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1981
4 Movie Marathon Cult Horror Collection Universal DVD
For many years this was the one Tobe Hooper film I had not seen. Not really sure why. I can remember seeing the VHS in various video stores. I just never rented it. Then I found this 4 movie set for $5. Since I didn't have The Funhouse or Serpent and the Rainbow on DVD I picked it up. I know plenty of online horror fans that claim Tobe has only done one good film. But really beside the original TCM,TCM 2,The Funhouse,Lifeforce and Toolbox Murders are all good to great films from a guy who is one of my favorite directors.
Amy and her best friend Liz go to the local carnival with their boyfriends. After wandering around the midway for a few hours. Liz's boyfriend comes up with the great idea of them all spending the night inside the carnival's dark ride. While this is all happening We see that the guy wearing a Frankenstein's monster mask,who runs the dark ride,has gotten the fortune teller to come to his home. Which is inside the dark ride,it seems this guy has something wrong with him and he pays the fortune teller to let him fuck her. But as soon as she touches his penis he ejaculates. She tells he it is over and he freaks out and kills her. Amy and her friends see all this threw some cracks in the floor. They also see when this freak's father shows up and tells him he knows he isn't allowed to kill anyone from the carnival. While Amy's friends are watching this happen ,one of their cigarette lighters drops through the cracks in the ceiling,thus alerting the freak and his father that someone is watching them. So we get a nice long chase through the funhouse. We get to see what the freak looks like without his mask on and whoever did the FX work did a great job.
After seeing the film the first time I did some research online and found out that Dean Koontz did a novelization of the film under a different name. Well my local library happens to have the novelization on the shelves. So I checked it out to read. Wow the novelization adds a bunch to the film. In the novel we find out that Amy's mom at one time was married to the freak's dad. And the freak is Amy's half brother. We also learn that Amy is pregnant. And get more back story on the freak and the carnival. So if you enjoy The Funhouse track down the novelization and give it a read it will really add to your enjoyment of the film. The Funhouse gets a B-.
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