House of 1000 Corpses

I watched a film called "House of 1000 Corpses" last night and it made a pretty strong impression on me. Basically, when I was a kid I was taken into loads of gothic shops and I saw loads of dolls and posters and VHS tapes and skulls and horror icon figurines (Krueger, Vorhees, etc), and those things have kind of always stayed with me, they impacted me pretty heavily as a child, like I was seeing something I shouldn't be, and also probably accounts for my inclination towards the macabre that has so far been a pretty strong bit of my personality. This also led me to create what you might call an ideal, of what a horror film should be, combining all those elements of intrigue and scariness and macabre and horror and downright sleaze, and, up until I watched "House of 1000 Corpses", I'd say that that ideal had never been fulfilled- Hellraiser and Texas Chainsaw Massacre came pretty close I guess- but now I can say it has.

Where to begin? The film, directed by Rob Zombie 10 years ago, is a pretty insane piece of work. The plot, that four young geeks find themselves in the house and then at the mercy of a demented, inbred-looking family of cannibalistic satan worshippers, is nothing new, and that it takes ages for this plot to become apparent is even worse. From a purely critical review the film is nothing less than an absolute mess, the script is shoddy and takes about half an hour to actually get to the point, plot strands are weak and undeveloped to begin with, and it essentially reeks of "rush job" and "earnest first effort" for a little while before it kicks in. But it doesn't matter so much, and I certainly was able to overlook this, because stylistically, from the very first scene, the film was an absolute dream. Using negative polarities, switching colour filters mid-shot, split screen, grainy film stocks, the film attains this true grunge look that is both nasty and great fun to watch. This is probably the first reason why it hit my aforementioned "ideal"; the film is so out-there stylistically, so grubby, nasty, that it took on the qualities of the grubby little film that's been developing in my head all along; the film itself actually resembles a goth shop in many places, and for me this was a huge plus.

Secondly, the characters, or rather, one character in particular; Sid Haig's "Captain Spaulding". For a start, he's a clown, so right there he's got my attention as a horror character. Secondly, he's a Southern American trailer-trash style clown who runs a "Museum of Monsters and Madmen" in a petrol station, with an inclination towards violence that is wholly unpredictable- in his first scene, he has shot two wannabe-robbers before delivering the ultimate zinger ("Fuck your mother! Fuck your sister! Fuck your grandmother! And most of all, fuck you!"), so basically he's perfect. He is the backbone of this film, and the fact that we're never really sure of his status as good, bad, or something in the middle, only adds to this intrigue. Haig puts in a frankly excellent performance, making Spaulding an unpleasant, yet fascinating character who is the centre of this film. Look, here he is.

Added to him, we've got Bill Moseley as the leader of the "family", Otis, and his was another excellent performance indeed, playing it a lot straighter than the other actors in this film being a lot more subdued on the whole. This made him more believable as the leader, as we can see that he is evil to his very core, as opposed to the others having a bit of a laugh with everything; he takes everything seriously, and this turns into a kind of determination which is just the kind of tonal centre this film needs; him and Spaulding, despite only having one scene together, are the pillars of this film, driving the plot along and keeping you glued to the screen.

It is worth noting that we are not, at any point, invited to engage with the kids of this film. They are one-dimensional and frankly annoying, and I think this was done on purpose to not allow us to sympathise; this film is gruelling and nasty, and I think some kind of emotional investment in them would have made the film essentially unwatchable. They are basically nothing less than meat to drive the first part of the plot along, and then later just pure meat. I could get all moral right now and bemoan the treatment of both the male and female characters, but... No, god no! This only a film, dammit, and this film in particular is not the film to get moral about. So the characters were butchered, woop-de-doo.

Finally, though, it is this horrible nature of the film which accounts for why I enjoyed it so much. It really is absolutely horrible. Sadistic, callous, violent, cynical, and I'll be damned if I didn't get a kick out of every single minute of it. The final half hour, involving the ritual and the reveal of who "Dr Satan" actually is, with the underground lair and the giant monster doing operations on the guy's brain... Yeah. It has to be seen to be believed, but I can honestly say that as I saw it unfold I felt giddy with a realisation that yes, yes! this was the film I'd been waiting for all my life. It isn't for everyone, but if you're a true horror fan, then this is the one to watch.

It isn't perfect, but then, it is. 10/10.