The Funhouse Massacre

How could anyone resist a title like 'The Funhouse Massacre'? Often films like this with an intriguing title turn out to be absolute duds, that can't come close to living up to their name. 'The Funhouse Massacre' is one of the better efforts I've seen at actually achieving it. For an almost unheard of film the quality is surprisingly high. Director Andy Palmer delivers a very high quality product. The camera-angles are smooth, the violence is plentiful and well-executed and the acting is of an above average standard - particularly for the horror genre.

Mixing comedy with horror is becoming more and more common, as the horror movie genre itself sadly becomes increasingly stale. I personally don't love the mix and feel it takes away any tension the movie is trying to create. 'The Funhouse Massacre' has a heavy element of comedy to it. It's done reasonably well for the most part and there are actually a few genuine laughs here and there. Did the film need it though? I'm undecided on this. On one hand it's trying to say it doesn't want to take itself too seriously, but on the other hand it's actually good enough that it could have worked as pure horror. Some will love it and others will find it ruins the experience. It's impossible to please everyone at the end of the day, but I just hope they pleased more people with this decision than they ruined it for. There's a lot of fun to be had here and a nice little twist near the end to keep things interesting. All in all a good little effort

This film was amazing. It had such an old school horror feel to it. Maybe it was Robert England, I don't know. But I was engaged and on my seat in most parts of the film. Some were a little slow, but it was worth it once the big stuff came along.

The Funhouse Massacre is a comedy horror which actually manages to deliver on both fronts, not to groundbreaking levels but is regardless some real take your brain out fun.

It tells the story of a group of inmates who are broken out of a top secret asylum for the worst of the worst. Being Halloween there is a nearby horror attraction which they descend upon for a night of carnage.

With Robert Englund in the opening scene and the whole thing looking the part my hopes were fairly high within the first few minutes and I have to say they were met. This is never going to win any awards for originality but it sets about doing everything you'd expect and does it above par.

Also starring uber industry veteran Clint Howard as one of our psychopaths I was shocked just how well comedy blended with the subject matter all things considered. With a couple of comedy psychos and a hopefully inept deputy who cracked me up throughout, alongside your usual array of stereotypical 20-somethings it's roster is very strong.

The sfx are entirely practical with lashings of gore, some inventive kills and absolutely no mercy.

It's a slasher film with character and some genuinely enjoyable comedy. Take it for what it is and you might actually find yourself having a laugh riot.

The Good:

Robert Englund

Some funny moments

Decent opening

Looks great

Oddly good performances

The Bad:

Some stuff defies logic

I tend to love cheesy slasher flicks that don't take themselves too seriously so I was excited to check out "The Fun House Massacre". After seeing some trailers and reading some reviews this seemed like it would be right up my alley. Story seemed somewhat interesting and there were some very interesting names on the cast list (Robert Englund and Clint Howard), but for the most part I was just excited to see some over the top gory kills and from the looks of it I figured this movie would definitely deliver in that department, it did somewhat but it was also a bit of a disappointment.

Six psychotic maniacs have broken out of a secret asylum that houses people who too violent for modern society, from there they descend upon a Fun house (haunted house) on Halloween and take the place of the staff so that they can have their violent psychotic fun without arousing too much suspicion (since people just assume it is part of the act). So the film does a great job of setting the scene for an ultra blood bath, but I think the main problem here (for me at least) is that the kills just weren't all that fun to watch. The effects weren't terrible but every kill was just kind of generic or not brutal at all. Of the six killers I really only felt like two of them were worthwhile, the rest just kind of felt pointless.

The cast was OK, unfortunately the guys I was looking forward to seeing the most (Englund and Howard) had very little screen time, although the little screen time they had was pretty solid. Everyone else does their parts well enough aside from a few people who tried a little hard to be funny (although I would blame the cheesy dialogue for that). I felt like the killers could have had a bit more personality. It seemed like they wanted The Stitched Face killer to be the stand out but she just wasn't an interesting character and really just ended up feeling like a watered down version of Harley Quinn.

"The Fun House Massacre" isn't an awful movie, it does have points where it is fun and entertaining but with the story line and cast they had at their disposal I feel like this could have been a much better slasher movie. They were headed in the right direction with it but at some point they took a wrong turn and the movie definitely suffers from that. In the end it's just another cheesy slasher movie that has a few redeeming qualities but is far from being anything special.

No pun intended - the movie has its moments I reckon. Some of them include special effects - and while it may be lazy at a few points (just bodies hitting the floor or body parts being detached in similar ways) ... considering this is a low budget movie should give you pause and make you rethink any criticism of that sort.

That all said, the acting is not really the best the movie has to offer. Which might be a strange thing to say if you look at the cast list ... but what people do for a paycheck .. still this is low budget, it is horror, if both those things feel like the right thing for you ... well you could do wrong for sure.

Seen worse but also better movies - at least this does not take prisoners ... quite literally too ...