1000 Corpses, in spite of maybe being a little too overcrowded with different ideas at one time, still comes off as a very inventive little movie.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The films brilliance has to be its overwhelming sense of whackyness. Indeed a lot of ideas seem to have been influenced by films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but its execution and style is refreshing. In particular, Spoiler Ahead!, Deputy Steve’s execution and the lead up sequence to it. A truly terrifying scene, which drops all original sound and overplays it with a rendition of Slim Whitman’s ‘I Remember You’. There is a great cast, some great sets and the use of music is spot on. However, I would have to criticise the ending somewhat as I’m not sure everything that was going on following the coffin scene was clear or comprehensible.
