The Funhouse (1981)

 
   A group of young folks head to the mysterious traveling carnival for some thrills and fun only to find bloodshed and terror once they decide to stay after hours hiding in The Funhouse. Tobe Hopper's fourth feature film is also one of his early hits and its easy to see why. There are few things I can think of that is more creepy than a carnival or circus environment. The eerie music, the sideshow oddities, and even the folks running the shown, known as 'carnys'. Hooper captures these elements well in the film, which somewhat makes up for the film's rather slow pacing even in comparison to the best thrillers out there.

The film opens well enough, with both a haunting opening credits and a well done homage to 'Halloween' and 'Psycho' however, that's where the film starts its crawl. Tobe Hooper's intention seems to be that he wanted the audience to experience the entire carnival as if we were with the teens themselves, and while that's all well and good as it does set the mood well and gets you pumped for what's ahead, it takes too long for anything exciting to happen, even when the killer is stalking them one by one. We also get scenes involving a young boy that go absolutely nowhere and could have been left on the cutting room floor entirely.

When the film does finally kick off however, it has some good stuff on offer. The killer's makeup effects by Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) are rather impressive, though we've seen better from Baker but hey it's an early effort after all. Speaking of the killer, his relationship with the carnival folk and the Barker of the Funhouse ride is by far the best aspect of the film. You get a sense that while they may be committing horrible acts within the film, the Barker truly seems to care for the misshapen killer and wants to protect him at any possible cost.

Strangely, it makes you sympathize with the villains of the film far more than the selfish, ignorant, and frankly complete assholes that are the teenagers. Mild spoilers, but if it weren't for a really stupid decision on one of the teens parts they probably would have been in very little danger and he basically is their death sentence. 'The Funhouse' does have some good in there, with its strong visuals and overall creepy atmosphere, but the pacing and frivolous characters and scenery throughout really hold it back. The slasher genre was new at the time to be fair, so there was not a 100% template to follow quite yet, but it will turn off many horror fans due these issues, therefore I cannot completely recommend it, but if you are looking for something more atmospheric rather than quick and gory this one is likely you're best pick.

The Funhouse: (C-)

Pros: 
-Creepy Vibe
-Creature Effects 
-The Barker & Gunther

Cons:  
-Pacing
-Joey
-The teens are complete assholes