Two young couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of murder end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.
Lionsgate is releasing a 20th Anniversary Blu-ray™ Steelbook 2-Disc Set of Rob Zombie’s first feature flick, “House of 1000 Corpses,” chock full of special features. It’s a sturdy little treasure with Zombie-style horrific graphics that’ll keep your Zombie-fare safe and sound, unlike the original release packaging produced back in the day. How my original, essentially cardboard, DVD case survived is a feat I cannot explain. The elements ravaged it as I waited in a slightly severe thunderstorm to have it signed by Zombie himself and his ever-present wife, Sheri Moon. Because you see, I am a fan.
Fanaticism hit me when I was 10 when I heard Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl” play during the credit sequence of “Bride of Chucky” (1998). The initial dopamine hit was electrifying and kickstarted a never-ending quest for the weird, the undead, and gratuitous gore. I was 15 when I first saw “House of 1000 Corpses,” and I thought it was a hoot. Sex, violence, demented family, and unsuspecting victims tortured endlessly…what more could a teenage girl ask for? I was dumbfounded when my peers did not respond in the same way. One kid in my class told me he thought it was horrible and stupid, “What’s the point of all THAT?” I was wounded by his response and speechless. He didn’t get it, and I couldn’t find the words to make him understand. I knew “House of 1000 Corpses” was not high-brow cinema; in a way, it wasn’t a typical horror flick.
Twenty years later, I’ve had time to consider what “House of 1000 Corpses” is and isn’t and where it fits into the horror canon. For many years it was part of my alternating “comfort” movies. If I wasn’t watching “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” I was watching “Corpses” (Who knows what this says about me, but it is what it is). The cartoonishly evil laugh of Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon) soothed me to sleep, and the Tarantino-esque diatribes of Otis (Bill Moseley) and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) kept me entranced. And then there’s the queen of cult movies Karen Black as Mama Firefly traipsing around like a mad madam. It’s a den of sin! A carnival of horrors! And general consensus tells us it’s BAD!
For those who have never seen it, “House of 1000 Corpses” is loosely about some dumb kids (including a pre- “Office” Rainn Wilson) traveling around backwoods America looking into the strange and unusual sideshow-type things you’re apt to find. They stumble upon a story about Dr. Satan and can’t help themselves to go digging where they ought not to be digging. They encounter the Firefly clan. A family with their own twisted values who have a penchant for murder. It’s a vibe. A “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” meets Manson family affair. And it doesn’t end well for anyone who crosses them. You get plenty of violence and even a song and dance number.
While the clan’s characters are brash and hard to forget, there is a wobbliness to them. They aren’t quite solid characters; there’s an unsureness to them and their motivations and choices. The same characters appear in the sequel “The Devil’s Rejects” and are more fleshed out and feel more real. But it’s better to view the two films as entirely separate from one another. There are disorienting continuity issues if you don’t just flat-out ignore them.
Zombie is an auteur of sorts. An auteur of classic horror nostalgia? Of 1960/’70s spooktastic creep-fest vibes? I don’t know. But he’s reaching for something. A feeling. Not necessarily of horror but of time gone. His time gone. “House of 1000 Corpses” is a nostalgic love letter, a piecemeal inspiration of the ’70s horror flicks, the burgeoning of punk rock and other non-commercial genres, and the effect on the cultural consciousness once the Summer of Love met its death. I dig it. Many don’t. But if you’re a fan, replace your old DVD and geek out watching all the extras, including a director’s commentary.
Now available on a 20th Anniversary Blu-ray™ Premium Box Set,
and Best Buy Blu-ray™ Exclusive Steelbook
