Our Idea of Fun

What could be more fun than terror? It sounds strange but it's basically the idea behind funhouses, as demonstrated in 1981's The Funhouse. Directed by Tobe Hooper, it portrays events that form a commentary on the concept of fear as entertainment. I'm not sure Hooper has a point precisely but it's an interesting rumination on how humans get their kicks.

Several horror movies are directly referenced. Right at the beginning we get an enjoyably gratuitous reference to Psycho. The film's protagonist and obvious Final Girl, Amy (Elizabeth Berridge), is taking a shower when her little brother intrudes to stab her with a rubber knife. Furious at the prank, she chases him to his bedroom where she promises to get him back for it someday, somehow. We see the little boy's room is covered with horror memorabilia, including three stills from Bride of Frankenstein.

Downstairs, their father is actually watching Bride of Frankenstein on TV. Later, at the carnival where most of the film takes place, we get our first sight of this film's monster (Wayne Doba), looking fairly inconspicuous in a Frankenstein's monster mask.

These aren't just references to movies, they're put in the context of performance. The little boy was trying to scare his sister, the monster is wearing a monster mask as part of the funhouse. But then there's real horror also presented in an audience/performer dichotomy, first when the film's teens see a pair of real deformed cows on display at the carnival, then when they actually witness a murder.

They witness it through the slats of floor boards above the room where it takes place, much like a movie audience watches events take place between characters unaware that they're being observed.

Again, I don't think Hooper is making an argument with any of this--of if he is, it doesn't come through very well. But that's okay. It's a good jumping off point for ideas. I suppose you could say it mischievously implicates the audience for gawping at the strange and pathetic.

The monster commits the murder of the fortune teller, Zena (Sylvia Miles), after he's prematurely ejaculated after he paid her to have sex with him. As a teen film, in which the main teenage characters are contemplating whether or not to have sex, it's a nice way of exploiting a young person's discomfort over sexuality. I like how the monster does all this wearing a Frankenstein's monster mask. The immobility of the mask gives it the same kind of creepiness as Michael Myers or even, of course, Hooper's own Leatherface. The fact that it's one movie monster wearing the mask of another movie monster is kind of intriguing.

I liked Elizabeth Berridge as Amy. She's pretty. It's pretty clear at the beginning that she's going to survive longer than the other teens because she expresses reluctance about going to the carnival and about having sex. But she's not as morally pure as other Final Girls--she laughs with her friends at the deformed cows and at the old fortune teller. But I was still rooting for her to escape.

The Funhouse is available on Shudder.