#3 - The Funhouse (1981)
(dir. Tobe Hooper)
Four teens on a double date head to a traveling carnival, where they do the usual stuff teens do at carnivals I guess - go on rides, eat cotton candy, get high, make out, that sort of thing. One of the guys suggests that they spend the night inside the funhouse, and for some reason they all agree to it. Once inside, they accidentally witness a murder, and soon find themselves trapped in there with the killer - a strange man in a Frankenstein mask.
This is... not one of Tobe Hooper's finest films. It has its moments, like the opening scene that serves as an homage to both Psycho and Halloween, but most of the scenes fall flat, and almost none of them are scary. The nastiness that made The Texas Chain Saw Massacre work so well is completely absent here, and the over-the-top silliness of that film's sequel is nowhere to be seen either, so we are left with a fairly tame and dull film.
That's not to say that it is entirely forgettable - the cinematography is excellent throughout, and the makeup on the creature is pretty good. The design of the interior of the funhouse probably could have been better, but it's still pretty neat and features some fun colored lighting and goofy props. Overall though, this film isn't scary or fun enough to really set it apart from the dozens of other 80's horror movies about teens doing stupid things and then getting killed. Skippable.
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