Massacre au palais du rire

With a title that is a mash-up of two Tobe Hooper horror classics—The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Funhouse—it's obvious from the start that The Funhouse Massacre isn't going to offer much in the way of originality: it's Halloween night, a group of lunatics have escaped from a high security mental asylum and are killing the patrons of a fun-house. Nope, not much new there! Still, at least the film never pretends to be anything other than a whole load of silly splattery fun, its tongue firmly in cheek as the psychopaths slash, chop, smash, slice and dice their way through the attraction's blissfully unaware customers, who believe that the killing is all part of the show—at least until it is their turn to die.

It takes a while to get to the really bloody stuff (the last act is where the best effects happen, including a couple of cool decapitations), but when it does, The Funhouse Massacre proves very enjoyable nonsense, each psycho having their own unique method of dispatching victims: Animal the Cannibal (E.E. Bell) eats them (obviously), demented dentist Dr. Suave (Sebastian Siegel) uses an unusually large drill to treat 'patients', The Taxidermist (Clint Howard) guts and stuffs people, Rocco the Clown (Mars Crain) uses a 'test your strength' hammer to crush heads, and The Stitch Face Killer sews shut the eyes and mouth. Meanwhile Mental Manny (Jere Burns) oversees the carnage, which features some surprisingly good gore effects (just checked the credits and Robert Kurtzman was involved, so maybe not so surprising after all).

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.

On Halloween night, a group of six terrifying inmates manage to break free from a high-security mental asylum. Their twisted minds lead them to target unsuspecting teenagers who are enjoying the thrills of the newly opened Haunted Scream Park, turning it into a night of horror and terror.

If you enjoy gore, this film is perfect for you with plenty of bloody scenes to keep you entertained. The minor plot twists add an extra layer of excitement to the film. While the performances may not be outstanding, the film compensates with captivating moments that will hold your attention. This is an adventure that won't leave you frightened, but it certainly won't leave you uninterested either, that's for sure.

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 ...

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