Just watch the first 5 minutes of House of 1000 Corpses and I think you'll be hooked: it features the very odd Sid Haig and Michael J. Pollard in an interesting conversation when they're interrupted by a couple of wanna-be robbers. I won't tell you what happens but let's just say they had a very bad night. The scene then jumps to something very dear to my heart-one of those old time horror movie hosts, Dr. Wolfenstein (very much in the vein of Zacherly) presenting a Halloween Eve scary movie marathon. It's Halloween 1977 and we're introduced to 2 couples travelling across country, collecting info about roadside attractions to write a book. Captain Spaulding (played by Sid Haig) hosts one of those unusual attraction-type of places featuring feegee mermaids and alligator boys. He also hosts a little funhouse ride that features murderers like Albert Fish, Ed Gein and a local legend called Doctor Satan. It seems that he was indeed a doctor that worked at the local mental hospital, who experimented on the patients to make himself a super race of slaves. The legend says that when the good town folk found out what he was doing, they hanged him. But when they went back the next day, his body is gone and never seen again.

The boys are intrigued, especially when they're told the tree he was hanged from isn't far from Capt. Spaulding's place. They decide to find the tree and check out the legend. The girls are against this, of course. Like in all horror movies, it becomes a dark and stormy night and they see a pretty hitchhiker standing in the rain. When they pick her up and ask about the local legend, she leads them to her house and into trouble. If you think you can guess what happens when they go to Baby's (played by Rob Zombie's real life girlfriend) house, I assure you, you don't know! I guess Zombie must be a big Marx brothers fan because there's Captain Spaulding and there's the Firefly clan. We meet Mother Firefly (played by Karen Black), Tiny (played by Stern show regular Bigfoot) Grampa ( Dennis Fimple) and Otis, played by Bill Mosely (who played Chop Top in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2!) They invite the 2 couples to dinner and a show (which has to be seen to be believed) then just when you think you've misjudged it all, things get way out of hand. (And that's putting it pretty mildly.)

I have to hand it to Rob Zombie-he really has made a throwback to the 70's type of horror film with a mix of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Zombi, Natural Born Killers and The People Under the Stairs but still manages to make it original. But I warn you now, this movie is relentless and downbeat and if you're waiting for a happy ending, well.....dream on. The performances, particularly of Bill Mosely and Sid Haig were fun to watch. Mosely's Otis and Haig's Spaulding were both scenery chewers but it worked within the context of the film. And while the characters weren't fleshed out completely, they weren't the vague fodder you usually get in horror. And aside from maybe Chris Hardwick (an ex-VJs from MTV) you weren't actively rooting for the slow and painful deaths of characters. The couples were all fresh faces and that helped them too. There were a few plot holes, which I won't point out here but they didn't really ruin my enjoyment of the movie (though they did have me wondering).

The DVD extras were interesting too with Sid Haig hosting the general menu and Sheri Moon the special features one. My only real complaint was Zombie featuring an interview with his girlfriend when he had such legends like Karen Black and Michael J. Pollard in his cast. This was her first movie and she really didn't have a lot to say. The other interviews were Mosely and Haig as well as the make-up guy. It was also interesting that in Rob Zombie's commentary he didn't bitch once about the way Universal treated his movie. I just read in Fangoria that there's talk of a sequel and it would be interesting to see how he carries on this story.

My final verdict? Despite some holes, I still recommend House of 1000 Corpses. It's worth a look, if not an addition to your dvd collection. I've heard that there's a polar reaction to it-you either like it or you don't. I think if you go in expecting an innovative great new horror film, you may be disappointed. However if you go in expecting an homage to 70's horror with blood and gore, you won't be. Enjoy!