The Funhouse, Tobe Hooper’s 1981 horror classic is being released for the first time on 4K Ultra HD by Scream Factory. The two-disc set features a brand-new 4K scan of the film on both UHD and Blu-ray discs, as well as a variety of special features and will be available on September 6, 2022.
Disc 1 (UHD):
New 4K scan of the original camera negative – presented in Dolby Vision
Audio Commentary with director Tobe Hooper, moderated by filmmaker Tim Sullivan
Disc 2 (Blu-ray):
New Audio Commentary with author Herbie J. Pilato on The Return of Bigfoot Part 1 & 2
New 4K scan of the original camera negative
New Carnival of Blood – an interview with actor Largo Woodruff
New Dance in the Dark Ride – an interview with actor Wayne Doba
New Alive, Alive, Alive – an interview with special effects artist Craig Reardon
Audio Commentary with director Tobe Hooper, moderated by filmmaker Tim Sullivan
The Barker Speaks! – an interview with actor Kevin Conway
Something Wicked This Way Comes – an interview with executive producer Mark L. Lester
Carnival Music – an interview with composer John Beal
Audio interview with actor William Finley
Additional scenes added to the network television broadcast version
TV Spots
Radio Spots
Paperback Book Advertisement
Theatrical Trailer
‘Pay to get in! Pray to get out!’
The Funhouse is a 1981 American horror film directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist; Salem’s Lot; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) from a screenplay written by Larry Block (Captain America 1990). Produced by Derek Power and Steven Bernhardt. Executive produced by Mace Neufeld and Mark Lester.
The movie stars Elizabeth Berridge, Cooper Huckabee and Miles Chapin.
The special makeup design of the monster was designed by Rick Baker and executed by Craig Reardon.
Plot:
A masked intruder attacks Amy as she showers (resembling the famous shower scene from Psycho). The attacker turns out to be her younger brother Joey, a horror movie buff, and his weapon is merely a fake knife. He has played the first of several practical jokes on her.
Against her father’s wishes, teenager Amy visits a sleazy travelling carnival with her new boyfriend Buzz, her best friend Liz, and Liz’s irresponsible boyfriend Richie.
At the carnival, the four teens smoke marijuana, peep into a 21-and-over strip show, heckle fortune-teller Madame Zena, visit the freaks-of-nature exhibit, and view a magic show.
Richie dares the group to spend the night in “The Funhouse”, which is actually a dark ride. After the park closes, the teenagers settle down inside the ride, at which point they witness the ride assistant, a silent man in a Frankenstein’s Monster mask, engage Zena as a prostitute. He experiences premature ejaculation, but despite his request, Zena will not return her $100 fee. He murders her in a violent rage…
Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com | Amazon.com
Reviews:
The ending recalls Chainsaw in its relentlessness… in this case, the noise in the machinery room is similar to the effect of the buzzing chainsaw. It jars the senses and leaves you on the edge of your seat. Director Tobe Hooper truly lays the groundwork with the mechanized creatures, the deformed inbred monster, the creepy surreal barkers and more. A fine job is done of building up the suspense…” The Terror Trap
“Stylishly directed and wonderfully shot – the climax is fairly stunning – the film is also imbued with Hooper’s trademark black humor, and once again explores such themes as the horror of the American family and freak-show voyeurism. While certainly not as interesting or accomplished as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Funhouse is a cut above the average slasher film.” James J. Mulay (editor), The Horror Film
“Taken on its own merits, The Funhouse is a great horror film, every bit the equal of Halloween or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in meaning and use of effective film technique. But seen in the context of Hooper’s career, it picks up even more steam. The childhood obsession with magic and monsters, a facet of Hooper’s life characterised in Poltergeist, Salem’s Lot and Invaders from Mars, plays a big role here, particularly in Joey’s bedroom accoutrements.” John Kenneth Muir, Horror Films of the 1980s
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
“The Funhouse is a spitty movie, full of great expectorations. That is, there’s more drool on view than blood, which is a new twist for the horror genre […] For all the elegance of photography, pic has nothing in particular up its sleeves, and devotees of director Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will be particularly disappointed with the almost total lack of shocks and mayhem.” Variety, December 31, 1980
Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk
”Funhouse is a horror movie, not a really good one, but considering that its central horror is a standard monster (fangs, drool, stringy hair and a sour expression) who pursues four standard teenagers (dope, fornication, mopey expressions), it is not a really bad movie, either. Tobe Hooper, the director, was in there trying.” The New York Times, March 14, 1981
“The killer is pitiful if not exactly sympathetic, a nod to Universal’s original Frankenstein’s monster. Unfortunately, the film’s protagonists are not especially sympathetic either. Also, Hooper seems less interested in the set-up for the mayhem that is about to ensue, and more interested in cataloguing the weird and sinister people who people the carnival.” J.A. Kerswell, Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut
Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca
“Hooper’s treatment of the monstrous Gunther was reminiscent of his chainsaw-crazed predecessor, with the audience being swayed to sympathize with his repulsively misshapen form […] The film was reasonably well received with John Beal’s creepy score gaining universal commendation.” Peter Normanton, The Mammoth Book of Slasher Movies
Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
“While the director, Tobe (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Hooper, ought to have moved on to better things, he is the master of this gore-and-sadism genre… The film features an excruciatingly tense final confrontation.” People Weekly, April 27, 1981
For YouTube content and more movie info click the page 2 link below
MOVIES & MANIA provides previews, our own film reviews and ratings, plus links to other online reviews from a wide variety of trusted sources in one handy web location. This is a genuinely independent website and we rely solely on the minor income generated by internet ads to pay for web costs and cover yet more movies. Please support us by not blocking ads. Thank you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a very tiny amount from any qualifying purchases.