House of 1,000 Corpses êê Stars (R)
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Reviewed by Joseph M. Davis
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Rob Zombie, metal musician, makes his directorial film debut with "House of 1,000 Corpses". Alert the media. Watching this film, I kept picturing Zombie sitting in his living room coming up with the concept. I pictured him as a grown man who never quite matured mentally beyond middle school. This is his homage or recreation of the 70's slasher B movie.
The story takes place in 1977 and can be summed up in one sentence: Young couples take road trip, run into Manson family style killers with predictable affection for filleting lost city folk. There is some mildly amusing dialogue but it always stops short of being funny or profound. And the film is never actually scary either since it lacks the creepy weirdness of actual horror films from the 70's like "I Spit On Your Grave".
This is more like a "Texas Chain Saw Massacre", but closer to the sequel with Rene Zellweger (sorry Rene for the reminder on that one) than the original. As far as it being fun for the camp aspect of it, I think that the kids that will enjoy this are mostly in it for the violence created by their metallic idol. The acting here is so bad that it couldn't have all been done tongue in cheek. And as a result it becomes quickly apparent that Rob Zombie will be remembered as a director as much as Russell Crowe will be remembered as a musician. Scarcely.
Rated R for strong, sadistic violence/gore, sexuality, and language
Joseph Mark Davis Ó 2003
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