Halloween reviews: House of 1000 Corpses

I look at Rob Zombie's first film in his little horror series surrounding the Firefly family. This first film has gotten mixed reviews from critics, but I think there's more here than most people see... (Also, on my other blog mattsmonstermovies.blogspot.com for reviews of American Psycho and The Devil's Rejects.)

House of 1,000 Corpses:
A few young, dumb college kids take a weed-powered road trip across the countr looking for cheap roadside attractions. They stumble upon Captain Spaulding's gas station and museum of madmen. Spaulding intrigues them with the story of "Dr. Satan", a mental hospital assistant who went insane and killed his patients. He was said to be hung and disappear the next day, and the kids travel to the hanging tree. They pick up a hitchiker, Baby, who directs them to her house. They discover her family, the Firefly family, have strange Halloween traditions. The kids try to escape, but get captures, and the film becomes a house of shcok and horrors. The more the characters deteriorate, the more we learn of the Satanic rituals the family participate in, and the truth behind Dr. Satan... The cast are pretty good. Despite his short screen time, Sid Haig leaves a huge impression as the crazy, funny, vulgar clown Captain Spaulding. He's both threatening, but funny as hell at the same time. Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) plays Otis, and completely steals the show. He plays a complete psychopath. An inbred, sadistic freak, but he's mesemerizing and is so entertaining to watch, you want more of him than the film gives. Sheri Moon Zombie plays Baby Firefly, the beautiful but extremely unstable female killer. Her sex appeal is one of her weapons, but you can tell there's something off the minute you see her. Karen Black is good as Mother Firefly, the seductive, crazy, and freakish mother figure of the family. These characters steal the sho, and the supporting cast, including The Office's Rainn Wilson, the deceased Dennis Fimple as the crazy and hilarious Grandpa Hugo, and Robert Murkes as Otis' half-brother Rufus. The cinematography is remisiniscent of an over-the-top, surreal grindhouse film, including negative clips, rnadomly colored clips, and random stock footage. This is misinterpreted as weirdness, but it adds to the effect. The music is misused, for a film that takes place in the late 70's, because they use a lot of death metal on the soundtrack, similar to that year's other horror film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. House of 1000 Corpses is a crazy, disturbing, shockign thrill ride through hell, it leaves you feeling dirty and shameful, but it's damn entertaining, too. 3.5/5 stars.