The Funhouse Massacre [DVD]

I had more fun watching this movie than I've had since the early 1990's when I saw Tremors for the first time; like Tremors, there is a wonderful mix of humor and horror in this movie. It's also an outstanding plot: create a Halloween "funhouse" based on the escapades and adventures of five different psychopathic killers. No spoilers; I won't go any farther than that. But if you like some splatter with a pinch of humor, this movie is well worth watching. And I loved the casting of Robert Englund as the asylum's warden. For those of us who love the Freddy Kruger character, it's cool to see him as a (sort of) good guy.

It's hard to review a movie without giving away the plot or the shock surprises and spoiling it for other people. So many horror movies are variations on the same tried and true plots. These movies rely on gore, nudity or a convoluted backstory to carry them. Funhouse Massacre is a fun ride with a fresh take on things. The plot involves a group of escapees from a Supermax asylum for the criminally insane and their takeover of a newly opened funhouse of horror to wreak their revenge on an unsuspecting public. The gore is there, but barely any nudity, despite the horny young couple screwing at every opportunity. Each psycho gets his/her turn at bat, and at first the attendees assume that it's all part of the show. Playing against Team Psycho is a group of archetypal horror movie victims, the horny couple, the 2 shy not quite a couple kids, 2 geeks and the bored fringe guy who would rather be someplace else. There is a little bit of a back story thread running through it, tying together a few of the characters, but it's not enough to distract from the fun. Robert Englund makes what I consider to be a cameo as the warden of the asylum, and fans of NCIS will be pleased to see Scottie Thompson [Agent DiNozzo's undercover love interest, Jeanne Benoit], in the role of Sheriff Kate. Candice De Visser plays the character Dollface/Ms Quinn with great panache.

Everyone knows I love horror films that take place in amusement parks or contains clowns. THE FUNHOUSE MASSACRE (2015) contains both. The film opens on Halloween Night, with reporter Ms. Eileen Quinn (Candice De Visser) threatening to expose the prison in the middle of town that is being kept secret from the surrounding residents unless the Warden (Robert Englund, doing his usual 5 minute cameo) takes her on a tour of it. The Warden tells her that even though Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and other famous serial killers have received all the Press, his prison holds some of the worst serial killers today, even if they are not well known (He whispers to Eileen, "There are people in here that God is even afraid of!"). He shows them to Eileen and they include Animal The Cannibal (E.E. Bell), whose crimes are self-explanatory; The Taxidermist (Clint Howard), who likes to create new human bodies by putting different sawdust-filled body parts together; Rocco The Brute (Mars Crain), who has killed all his opponents in the wrestling ring and later rips the face off a clown and wears his face!; Dr. Suave (Sebastian Siegel), who likes to remove teeth without the use of Novocaine; and the worst of them all, "Mental Manny" (Jere Burns), who once was the leader of a cult and set a girl on fire. Eileen follows the Warden to his office and garrotes the Warden so bad his head nearly come off and then kills a guard by stabbing him in the balls and then his back, stealing his gun. She then goes to the Control Room and kills the operator. She shoots him in the heart and beats his head in with her special walking stick and sets all the serial killers free. It turns out she is "Dollface", the daughter of Mental Manny, who is now the leader of all the serial killers. Dollface has set up the the local amusement park, The Land Of Illusion, with a special attraction called "The Funhouse" for Halloween, so that every room replicates the escaped serial killers' crimes and they first kill the Funhouse's director Dennis (Courtney Gains), but the one-dimentional cliched sex-crazed paying guests (the film's only failure) think it is all part of the show (The Taxidermist is removing the innards of a real human and the guests take a piece of the innards as a souvenir!) until they begin to disappear one-by-one. It is not long until these mental midgets begin to figure out that all the actors supposedly playing the serial killers are the real thing and there is no way to escape. Who will survive and what will be left of them? Can Sheriff Kate (Scottie Thompson), the only non-serial killer with a brain (her Deputy, played by Ben Begley, is even more stupid than the guests at The Funhouse, but proves to be pretty handy with a gun as the film progresses), solve and put an end to this massacre (she is also hiding a secret of her own)? Director Andy Palmer (BADLANDS OF KAIN - 2016), working with a screenplay by Ben Begley (his first feature screenplay), keeps things moving at a bloody quick pace (there's a juicy sequence where Rocco grabs the head of an audience member and pulls it off that is very well done, a graphic scene done with a carnival hammer [the kind you use to ring a bell], as is the scene were Dollface cuts a girl's head off with a knife; effects by Robert Kurtzman) and fills the film with some welcome faces, but the stereotypical stupid people (most who are killed three quarters of the way through the film) that usually inhabit films like this almost made me put the film sown a couple of stars, but like I said in the beginning, I am a sucker for films that take place at amusements parks and carnivals. I'll leave it up to you whether you like it or not. There was enough in this film for me to give it a positive review. Stay until after the end credits for a final stinger.

This film was a harken back to the great campy horror films that are really just a heck of a good time. It has all the aspects of good horror that you want. Loved this film.

I had never seen this movie before buying it and I'm really happy I did. It's actually a great watch for horror fans and I'm happy to now have this in my movie collection! Came in the mail in great time and in great condition.

I did some research and eventually handpicked this for a Halloween party based upon the reviews at Amazon and elsewhere. I'm a big fan of all types of horror movies and so it did not bother me that this was a slightly comedic B-horror movie, as I have enjoyed many similar films in the past. My problem with this film is that its just doesn't do anything to make it exceptional. It is kind of funny, kind of gory, not very scary, and just generally lacks one defining thing to really make it stand out. Definitely not a bad film, there were still a number of laughs and groans from our crowd, I just had higher expectations based upon the acclaim this had received elsewhere.

This movie is amazing a wonderful Halloween movie I watch this movie almost everyday I can't believe it was made in Ohio and I'm from Ohio this is an awesome awesome horror movie please on this movie it is so worth it

some of the worst acting i've ever seen in my life

Absolutely loved this movie! Highly recommend it

Boring characters, boring story... yawn ! Shout Factory have a lot better titles than this one. Forgettable movie.

Awesome condition, crap movie. Wasn't what I expected.

I took a chance with this one after watching a promising trailer. Unfortunately this didn't live up to that trailer. It was played way too much for laughs, had the usual annoying American teens/early twenties characters and certainly didn't deliver on the gore. For the amount of killers on the loose there weren't many on screen deaths. There were a couple of great kills including a very nice decapitation by hand but that was about it. A lot of screaming ensued but all we really saw was the aftermath. I know this was low budget but sorry guys you didn't deliver with this. The extras are poor, showing a lot of childish behind the scenes stuff and not much on the making of the film.

This is the worst product I've ever bought! Extremely inadequate quality all round, oh and the DVD doesn't work! NOT WORTH THE BUY!