Four teenagers and one little boy, Joey, decide to spend the night on the carnival train, a ghost at the fairgrounds. They had no idea that the disfigured son of the carousel operator had become enraged over the fortune teller’s refusal to pay him back and killed her. The teenagers became unwitting witnesses to the murder and soon realized with horror that they did not have much time left to live…
4k movies reviews
The classic slasher from Toob Hooper, House of Laughter, inspired and still inspires many famous horror-makers to create a similar movie, where the action would unfold in an amusement park, in which a maniac runs rampant. Despite its classic status, it hardly qualifies as a “perfect slasher,” as it also has many flaws.
The beginning of the film is rather unoriginal, but at the same time, it will be very pleasant for anyone who knows and knows a lot about slashers. The film begins with a shower scene that shows some nice nudity. Even though the scene ends up being a practical joke, it is still enjoyable to watch.
Among the film’s merits are the good direction, the cameraman’s work, and the atmosphere that prevails in the film. The Funhouse attraction’s walls are shown perfectly and quite creepy. The camera does not jerk, you can see everything, the narration runs smoothly, without sagging or making you yawn.
The shortcomings of the film include the “dragging” of the narrative, the absurd maniac, the weak murders, the absence of carnage as such and the abundance of blackouts (this may be a director’s trick, but, in that case, very unfortunate).
From the beginning, the action develops very leisurely, so a considerable amount of time will pass until the heroes get to the park. What to say if their first meeting with the maniac comes about fifty minutes after the opening credits, and that is not good. Watching the characters is too underwhelming, and besides, by the end of the movie, they were never revealed. It is unclear why such a character as the owner of the attraction, who had a close proximity to the maniac, was introduced, if he too was not revealed – most of his motives remained a mystery.
The maniac didn’t please either. He is, to put it mildly, not of the highest level, and his ugly face looks more like an alien from outer space than a physiological disfigurement – everything is too implausible, though the idea itself is not bad. You get the feeling that this is the mask of some mutant monster, and only later you realize that this is his true face.
The massacre was left out of the picture almost completely. The killings are not original, though we should have added more blood and dismemberment. Despite the fact that people are strangled, sawn up and hanged, it is all shown in a too exaggerated, at times implausible and very silly way. That being the case, the viewer could have been presented with a really shocking twist at the end of the movie, but it never came – the denouement does not stick in the mind at all.
On the whole, the film is not bad, but this is a case where a great idea was ruined by poor execution. Don’t justify it by the year 1981, when the film was made – makeup was already widely used in horror films and was on a higher level than in The Funhouse.
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.0 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH.
