La Maison des 1000 morts

This is the first movie rob zombie ever made. While he would go on to make better movies, This was a great horror movie. Captain Spaulding is easily the most terrifying part of this movie. I kind of wished they had focused on him, and his museum of monsters and mad men more than on the fireflies.

The plot line centers two couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of murder end up sheltering at house inhabited by a loony and murderer family (formed by Karen Black, Sheri Moon , Sid Haig and others) . They are a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers .

The motion picture mixes a deal of gore , terror , screams , and spooky atmosphere . The storyline has got certain likeness to ¨Texas chainsaw massacre¨ , along with ¨Ed Gein¨ and ¨2000 maniacs¨. The film's script was constantly changing throughout filming, leading to an entirely different ending at one point . The actual house is the same used in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas(1982), which can be viewed during Universal Studio's tram ride. However, during filming, Universal refused to cease the tram tours, which delayed filming during many scenes .

There isn't interpretation of the actors because they only kill and shout . However , the cinematography by Alex Poppas and Tom Richmond is nice to difference ¨Texas massacre¨ which was granulated and worn-out . There are some black and white flashbacks upon killers , it is the most interesting bit of the film . This is Rob Zombie's directorial debut , and was filmed in 2000, but wasn't released until three years later. Rob Zombie has said that he was constantly shooting two versions of the gorier scenes to appease Universal. For instance, a shot at the start of the film in which the robber who was stabbed with the Axe is on the floor was shot two ways: with blood and without blood . The movie will appeal strong emotions enthusiasts and gore fans. Rating: 5/10 average .

In my opinion, House of 1000 Corpses is a fan movie. Fans of both the horror genre and Rob Zombie are likely to love it. Though I do not count myself a fan of either, I do like both at times, and I am quite familiar with both. Those familiar with Rob Zombie are likely to be the only ones who completely 'get' this clever little film - appreciating its depraved sense of humor and nihilism. Zombie's themes are fairly consistent - evil (without the usual religious connotations and clichés), murder, sex, insanity, and stereotype "hillbillies". Zombie's world is not a place for people who are terribly concerned with reality, but, for Zombie himself, it seems to supply endless muse for a prolific and interesting commercial creativity.

Two couples traveling across country and working on a book on bizarre roadside attractions stumble across a filling station / theme park run by a vaguely evil clown with a bad attitude - Captain Spaulding. Spaulding teaches them of a few local legends, including a mad surgeon who worked in a local insane asylum and came to be known as Dr. Satan for the grotesque surgical procedures he applied to mental patients in secret. They pick up a pretty blonde hitch-hiker on their way to see the tree where Dr Satan was hung, and run into some car problems, so the hitch-hiker invites them to her family house. The family, apparently headed by the phenomenally weird Karen Black, makes The Addams family look like the Brady Bunch.

My narrative has described the first 20 minutes or so of the film, and at this point the film, much like RZ's songs, is so campy that it seems a straightforward horror comedy. However, once our protagonists are in "the house", the plot takes a decidedly more sinister spin, and never lets up from that point forward.

This film successfully and entertainingly portrays all of RZ's themes in about the same proportions as his music. Of them all, sex is the least explored, and I, for one, am thankful for that. The film also walks a delicate line between Hannibal Lector grotesque art realism and supernatural forces. For example, at one point, one of the bad guys turns on a cassette player with low batteries so that the voice recorded on it sounds extra-satanic.

If you have problems with blood and other bodily fluids, and utterly repulsive surgically induced variations on the human body, you might want to avoid this film. If you don't have any great objections to standard hardcore horror imagery, or if you like it, you might want to see this. It is masterfully visualized and does a much better job of making horror into art than the standard Hollywood horror fair. This is Rob Zombie's art, and he does it much better than most. This first major effort in film bodes well for his future use of the medium, and I will look forward to his next.

Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) is a foul-mouthed clown owner of the "Museum of Monsters and Madmen" and "Fried Chicken and Gasoline". On October 30, 1977, Spaulding shoots a bunch of holdup guys. Jerry Goldsmith (Chris Hardwick), Bill Hudley (Rainn Wilson), Mary Knowles (Jennifer Jostyn), and Denise Willis (Erin Daniels) are traveling the country investigating weirdness. Spaulding shows the group his roadside show and tells them about Dr. Satan. They go in search of the hanging tree where they hanged Dr. Satan. They pick up hitchhiker Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie). Their tires get popped and they end up with Baby's family.

I like directer Rob Zombie's weird outsider style. It's over-stylized Grindhouse. I just think that writer Rob Zombie needs help pulling all the craziness together into a coherent compelling plot. He needs to figure out rooting interest, and how to create tension. This is a bit of a mess but it's a fascinating mess.

I have to ask because it seems that I'm not a true horror movie fan if I don't like this movie. Thats a load of crap. I have seen all the Nightmare on Elm Streets, Halloweens, Friday The 13ths, Hellraisers, Evil Deads, etc. etc. I like film directors like John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Eli Roth. I've seen some obscure horror films too, like Blood Beach, The Company Of Wolves and even seen The Last House On the left (even though I didn't like it that much).

Problem I had with this film was it was too sadistic for its own good (the "bunny" killing scene especially made my blood turn cold), the villains antics grew tiresome, and THAT scene where the gun was held on the guy's head was JUST TOO LONG. No matter how stylish it was meant to be, it was just a director letting the scene run for too bloody long!

That said, I didn't totally dislike this movie. I could see that Rob Zombie has an obvious fondness for the horror movie and he set out to create a familiar story with his own sadistic and creative additions. The film was effective at making me wonder if the actors playing the villains were really acting or not, they did seem genuinely disturbed. However, the victims were kind of ho hum.

The production design of the film looked impressive too, with a lot of visual points of references to horror clichés.

Main problem was that I didn't really enjoy watching it, and I grew bored with it in its latter stages. It was shocking (in parts) just for being shocking and was just a film made by an amateur film maker (albeit an obviously enthusiastic one)