HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (2003)

Go to a horror con, utter the name Rob Zombie out loud, and you’ll immediately have all eyes on you…half the crowd will want you to praise his movies, the other half will hope you trash them. There are no shortages of debates when it comes to discussing a good ‘ol Rob Zombie flick, on both sides of the equation. HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES was his first directorial/writing effort and he’s definitely come a long way since this outing. We see a group of hapless youngsters stop at a gas station out in the styx somewhere where they are then tempted to find a local legend, named Dr. Satan, where they ultimately get lost and meet a house full of crazies and all hell breaks loose. This is the movie that launched new icons in Otis, Baby, and most notably Captain Spaulding. But for the film itself, always felt that it had some genius ideas that would get weighed down by letting some scenes or characters get a bit too over-the-top. The girl waking up in a bed full of colorful animals with clown makeup? Great. Dressing up in costumes near the end for a sacrifice? Effective. Having someone (character of Ravelli, Capt Spaulding’s assistant/helper) barge in wearing a giant mask at the beginning while shooting the intruders? A great effect. Those scenes utilizing colors and surreal images were outstanding and was a proper homage to Chainsaw Massacre territory. Scenes of yelling aimlessly or just continuous laughter that seemed to never end? That bordered on parody. While not a bad film by any means, (actually a decent horror on its own merits), this infant effort showed the stroke of genius in Mr. Zombie’s repertoire and gave the horror world new iconic characters that are still popular today. An important film for those long-term effects that would see him tighten up a few weaknesses over the years.

SLASH SCENE: DR. SATAN!!

SLASH SCORE: 3.5/5