[Inspector Abberline]

The Funhouse.
Blimey I've watched this now more time's than Tobe Hooper's masterpiece TCM,which I didn't think would be possible. Perhaps it's because The Funhouse is more like your traditional popcorn horror,and TCM is more like squirting lemon juice in your eyes and running naked through that tunnel of razor blades in Tales from the crypt segment Blind Alleys ..Mind you underneath Funhouses slasher film posturing is that old adage the family that slays together stays together..And while the killer is no Leatherface,he does share a few obvious similarities,a big hulking deformed man,who has the brain of a child, and the sexual sophistication,of an inbred monster raised in a closed community. That said the so called normal family unit is not exactly shown in a good light either,Joey Harper likes to re-enact Psycho on his sister in the shower,the mother is an alcoholic and the father just seems weak and useless,which just leaves Amy the final girl. The cast is likeable and the setting of a Funhouse was a stroke of genius, something Rob Zombie nicked or payed homage to in House of 1000 Corpses.If you wanted to nit pick (well this is the internet) for a traveling carnival,they have an elaborate system of air conditioning and machinery backstage at the ghost train.But i find it a fun rollercoaster ride of strangeness and Americana.