House of 1000 Corpses
Between not being a big fan
of Rob Zombie's music and seeing this film bounce between studios for 2 or
3 years (it was completed in 2000), I had expected a film that was being
released for its notoriety and really belonged straight-to-video.
What I got instead, however, was a film that (while not great) blended
together influences of many great horror movies (as one would have expected
given Zombie's oeuvre) while taking some pretty original chances. Zombie
took the traditional horror-suspense plot of 4 teenagers getting lost,
breaking down, and getting into some heavy shit, and mutated the idea enough
to make it feel fresh.
What really surprised me is that I expected a real gorefest, but the film
was more of a psychological scare film than a grossout. Through the use of
some original composition and editing, the fantastic use of lighting, and
the use of several film stocks and video, Zombie created a very tense,
off-putting atmosphere.
Sometimes, however, Zombie's attempts at using Natural Born Killers/Come
to Daddy-esque fast cutting as character exposition 'cheats' seems a bit
forced. The movie's homage to films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre
and
the work of Dario Argento is sometimes painfully obvious and almost
gives
off a 'he is just ripping them off' smell. Giving the film a fair
chance by forcing away cynical intuitions, the results can actually be
something refreshing original, and possibly even disturbing.