The Funhouse

Infobox Film | name = The Funhouse


caption = Original 1981 theatrical poster
director = Tobe Hooper
producer = Steven Bernhardt
Derek Power
writer = Larry Block
starring = Elizabeth Berridge
Shawn Carson
music = John Beal
cinematography = Andrew Laszlo
editing = Jack Hofstra
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = March 13 1981 (U.S.)
runtime = 96 min.
90 min. (Swedish cut)
language = English
budget = Unknown
amg_id = 1:18946
imdb_id = 0082427

"The Funhouse" is a 1981 slasher film directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Larry Block. The original music score is composed by John Beal. The story went out of its way to subtly portray the antagonist as someone to be pitied and not just feared (since most critics have pointed out that "He tended to only kill out of pain!")

Cast

*Elizabeth Berridge.... Amy Harper
*Shawn Carson.... Joey Harper
*Jeanne Austin.... Mrs. Harper
*Jack McDermott.... Mr. Harper
*Cooper Huckabee.... Buzz Klemmet
*Largo Woodruff.... Liz Duncan
*Miles Chapin.... Richie Atterbury
*Kevin Conway.... Funhouse Barker (Conrad Straker)
*Wayne Doba.... The Monster (Gunther Straker)
*Sylvia Miles.... Madame Zena
*William Finley.... Marco the Magnificent

Taglines

* "Pay to get in. Pray to get out!"
* "Something is alive in the funhouse... something better dead!"
* "Something is alive in the funhouse... something that has the form of a human, but not in the face... something that feeds off the flesh and bone of young innocents..."
* "Something is alive in the funhouse... something that, tonight, will turn the funhouse into a carnival of terror!

ynopsis

Against her father's orders, Amy goes to a sleazy traveling carnival with her new boyfriend Buzz, her best friend Liz, and Liz's boyfriend Richie. Unbeknownst to the four teens, Amy's prank-happy little brother Joey (who happens to be obsessed with classic horror movies) sneaks out of the house and follows them to the carnival. Amy's father is opposed to her going to the carnival because a couple of Girl Scouts were found murdered at its previous set-up. No one knows who killed the two children, and both girls had to be identified using dental records.

At the carnival, the four teens smoke marijuana and sneak into a 21-and-over striptease joint. They heckle Madame Zena the Fortune Teller, visit a freaks-of-nature exhibit, and view a magic show.

Finally, the foursome telephone their parents and lie to them, so they can spend the night in the carnival's funhouse - actually a darkride - after it closes. While Joey waits for them to emerge, the teenagers enjoy a sexual romp in the dark funhouse. Then they notice the Funhouse Barker's assistant - a huge man in a Frankenstein suit who never speaks - making out with a lingerie-clad Madame Zena. She demands a hundred dollars from "Frankenstein," and when he ejaculates prematurely, she refuses to "go all the way" as agreed. When she won't give back the money, "Frankenstein" attacks and strangles her.

After witnessing this incident, the four teenagers attempt to leave the funhouse, but find that it is locked. Richie, who suggested spending the night in the funhouse to begin with, adds insult to injury by cleaning out the steel strongbox from which "Frankenstein" retrieved one hundred dollars for Madame Zena's pay. The kids have to hide again when the Funhouse Barker, Conrad Straker, returns and sees what "Frankenstein" - actually his son Gunther - has done to Madame Zena. After giving Gunther a violent reprimanding, Conrad decides that they'll deposit Madame Zena's body to make it look as though she was killed by "the locals". Then Conrad discovers that all of the money from his strongbox is missing. At first, he jumps to the obvious conclusion that Gunther has taken it, and tortures Gunther until the latter rips off his Frankenstein mask.

To the teens' shock, Gunther is gruesomely deformed: head and nose twice as wide as they should be; with oversized mouth, huge sharp protruding teeth, and ruby-red eyes. At this startling revelation, Richie accidentally drops his cigarette lighter through the vent where it lands on the floor by Conrad and Gunther. Conrad promptly discovers the lighter, and realizes he and Gunther are not alone. Even worse, it is likely that whoever dropped this lighter also witnessed Gunther's killing of Madame Zena. This witness (or witnesses) will have to be found, slain and buried as surreptitiously as possible. It won't be the first time, either: Conrad and Gunther had to murder a pair of Girl Scouts for tripping over their secret; had word gotten out, Gunther would have been lynched and butchered (like his mother), or put on display in the freak exhibition (like his late younger brother Tad).

After killing Richie with a hangman's noose, actually a funhouse prop, Gunther captures Liz with a trapdoor Liz tries to lure Gunther into a trap with promises of sex, but when she stabs Gunther he attacks her, stabbing her to death with his sharpened finger nails. Conrad tries to shoot Amy, but Buzz jumps him for his pistol. It fires, killing Conrad. Then Gunther attacks Buzz for the gun, while Amy runs for it. The pistol goes off again, this time killing Buzz.

Gunther chases Amy into a room filled with hydraulic machinery, huge sprockets, and the like. He tries to knock her head in with a crowbar, but misses and hits the fusebox instead... electrocuting, but somehow not killing, him. Caught between the two primary gears, he attempts to drag her between them with him. She tears herself free as he is crushed to death.

At dawn, Amy exits the funhouse. An animated fat lady laughs uproariously as Amy - her clothes ripped, her makeup running, her shoes gone - proceeds to walk home.

Novelization

A novelization of the screenplay was written by Dean Koontz, under the pseudonym Owen West. As the film production took longer than expected, the book was released before the film.

External links

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