House of 1000 Corpses, 2003 - DVD

This is a difficult film to review, because this movie is clearly not for everyone.

Ok, going into this movie, you have to be a fan of horror, gore, nudity, senseless violence and fucked up characters. If you're a fan of Tobe Hooper, Peter Jackson, Wes Craven... and a whole slew of horror writer/directors who have a distinct vision (and you understand their vision, or at least respect it), you'll get a kick out of what Rob Zombie was trying to accomplish with House of 1000 Corpses.

I went into this movie thinking it was going to be a combination of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dead Alive, I Spit on Your Grave, Last House on the Left and some others. What I saw was a semi-original version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I'm being kind with the 'semi'.

I won't ruin the story for you... I don't like doing that in reviews. I'm just giving my take on the film as a whole... but if you've ever seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the plot will be very familiar to you. And I think this is where Zombie shows his amateur status as a writer. Not a bad thing, it's just that I'm confused as to why he didn't show the script around to someone who actually writes scripts for a living, to get his/her input.

The story was a bit too formulaic, and, to be honest, the plot was almost non-existant. Now, with regards to a horror story like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, we were given, in the beginning, a straight forward explanation that the movie we were about to watch were based on a true story. This is not the case with 1000 Corpses, so you sit through the film, hoping for some kind of conclusion, when all we get is a question mark at The End. Not a good way to end a film that had no real conclusion.

That said... Zombie did do a number of things right, in regards to story. He gave us some pretty chilling moments, some fantastic characters (I have to give him a big thumbs up for Baby), and some great locations. Zombie knew how to create a suspense filled atmosphere, and adding other great characters like Captain Spaulding, Otis Driftwood and Tiny... well, a lot of the ingredients to this story were working well for Zombie... they just didn't come together as well as they could have, in the end.

For an 88 minute movie... well, I mean, 88 minutes is not that long of a film, and it just seemed to go too fast for me. I was looking for more dramatic, horror filled scenes. I was looking for an over-the-top horror film that no one wanted to touch with a ten meter cattleprod, until Lions Gate said "Fuck yeah, we'll distribute the film!" Lions Gate has been one of those studios that isn't afraid to take on controversial films, and that gamble paid off with 1000 Corpses.

With a budget of only $7 million, Corpses took in $3.46 million in its opening weekend, alone... and that was only in 595 theaters, nation wide. An incredible opening weekend! Corpses finished with $12.5 million at the box office, and Zombie went directly into contracts for a sequel. Hopefully, this time he'll have some help on honing the script so it has a good conclusion.

I will say that pretty much every actor in the film did a great job. I was pretty impressed with the work that they all did, each of them really getting into the characters they portrayed. Especially Sid Haig (Spaulding)... whew! He was creepy.

With a lot of potential, I am hoping two things. One, Lions Gate puts out a directors cut or un-edited version of the film. Two, that Zombie takes what he learned from the first film and puts that much more into the sequel. I have faith in him as a writer/director to a point. I think his directorial debut was successful, in that he had a solid vision, and wasn't going to stray from it. I respect him for that. But a sequel that has the same faults as the first film... specifically with the story... that won't do. But, again, I have faith in him as a director, and I think he'll give us a freaky sequel that will be better than the first part.