Review of The Funhouse (1981) by Luc L — 19 Oct 2012

One of Tobe Hooper's best movies. Hooper did really care about his characters in this movie as well for story and visual style. The movie certain focus more on plot and the characters. But it is a great looking movie to watch with its striking production designs and excellent eerie music score by John Beal.

There is a nice leading performance by Elizabeth Berridge (Amadeus) but it is Kevin Conway`s (Gettysburg) performance steals the show. He has three roles in this! Wayne Doba (Scarface) plays the monster nicely.

Since Rick Baker did the designs on the monster. The movie has an wild crazy conclusion with loud music and excellent sound effects almost recalls the ending of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre".

Which Hooper did director. The Blu-ray from Shout! Factory is great. It has an remastered DTS 5.1 HD Sound and the 1080p image never looked this good before as well with fine special features. "The Funhouse" has an cult following, over the recent years.

Now die-hard fans of Hooper's work, sees this movie as one of his best movies as a director. Maybe too slow for some tastes. Especially some complained, there wasn't enough gore. Hooper was more interested going for suspense, mood and style here.

If you are a horror fan, it is worth a look.