This Halloween I walked through Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary for the first time. As I wandered through the dark corridors and was grabbed and thrown around and exposed to creepy stuff I had one thought, “Someone should make a horror film where a killer is loose in a Haunted House.”
It turns out that writer/director Ben Begley had the exact same idea (for further evidence, listen to his recent appearance on Geekscape).
The Funhouse Massacre isn’t a film that anyone is going to call a good movie. That however, isn’t what it’s trying to be at all. The Funhouse Massacre isn’t trying to set itself up to be ranked beside the likes of Halloween and Psycho as a horror classic for the ages. Instead, it’s a movie that wants to be ranked next to Tourist Trap as a good fun slasher film that you recommend your friends.
The movie takes place on Halloween night; there’s a controversial haunted house inspired by real serial murders from the area. Meanwhile, those exact same psychopaths have all escaped from the asylum and have taken over the haunt. A group of diner employees are trapped inside the haunt trying to escape and survive. There is constantly successful humor, great jump scares, and amazing death scenes.
I have one problem with The Funhouse Massacre; the entire film feels like an homage to late 80’s/early 90’s slashers. This is a movie for the person who thinks Dr. Giggles is an underrated masterpiece and can quote Sleepaway Camp by heart. However this movie takes place in 2015/2016 and reminds you constantly of that fact. There’s a few jokes that work, but most of them feel dated and or will be dated in a few years. I’d have loved to see this movie just go all out and take place circa-1996 to get rid of cell phones and references to Vine and Instagram and everything like that.
That being said, if that’s my only complaint with this movie, then clearly there’s not much to dislike. If you’re like me and have a weird obsession towards horror movies that take place in haunted attractions (such as The Funhouse or Dark Ride) than you see this movie as soon as possible.
The Funhouse Massacre is available on Blu-Ray from June 7th via Scream Factory. If you’re a horror film this should be on your wish-list already.
https://youtu.be/IUOSL8LhyZQ