House of 1000 Corpses Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: House of 1000 Corpses
Year: 2003
Director: Rob Zombie
Country: US
Language: English

Beginning his career in White Zombie, a heavy metal group that was active from 1985-1998, Rob Zombie had always been a master at combining music with well known and obscure horror films. His music videos were an endless homage to the genre, even some of his songs are inspired from film and television, for instance his hit Dragula is about a racing car from The Munsters. When Zombie wished to break away from music in 2003, directing and writing a horror flick seemed like an intelligent career move.

House of 1,000 Corpses begins with a duo of young couples who take a tour onto the strange roads of America in search for a man called Dr.Satan. Unfortunately when they become lost and stranded, they come upon a family of psychotic maniacs. Murder, cannibalism, necrophilia and literally 1,000 corpses are some surprises that are in store for the couples.

Rob Zombie's picture is essentially an homage to 70's exploitation/horror films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Last House on the Left, with little bits of Zombie's own creativeness thrown in the mix. It is scary, but it is also very fun at the same time. 1000 Corpses gets weirder as time goes by and has an out of control freight train kind of feel. As an audience you'll never know where the film is going to end up, and even though there are many twists and turns they always make sense. 

The camera tricks, such as negative coloring and split screens, are very "off-the-wall" but work to heighten the uniqueness of Zombie's film. His actors, especially Sid Heig and Bill Moseley, are pretty great for a horror film, they're ridiculously creepy and alarmingly sick. House of 1,000 Corpses doesn't have a lot of purpose, it's merely shock entertainment, but it's quit good shock entertainment. 

In conclusion, this picture is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. Overall it is very unpredictable, taking its audience on a ride straight to hell. It is not unusual to laugh while watching Zombie's movie either, I found it quite amusing, but perhaps that's because of how strange and fun it was. 3/5