I've been a big fan of Rob Zombie's music and image for a while now.  I even
met him in person at a CD signing in 1998, and we briefly talked about bad
horror movies.  Lo and behold, a couple years later, I hear he's making a
movie - House of 1000 Corpses.  And then, after 3 years of delays, the movie
is delivered unto us.  Of course, it was delivered unto us as a heavily cut
R-rated version rather than the original NC-17 version.

Some kids, driving cross country and researching for a book about offbeat
roadside attractions, end up at Capt. Spaulding's freak show/gas
station/murder ride.  There they learn of the local legend of Doctor Satan.
Intrigued, they decide to look further into this tale, and let's just say it
ends up being a bad decision.

There wasn't much in the way of substance, or plot.  But would you really
expect substance or plot from a movie entitled "House of 1000 Corpses"?
Some of the dialogue was cheesy, and I didn't particularly care for some of
the acting.  What I did enjoy was the gore.  The depravity.  The
unpredictability.  People were being killed, tortured, stabbed, shot and
flayed all over the place, and you never knew who was going to get it.  The
bizarre locations and characters kept my eyes busy.  I enjoyed the psycho
characters, especially Captain Spaulding, Baby & Otis.  (although I could
have done without "Grampa").  Zombie uses a bunch of visual effects, giving
the film an "MTV feel", but I think at times it was a little much.  My other
complaint is that it kinda went overboard with the amount of wacky
characters.  Toward the end, there's new weirdos introduced, and I'm not
sure we really needed them in the movie.  But overall, this is a B-horror
movie, and doesn't deserve to be picked apart that much.  It kept my
interest, it kept me guessing, and there was plenty of creepiness and
gruesomeness.

This is not a movie for everyone (as noted by people's comments as the movie
ended), but it was definitely a movie for me.  Any movie that can mix
clowns, fried chicken & gasoline smoothly is a movie I want to see.  It's an
interesting tale of depraved but colorful characters where you never know
what's going to happen next, all with a twist of the bizarre and a healthy
portion of blood & guts.
 
 

Quality: 3.5.  Visuals: 6.5  Intensity: 7.0  Gore: 7.5 
OVERALL RATING: 6.1