The Funhouse

Starring: Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson, Miles Chapin, Wayne Doba, William Finley, Sylvia Miles

Synopsis

After an evening having fun at a travelling carnival, two teenage couples on a double date decide to spend the night hidden inside the funhouse amongst the fake goblins, skeletons and monsters. But the hi-jinks soon turn into a living nightmare when they witness the murder of the carnival’s fortune-teller, Madame Zena (Miles) at the hands of the showground barker’s freakish son, Gunther (Doba), and find themselves being stalked by a grotesque creature more terrifying than anything the funhouse itself has to offer.

The Funhouse is an interesting oddity from the ‘80s. It starts with a great bit of misdirection, as we see a (very) young woman stalked by a masked, knife weilding madman as she prepares for a shower. Even after the “surprise” reveal, I still thought I knew where this would be heading (something along the lines of Halloween) but was soon proved very wrong indeed!

The film takes its time with it’s main set-up, as we follow the quartet of teens as they take in the dubious delights of the travelling carnival, including the freakish freakshow. These scenes are all very well shot, although the acting and the script aren’t particularly interesting. Things really don’t get going until the teens decide to spend the night in the FunHouse and end up witnessing a bizarre scene between Gunther and Madame Zena.

Gunther has paid Zena to have sex with him but changes his mind when he sees her body, but she refuses to give back his money, and in a fit of rage, Gunther kills her and then goes to confess to his dad. The teens descend from the rafters to check on Madame Zena, and one of them steals the rest of Gunther’s money and accidentally leaves his lighter behind.

Gunther’s dad will do anything to protect his son, and is all but willing to blame Madam Zena’s death on locals – if only he can make these meddling kids disappear aswell. He uses the Funhouse’s many traps against the kids, using it’s scary mechanics to terrify them and even kill them. Its a shame the kill-scenes don’t add up to much. Rick Baker handled the gore and make-up fx, and presumably was responsible for the grotesque facial design for Gunther,but other than that he doesn’t get to do much here. Having said that, there are a couple of very good jump-scares along the way.

Even in High Definition, The Funhouse is a very dark film and sometimes this works against it. The soundtrack is pretty decent, with a memorable theme. It compares reasonably with it’s US peers, such as Friday 13th but for my tastes is rather bloodless and doesn’t quite live up to it’s reputation.

As usual, Arrow Video have gone all-out with their release of the film, and packed the Blu-Ray disc with tonnes of extras. If you are a fan of 80’s horror, then this could be right up your street.

Verdict:

The Funhouse is an interesting example of ‘80s horror and has some very memorable moments.

6 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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