Dave2112
Level of Cherry Feather
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2001
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I just got a chance to finally see this film on DVD. There weren't a lot of theaters playing this film, so I think a lot of people are going to see it for the first time in this medium.
Written, directed and produced by Rob Zombie, this is NOT your standard horror movie! It is disturbing...and not in that "I think the girl in the shower is gonna die" kind of way, but more in a "Doctor, why is the monkey gonna do my prostate exam?" sort of way.
This was like the film version of Zombie's album "Hellbilly Deluxe". It's a freak show, with constanly shifting camera-views, quick changes in cinematographic style, ranging from standard horror to film noir. Imagine a combination of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Deliverance, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Mother's Day, The Blair Witch Project and about three gallons of liquid meth.
Long story short, two couples are roaming the highways doing research for a book on strange American roadside attractions. They find one. Probably the most seriously screwed-up family since the Chainsaw gang adopted Charles Manson and that clown from Spawn. Wackiness ensues.
The DVD is very cool, with all of the menus against live-action scripted scenes. If you wait too long to choose an option at the main menu, for instance, you get to be verbally abused by a psychotic clown with the whole Andrew Dice/Denis Leary-thing going. Fun, fun, fun.
Don't buy this expecting a regular ol' horror movie. It is seriously F'd-up! The wierd thing is, the more overboard and "outside the box" it gets, the more frightening it is. It's not the undead, it's not an alien or a demon...it's family of individuals who could live anywhere and could be real. It'd be a stretch...but they could exist. There are times when the filming is unconventional, just to strike home the emotion behind a situation and not just the gruesome image. There's a scene where the lead brother has a cop on his knees with his gun to his head. You know he's gonna shot the cop. The camera pans out slowly. You wait. You know he's gonna shoot the cop. The camera pans up and out. You wait. There's no music. You think he's gonna shot the cop. The camera pans out. He is gonna shot the cop, right? The camera stops. The cop's gonna get away, isn't he? You start to wonder if your disc player froze. Maybe he's not gonna shoot the poor - BLAM! Exactly the sort of tension you'd probably feel on your knees with a Glock against your forehead. There's another scene where a girl is put into a coffin and lowered into a pit with water at the bottom. The coffin has a cut-out of a cross on the top, so the water would suck if they dropped her all the way in. It gets lower and lower...are they gonna drown her? The cover goes over the whole and it's pitch black. They lower a tape recorder with a demonic voice saying "Bury me in an unmarked grave..." over and over, and by the time the thing's done, you're sitting there knowing what that isolation and terror feels like. For some reason, this film succeeds in letting you inside the minds of the victims as they slowly lose them.
Suggestion: if you're into that sort of thing...light one up before watching House of 1,000 Corpses. Watching this film is like listening to "The Wall". I think this one is going to become one of those cult-classics. It's actually pretty scary for a change.
Written, directed and produced by Rob Zombie, this is NOT your standard horror movie! It is disturbing...and not in that "I think the girl in the shower is gonna die" kind of way, but more in a "Doctor, why is the monkey gonna do my prostate exam?" sort of way.
This was like the film version of Zombie's album "Hellbilly Deluxe". It's a freak show, with constanly shifting camera-views, quick changes in cinematographic style, ranging from standard horror to film noir. Imagine a combination of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Deliverance, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Mother's Day, The Blair Witch Project and about three gallons of liquid meth.
Long story short, two couples are roaming the highways doing research for a book on strange American roadside attractions. They find one. Probably the most seriously screwed-up family since the Chainsaw gang adopted Charles Manson and that clown from Spawn. Wackiness ensues.
The DVD is very cool, with all of the menus against live-action scripted scenes. If you wait too long to choose an option at the main menu, for instance, you get to be verbally abused by a psychotic clown with the whole Andrew Dice/Denis Leary-thing going. Fun, fun, fun.
Don't buy this expecting a regular ol' horror movie. It is seriously F'd-up! The wierd thing is, the more overboard and "outside the box" it gets, the more frightening it is. It's not the undead, it's not an alien or a demon...it's family of individuals who could live anywhere and could be real. It'd be a stretch...but they could exist. There are times when the filming is unconventional, just to strike home the emotion behind a situation and not just the gruesome image. There's a scene where the lead brother has a cop on his knees with his gun to his head. You know he's gonna shot the cop. The camera pans out slowly. You wait. You know he's gonna shoot the cop. The camera pans up and out. You wait. There's no music. You think he's gonna shot the cop. The camera pans out. He is gonna shot the cop, right? The camera stops. The cop's gonna get away, isn't he? You start to wonder if your disc player froze. Maybe he's not gonna shoot the poor - BLAM! Exactly the sort of tension you'd probably feel on your knees with a Glock against your forehead. There's another scene where a girl is put into a coffin and lowered into a pit with water at the bottom. The coffin has a cut-out of a cross on the top, so the water would suck if they dropped her all the way in. It gets lower and lower...are they gonna drown her? The cover goes over the whole and it's pitch black. They lower a tape recorder with a demonic voice saying "Bury me in an unmarked grave..." over and over, and by the time the thing's done, you're sitting there knowing what that isolation and terror feels like. For some reason, this film succeeds in letting you inside the minds of the victims as they slowly lose them.
Suggestion: if you're into that sort of thing...light one up before watching House of 1,000 Corpses. Watching this film is like listening to "The Wall". I think this one is going to become one of those cult-classics. It's actually pretty scary for a change.
