House of 1000 Corpses: Why Would You Ever Eat That Guy's Fried Chicken?

For some reason a lot of people do not like this movie. I think for the most part they expected something better and bloodier and more outrageous from Rob Zombie which of course they soon got with the Devil's Rejects. I for one, do not have any problem with this movie, although it does get a bit dodgy there at the end-but I think there are some really great scenes and an overall nightmarish quality that resonates throughout.

Dwight Schrute and his semi fat girlfriend plus his other friend and his better looking girlfriend are into roadside attractions. They happen upon one run by Captain Spaulding where he has a lovely death ride AND he sells fried chicken too. The death ride is creepy and once again utilizes one of the creepier scare tactics, for me at least-wax figures. Here on display are various scenes of murder and death. The scariest being Dr. Satan who the group takes an interest in and soon learn the tree where he was hung is not too far down the road. Perhaps what is most surprising is that Captain Spaulding doesn't kill them and only wants to sell them fried chicken. Granted he did lead them to Dr. Satan's hanging tree and later to their demise, it is very unique that he really just likes to get people to take the death ride.

While on the hunt they come across a hitchhiker who is just a little too hot, and little too annoying to be normal. This is Baby and when their car breaks down she leads them to her house. At first they are welcomed albeit a little creeped out but then things start getting too creepy for anyone to handle. Dwight Schrute gets mutilated and turned into a human fish sculpture and the family dresses the rest in bunny costumes and later belays them down into a pit full of zombie like creatures and apparently right into Dr. Satan's lair. It's all good fun.

And so we have of course the delightful Firefly family. A very very crazy and disturbing family. They like to sleep with dead bodies, eat dead bodies, drink their blood, skin off people's skin and wear it as masks, and stab the shit out of people dressed as bunnies. One of the most unsettling things is how in the beginning it takes kind of a long time for the real terror to begin. Sure there are warning signs with the scary deformed brother and the fetus jar on the table at dinner time but for the most part it seems like these people have just stumbled upon a couple of off beat weirdos.

I say the end is a little dodgy because I don't really buy into the whole Dr. Satan thing. I guess he could still be alive and hung on wires like that but it was kind of too extreme or something. There also aren't really 1000 corpses anywhere, as we find in the Devil's Rejects the real number of dead bodies doesn't get that high. But other than that I find that this movie reminds me of a terrible terrible nightmare. It's like I can smell the house or something, and there is that constant feeling of never really being able to escape. This is further realized at the end when the OK looking girlfriend flags down a car only to find that it belongs to Captain Spaulding. Yeah. As a general rule-never flag down the first car you see because it's always who you don't want it to be.

All in all I think this movie is disturbing and although a little scattered brained here and there it still comes up with some great moments and visually is a terrifying atmosphere. The Firefly family ranks right up there with the Hills Clan and makes us all hope and pray that we never encounter them.