Movie Review- The Funhouse

Today's Movie- The Funhouse (Carnival of Terror)

The Funhouse, also known as "Carnival of Terror", is an often overlooked slasher flick from the early 1980's. Seeing as I like underrated movies like this, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I can totally see why this gets overlooked. It's directed by Tobe Hooper, of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Poltergeist" fame. He made this movie a lot better than it could have been.
I both liked and disliked this movie. On one hand, it has some of the best cinematography I've seen in a slasher movie, but on the other hand, the script is very boring and not scary in the least. The setting is a nice change-up from the usual slasher fare, it takes place in a seedy travelling carnival. But while it's a nifty location, the script doesn't take much advantage of the potential the setting had. The plot is just like any other slasher movie; a bunch of dumb teens get chopped up by a deformed psycho. But the originality put into the film falls flat. Heck, we aren't even introduced to the killer until more than halfway through the film. And when the killer does show up, he looks like a guy wearing a bat mask. On top of that, he does nothing but scream the whole time, which gets really annoying.
While the body count is pretty high (six people including the villains), they're very bland and not at all inventive. Even the villain's death is boring, which was really disappointing. And to make matters worse, nobody dies until about two-thirds of the way into the movie, so we're forced to sit through an hour of virtually nothing happening. The main characters pretty much just hang out at the carnival for an hour, and there's a weird subplot about the main character's little brother who pretty much just hangs out at the carnival, too. The acting is pretty lame, as well; the actresses virtually do nothing but scream for the last third of the movie, and the guys aren't any better. The characters themselves are unlikable, though, so that doesn't really help their performances.
Overall, a strange combo of crap and some nice cinematography. It's not a good film by any means, but it isn't terrible. As I said, I simultaneously liked and disliked the movie. If you're looking for a slasher movie that isn't Friday the 13th, I'd give this one a watch. Heck, you might enjoy it more than I did.
Quality: 3/5
Enjoyment: 3/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082427/