everyday is halloween!

 house of 1000 corpses [2003] 

i have a soft spot for this movie.  i used to play it when Nick was a brand-new baby at 3:00 AM feedings & cuddles.  we used to have a surround sound entertainment system so when i'd put in this disc the opening scene was killer with the sounds of fired bullets pinging off the walls of the house.  i didn't play the film loud enough to disturb Anna's sleep nor Nick's feeding/cuddle time.  & it may seem a bit kooky to watch a violent horror pic while caring for a newborn but Nick didn't know what the hell i was watching!  besides, i am unapologetic in my love of my beloved genre!  

at any rate, i can't believe this flick is 21 going on 22 years old!  i just watched the original trailer & it feels like only two years ago that i waited over an hour to download the trailer on my old AOL dial-up account!  this is rob zombie's first feature film as a writer/director & it sure looks like he threw every horror & haunted house trope he could at this production.  this movie is a gaudy mess.  i love it for that!

the macguffin goes like this: four young people are driving cross-country to research a book they are writing about roadside attractions.  the date is 10/30/1977.  halloween eve eve.  our teens find a roadside attraction in the form of a gas station/restaurant/horror thrill ride in the middle of nowhere.  soon they are on the search for a local crazy called, dr. satan.  instead, they find a special circle of hell.  zombie has an especial affinity for 1970s horror/exploitation fare, like tobe hooper's texas chain saw massacre [1974] & john carpenter's halloween [1978].  throw in 1980s & 1990s aesthetic too & you got zombie's vibe.  it is clear that rob zombie loves the horror genre & he loves the high holiday of halloween.

which then this movie is a homage to all zombie's sources.  this movie makes no lick of sense!  but who cares!  the demented firefly family led by otis [bill moseley] & the clown captain spaulding [the late sid haig], who are the chief antagonists for our four teens, are a pleasure to watch.  particularly haig who spent a lifetime playing wild & weird psychos in low-budget films.   is this film surrealism?  sure, but it is also an homage to a kind of exploitation filmmaking that was prevalent during the 1970s & direct-to-video era 1980s.  

this is a movie to experience rather than explained.  check your head at the door & by the last frame you might've lost some valuable brain cells but what you'd gain is an experience of pure halloween horror cinema.  if it's not obvious that i love this film here it is i love this movie!  it's silly fun & bonkers to the nth degree.  & i've become a rob zombie as a filmmaker fan.  the opening scene & the opening credits are worth the price of admission alone.    

boo!