Review of House of 1000 Corpses (2003) by Macaronihorror6 — 06 Jun 2019

One word that sums up this movie perfectly is disorienting. The numerous "flashback" sequences, which invariably have random negative filters and tv static applied to them, create a cool effect and contribute to the atmosphere of the film,which is one of the few things this film does right. However, the short asides generally serve more as a source of confusion than answers.

The plot of this film is convoluted, nonsensical, and lacking any sort of direction. The serial-killer family conducts a lengthy ritual towards the end of the movie, burning hundreds of crosses while the major antagonist of the film wears corpsepaint and chants. While a cool scene that builds up plenty of tension, it is symptomatic of the major problems I have with the movie as a whole. Events in this movie are tangential and sparsely related, barely maintaining any semblance of a cohesive narrative.

Rob Zombie was clearly trying to do something different with his psychotic family of hillbilly murderers, and the underground corpse dungeon that serves as the location of the climax shows off some impressive special effects, but its all so disjointed and hard to follow that the few good points of the film were lost in the chaos. Technically impressive, but lacking focus, cohesion and any semblance of character motivation.