Zombie's Homage: 1000 Corpses Works.
Written: Apr 12 '03 (Updated Apr 23 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Amazing, and I repeat AMAZING homage to the 70s; fun, gory, and entertaining.
Cons: Technically, this can be considered "crap;" critics wont get it.
The Bottom Line: Die-hard horror fans; see one of the best horror movies in a long time. A welcome portal back to the 70s.
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| ssteveszykk's Full Review: House of 1,000 Corpses |
It's been 3 years of hype. 3 years of waiting, of frustration, and of pain for sick die-hard horror fans like myself. We heard the claims; House of 1000 Corpses was to reinvent the horror genre. To be in the tradition of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, knocking the horrible teen slashers of late out of the water, and pack a punch with tons of blood and guts. Myself, I was hooked. I craved a flick like this one; and as soon as possible I downloaded Rob Zombie's theme song to this film. The hype raised. The sniplets from the film had be more excited than I had ever been. I had myself a horror orgasm waiting for the news of a release date. My desktop wallpaper was drenched with creepy clowns, psychos, and skulls; everyday checking my favorite horror movie sites for news relating to this film, and one day it happened. I discovered I would be able to see House of 1000 Corpses, the flick I was already truly, madly, and deeply in love with. Some early reviews from horror fanatics came in, many positive, but many negative, claiming it to be a let down. I, on April 12, 2003 have finally seen what I've been waiting for for nearly 3 years. And I can say I was not let down.
Let me establish my love for horror. My favorite films of all time include The Exorcist, The Changeling, and more relevantly The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I consider horror to be outrageously underrated with critics not getting it; not recognizing the brilliance and skill the hacking up of stupid blondes can contain. And although I have not read any professional critic's reviews of 1000, I'm sure it is being bashed for having "underdeveloped characters, bad acting, and little plot blah blah blah." And bluntly, I don't care. This is a film that is masterful in its tribute to the classics; Zombie's love of horror is exploited, his inspiration is seen, and he does not, for one second, try to hide his love for this genre - even his music is an incredibly entertaining array of horror stories. 1000 is an ode to everything from the obvious (Chainsaw) to the subtle (A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Evil Dead), and I appreciated every second of it.
Now to get technical. The acting from our teen leads; horrible, and perfectly relevant. I can not speak highly enough of how perfect the acting choices were. It seems as though this bad acting was done on purpose, further homaging Zombie's favorites. Most of the 1970s horror acting was horrid, yet full of charisma and persona. And it's exactly the same here. No matter how unrealistic the performances from Chris Hardwick (Jerry), Erin Daniels (Denise), Jennifer Jostyn (Mary), and Rainn Wilson (Bill) one, or at least I myself, cannot help but falling in love with these fantastically thin, and one dimensional characters. This works in exactly the same matter as a favorite of mine A Nightmare on Elm Street. Heather Langenkamp in the lead of Nancy Thompson is infamously bad, yet one of the greatest horror characters of all time. Therefore, whether meant to be or not, this 1000's acting cannot help but be seen in my eyes as a wonderful tribute to the classics. As for the sick twisted family of killers, all the actors are wonderfully disturbed. Bill Moseley as Otis, the most cold-hearted of the gang, is creepy and intense. Cult figure Karen Black is outstanding as Mother Firefly, perfectly overdone; hysterical yet scary and certainly very evil. Rob Zombie's love Sheri Moon gives her debut performance, and steals the show as Baby, with a spine-tingling evil laugh, in the vein of The Evil Dead (homage-alert!) that will without a doubt make your skin crawl. She's scary, yet sexy; a fascinating combination in horror. Sid Haig was downright hilarious as Captin Spalding, the outrageously vulgar clown; and Matthew McGrory plays Tiny, a tremendous, hideous, mute monster who's only purpose seems to be to acknowledge Leatherface from Chainsaw, and Freddy from Elm Street (homage-alert!).
Rob Zombie's directing is all over the place. Split screens, an astonishingly perfect use of slow motion (that finale!), colors galore, and so much more to put a viewer in a state of bliss. At times dizzying, this film looks incredible; cool and bizarre, a thick, horrific atmosphere is developed that doesn't let go until it makes a complete inversion for the fantastic finale. Zombie directs this as what it is: a trippy and disturbingly entertaining horror flick. The score fit the film perfectly, and the use of musical contrast was much to my liking, and in a word brilliant. Slim Whitman's vintage "I Remember You" plays over a massacre and the result is priceless; The upbeat, feel good "Brick House" is played over flying limbs, and lots of blood; again-priceless. Rob Zombie's directoral debut shows a great amount of talent and promise. I cannot wait to see his next effort. As for the screenplay; not at all bad. A perfect blend of comedy, cheese, and horror, the dialogue is memorable and seemingly straight out of a cheesy exploitation flick. The character of Captin Spaulding is given some of the more memorable lines, constantly providing tons of laughs and Otis' spits out disturbingly creepy quotes making his character all the more evil.
Moving on to the red stuff. Originally rated the dreaded NC-17, 1000 is said to have been heavily cut to receive the R rating, and for me, it was unnoticeable. The gore here is used perfectly, like only Lucio Fulci could do. Not overdone, not exploitative, just the right amount and perfectly used to disturb and advance the narrative. However, I won't deny often I found myself cringing, not a common occurrence for a horror fan like myself, especially during the finale which I will discuss further a little bit later. Also, I won't lie; I am eagerly awaiting to see the uncut version, which I suspect will be released on DVD and will show us how Zombie originally intended his film to be. If his cut version contained more blood than the entire Urban Legend franchise, I can only imagine the tons of blood left on the cutting-room floor. Kudos to this films guts; Zombie didn't hold back and let his imagination run wild crafting some fantastic gore sequences that I doubt I will forget anytime soon.
And now the finale which I have spoken so highly of. It is a fright fanatic's wet dream - Gory, anticlimactic, and disturbing. Truly oozing Chainsaw Massacre, we have a dry desert, a good gal running to escape the madness. We also get a seemingly supernatural twist that adds a whole new atmosphere to this already richly atmospheric piece. It possesses a dream like quality and with split screens, slow-mo, and all that fun stuff it injects an uneasy feeling into it's viewers. As for the characters, there comes a point where you actually care for our good guys, which you most likely have not even dared of doing throughout the previous parts of the film. I could not think of a better way to end this twisted horror masterpiece, as it shocks, scares, and implants viewers at the edge of their seats - the gore gets redder, the villains get scarier, and the good guys get smarter (well, kind of).
As a whole 1000 is just what it sets out to be: an entertaining homage to the 70s. If you have not seen the classic horror films, my suggestion would do yourself a favor before checking out this film: Go on a spree, seeing all the best horrors from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to The Evil Dead, not missing a single classic in between. I would be glad to give a complete list of the film's allusions, but there are just too damn many to count. Zombie serves the horror community with a great, old fashioned fright flick he cooked up, not forgetting to add a whole lotta' inspiration and respect for the horror genre. Critics; don't see this film, it's not for you. Horror fans (like moi!); here comes our cult classic.
8/10
SIMILAR PRODUCTS:
Original Soundtrack (3.33/5)
http://www.epinions.com/content_96658624132
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ssteveszykk
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Member: Steve
Location: NY
Reviews written: 50
Trusted by: 12 members
About Me:
It's funny to grow up with this site - my old reviews are horrifying/embarrassing/hilarious/nostalgic.
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