I'm just going to be honest here up front and say that I've never really been a fan of Tobe Hooper. Outside of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, his work has been spotty and lackluster. Such is the case with The Funhouse. I do praise the score for the movie, even though it's overused, and the design of the monster's mask,
but other than that, there's nothing really spectacular about this one. Paying homages to Psycho and Halloween in the opening minutes didn't really help it much either. Sub-standard horror film fodder with plot threads and ideas that go nowhere fast, I don't really understand how this broken plot got put into production. I suppose the dolls and the animatronic characters in the movie would frighten some people, or even creep them out, but that stuff doesn't really work on me. This had potential, but it's such a slow build-up to essentially nothing.
June 22, 2011
