"Hold Me Tight: Callin' from Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse"
by Hunter Bush
It wasn't until my second time watching Tobe Hooper's breakthrough horror flick - 1974's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - that it dawned on me that it was nearly a perfect movie. Everything in it works to achieve its ends. In under 90 minutes, Hooper & co. had codified an entire subgenre of horror in such a way that the landscape would never be the same and also created a character in Leatherface (played by Gunnar Hansen) who, though slightly less prevalent in our cultural lexicon than his slasher cousins Freddy, Jason & Michael, is assuredly of their caliber.
The Funhouse nominally follows Amy (Elizabeth Berridge) and three high school friends on a double date to the carnival where they end up locked inside the Funhouse overnight, witness a murder and have to fight for their lives! Through excellent film making, a dark sense of humor, unusual pacing and an affinity for the villains, Hooper takes a perfect set-up for a utilitarian slasher and makes it into something a little more special, even if that inherently makes it's appeal a little less universal (no pun intended; Universal produced the flick).
I said above that Amy is nominally our focus, not as a knock against Berridge who's quite good, but because neither she nor her buddies are really characters the way the carnies are (more on them later). Amy is the Good Girl, her date for the evening Buzz (Cooper Huckabee) is a jock, her friend Liz (Largo Woodruff) is a Party Girl and Liz's boyfriend Richie (Miles Chapin) is a Smart Ass. It's Richie's idea to spend the night in the Funhouse after supposedly hearing that a friend had done it a few weeks ago two towns over (or some such similar high school nonsense) and of all the kids, Richie is the only one who deserves any of what's coming because it's all his fault. All of what happens to them is entirely in response to Richie's actions. Screw Richie, Richie sucks.
But that's really the pinnacle of character development for the teens, because Hooper isn't concerned with them; they're a means to an ends. If you wanna have a slasher, you need some slashable teens, right? Hooper's main focus is on developing the flick's villains, the Funhouse Barker (Kevin Conway, who actually played 3 separate and distinct barker characters) and his son (Wayne Doba), the Funhouse ride operator who is perpetually dressed as Frankenstein's Monster - remember when I mentioned that Universal produced this?
So after meandering around the carnival grounds for a while, visiting fortune teller Madame Zena (Sylvia Miles), perusing the Animal Freaks, taking in a magic show from Marco the Magnificent (William Finley) and literally peeping on the Peep Show, they finally pay Frankenstein's Monster and board the cars into the Funhouse.
"Who will dare to face the challenge of the Funhouse? Who is mad enough to enter that world of darkness? How about you, sir?"
These are the words Conway's Barker greets our teen archetypes with as they first pass by, which end up being as prophetic as they appear hyperbolic. The Funhouse itself is amazing! The spookums are intricate and varied (my favorites are probably the giant eye and the animatronic pianist; yes pianist) and each section is garishly colored and lit. This is the year before Creepshow would explicitly adapt the gaudy EC Comics color palette into a horror film and though not as obvious here, there are definitely moments of it.
Somewhere in the bowels of this spectacular spook house, the kids simply hop off and find a comfy place to hunker down to wait for the carnival to close up. And also to make out, of course. Teens. It's while hiding out that the two couples spy on the Monster as he attempts to solicit some after hours adult activity from Madame Zena, which doesn't last as long as he'd planned and ends with him accidentally killing her in a shame tantrum. When the Monster wanders off to get his father, the kids attempt to leave only to find the place locked down. Richie, under the guise of checking to see if Madame Zena is alive (which he phrases as "make sure she's dead" like a fuckin' creep) swipes the petty cash the Monster left lying around (remember when I said it was all Richie's fault?). Of course, the Barker catches wind of all of it and really lays into his son. It's during their scuffle with the teens watching from the ceiling, that the Monster mask finally comes off revealing him to be an actual monster, and a damn scary one to boot! Effects legend Rick Baker designed a creature whose looks draw on albinism and conjoined twins - plus monster fangs and thick, drippy saliva - to make one extremely unsettling bogeyman. Plus he screams a lot and no one likes that.
The kids are so shocked at the Monster's true appearance, they don't notice one of their lighters as it falls through the floorboards which alerts the Barker and his Monster son to their presence. Wanna guess which teen it was? If you said "Richie", step right up and claim your prize! After that it's all downhill for those rascally teens. They're locked in a Funhouse with a father/son murder duo! Hooper uses the Funhouse for all it's worth and the animatronic dollz that once delivered giddy thrills become ominous and menacing, the colors nightmarish and the labyrinthian guts of the attraction become increasingly disorienting.
I think Hooper's films resonate with me because they remind me of myself. Not that I'm a Funhouse operating monster, or a sexy space vampire like in Lifeforce, or any sort of Leatherface, but I am someone who finds those characters infinitely more fascinating to delve into than their potential victims. I think Hooper and screenwriter Larry Block thought so as well, because the relationship between the Barker and his boy is inarguably the most well-rounded one in the movie! We learn that the Monster has killed before - something that Hooper sets up in a hilariously self aware fashion earlier in the movie (more on that in a second) - but that the Barker has been helping him cover it up because they're family. Hmm... a Tobe Hooper movie about teens looking to enjoy themselves running afoul of a family with some dark secrets and questionable genetics... sounds familiar?
Many people, most recently and notably Jordan Peele, have noted the similarities between comedy and horror - they're both about prolonging a set-up in just the right way and for just the right amount of time that the payoff works best. Hooper's sense of humor is present throughout all of his films to some degree or another, but it's especially prevalent here. Remember when I mentioned the backstory about previous murders? Well when Amy is waiting to get picked up on her double date, her father (Jack McDermott) attempts to warn her off of visiting the carnival because a body was found at the fairground in the last town they visited, but each time he gets drowned out by Amy, her mother (Jeanne Austin) and brother Joey (Shawn Carson) talking about much more "pressing" matters like where Buzz works and why Joey can't go with them. It's funny the first time and genuinely hilarious the second. The audience needs an inkling of what's coming but if the kids don't go to the fair then there's no movie. It's meta before meta was really a thing, when it was just clever filmmaking.
To that point, I think having the Monster dressed as Frankenstein's Monster for half of the film is more than just a surface-level pop culture nod made possible by Universal's backing, I think Hooper was riffing on the original Frankenstein (1931), on the fear the villagers hold in that classic: a brute with inhuman strength that can kill accidentally and his creator who will do anything he can to protect him. Of course, Hooper mucked it up a bit and made it all dustier and sleazier and more American. But that idea "What if the monster was raised by a monster?" is called into stark contrast by having him wear the Frankenstein disguise and I think that's a really interesting idea.
I recommend The Funhouse because it's an oddity. It has a cold open straight out of a horror comedy with nods to both Psycho (1960) and Halloween (1978), then meanders around the fairgrounds for half its run time. The effect, now that I think about it, is a lot like riding in a Funhouse: you know something's coming, but you don't know what and you don't know when. It's not a perfect film by any means but as the great Iggy Pop once said "You pays your money and you takes your chances" and I'm glad I took a chance on The Funhouse. It's something I'll be revisiting often I think.
Title inspired by “Funhouse” by Iggy Pop & The Stooges
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So after meandering around the carnival grounds for a while, visiting fortune teller Madame Zena (Sylvia Miles), perusing the Animal Freaks, taking in a magic show from Marco the Magnificent (William Finley) and literally peeping on the Peep Show, they finally pay Frankenstein's Monster and board the cars into the Funhouse.
"Who will dare to face the challenge of the Funhouse? Who is mad enough to enter that world of darkness? How about you, sir?"
These are the words Conway's Barker greets our teen archetypes with as they first pass by, which end up being as prophetic as they appear hyperbolic. The Funhouse itself is amazing! The spookums are intricate and varied (my favorites are probably the giant eye and the animatronic pianist; yes pianist) and each section is garishly colored and lit. This is the year before Creepshow would explicitly adapt the gaudy EC Comics color palette into a horror film and though not as obvious here, there are definitely moments of it.
Somewhere in the bowels of this spectacular spook house, the kids simply hop off and find a comfy place to hunker down to wait for the carnival to close up. And also to make out, of course. Teens. It's while hiding out that the two couples spy on the Monster as he attempts to solicit some after hours adult activity from Madame Zena, which doesn't last as long as he'd planned and ends with him accidentally killing her in a shame tantrum. When the Monster wanders off to get his father, the kids attempt to leave only to find the place locked down. Richie, under the guise of checking to see if Madame Zena is alive (which he phrases as "make sure she's dead" like a fuckin' creep) swipes the petty cash the Monster left lying around (remember when I said it was all Richie's fault?). Of course, the Barker catches wind of all of it and really lays into his son. It's during their scuffle with the teens watching from the ceiling, that the Monster mask finally comes off revealing him to be an actual monster, and a damn scary one to boot! Effects legend Rick Baker designed a creature whose looks draw on albinism and conjoined twins - plus monster fangs and thick, drippy saliva - to make one extremely unsettling bogeyman. Plus he screams a lot and no one likes that.
The kids are so shocked at the Monster's true appearance, they don't notice one of their lighters as it falls through the floorboards which alerts the Barker and his Monster son to their presence. Wanna guess which teen it was? If you said "Richie", step right up and claim your prize! After that it's all downhill for those rascally teens. They're locked in a Funhouse with a father/son murder duo! Hooper uses the Funhouse for all it's worth and the animatronic dollz that once delivered giddy thrills become ominous and menacing, the colors nightmarish and the labyrinthian guts of the attraction become increasingly disorienting.
I think Hooper's films resonate with me because they remind me of myself. Not that I'm a Funhouse operating monster, or a sexy space vampire like in Lifeforce, or any sort of Leatherface, but I am someone who finds those characters infinitely more fascinating to delve into than their potential victims. I think Hooper and screenwriter Larry Block thought so as well, because the relationship between the Barker and his boy is inarguably the most well-rounded one in the movie! We learn that the Monster has killed before - something that Hooper sets up in a hilariously self aware fashion earlier in the movie (more on that in a second) - but that the Barker has been helping him cover it up because they're family. Hmm... a Tobe Hooper movie about teens looking to enjoy themselves running afoul of a family with some dark secrets and questionable genetics... sounds familiar?
Many people, most recently and notably Jordan Peele, have noted the similarities between comedy and horror - they're both about prolonging a set-up in just the right way and for just the right amount of time that the payoff works best. Hooper's sense of humor is present throughout all of his films to some degree or another, but it's especially prevalent here. Remember when I mentioned the backstory about previous murders? Well when Amy is waiting to get picked up on her double date, her father (Jack McDermott) attempts to warn her off of visiting the carnival because a body was found at the fairground in the last town they visited, but each time he gets drowned out by Amy, her mother (Jeanne Austin) and brother Joey (Shawn Carson) talking about much more "pressing" matters like where Buzz works and why Joey can't go with them. It's funny the first time and genuinely hilarious the second. The audience needs an inkling of what's coming but if the kids don't go to the fair then there's no movie. It's meta before meta was really a thing, when it was just clever filmmaking.
To that point, I think having the Monster dressed as Frankenstein's Monster for half of the film is more than just a surface-level pop culture nod made possible by Universal's backing, I think Hooper was riffing on the original Frankenstein (1931), on the fear the villagers hold in that classic: a brute with inhuman strength that can kill accidentally and his creator who will do anything he can to protect him. Of course, Hooper mucked it up a bit and made it all dustier and sleazier and more American. But that idea "What if the monster was raised by a monster?" is called into stark contrast by having him wear the Frankenstein disguise and I think that's a really interesting idea.
I recommend The Funhouse because it's an oddity. It has a cold open straight out of a horror comedy with nods to both Psycho (1960) and Halloween (1978), then meanders around the fairgrounds for half its run time. The effect, now that I think about it, is a lot like riding in a Funhouse: you know something's coming, but you don't know what and you don't know when. It's not a perfect film by any means but as the great Iggy Pop once said "You pays your money and you takes your chances" and I'm glad I took a chance on The Funhouse. It's something I'll be revisiting often I think.
Title inspired by “Funhouse” by Iggy Pop & The Stooges
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