Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

House of 1000 Corpses Blu-ray Movie Review

Rob Zombie's hit horror film arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 30, 2007

Better you leave here with your head still full of kitty cats and puppy dogs.

House of 1,000 Corpses marks the directorial debut of heavy metal rocker-turned-director Rob Zombie. Though his film The Devil’s Rejects has garnered a fair amount of praise both with the critics and film lovers, his 2007 remake of the John Carpenter classic Halloween failed to capture the attention of either critics or audiences. House of 1000 Corpses falls somewhere in between. Because of their unrelenting scares and gore along with healthy doses of humor, Zombie’s films have entered the realm of cult status with a devoted fan base.

What terrors await inside the House of 1000 Corpses?

What we get with House of 1000 Corpses is a seemingly straightforward plot we have already seen a hundred times. A handful of teenagers manage to find themselves in a horrific situation with madmen trying to slaughter them. Most will die, one will escape. Yawn. The teenagers are on a cross-country trip gathering information to write a book about the various off-beat roadside attractions they find. Of course, they will soon enough be living a nightmare. When running low on fuel, the quartet finds “Captain Spaulding’s Museum of Monsters and Madmen.” This is an all-in-one joint that sells gasoline, fried chicken, and an amusement park ride. The ride is a guided tour of the history of murder, hosted by Spaulding himself, a man who dresses like a sloppy, filthy, drunken clown, and who sounds just like Tommy Lee Jones but is actually played by Sid Haig. Reluctantly, the teenagers go on the ride and learn about Dr. Satan, a local madman who, legend has it, was hung for his crimes on the branch of a tree only a short distance from Spaulding’s museum. One teenager in particular, Jerry (Chris Hardwick), is eager to learn more about the lore of Dr. Satan. Spaulding draws him a map and the four are on their way to the tree. Of course, this has been an elaborate set-up to get the foursome into the house of 1000 corpses where they meet various oddballs and weirdos from the Firefly family clan, including Otis (Bill Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon), Mother Firefly (Karen Black), and Tiny (Matthew McGrory). Soon enough, murder, torture, and mayhem ensue. The teens are cut in half, scalped, beaten, and have their skin turned into halloween costumes for the family’s annual October festival. There is quite a bit of nasty gore here but a lot of it is hidden in darkness, and there is some great monster make-up throughout.

This movie is extremely effective at building up the tension early on. We have no doubt as to what is in store for the teens, but the lead-up to the brutality is actually quite a bit of fun. The acting from both the teenagers and the family is top-notch. Sid Haig is nearly brilliant in his portrayal of Captain Spaulding. He’s crude, crass, and a barrel of laughs. Baby and Mother Firefly are disturbing yet fun characters, flirting with the teenagers aggressively to the point of being creepy, but never letting their true intentions be known. The family acts in a way that while we the audience know that they are crazed murderers (we see gritty images of some of the evil deeds the family has committed in the past), they never let it be known to the teens just exactly what they really are until it is too late. In many horror films like this one a teen or two slowly move through an old, dilapidated house and are knocked off quickly by a freakish entity jumping at them from a shadow. Here, it takes quite a while for this first kill to occur. The teens get to know their killers beforehand in a spooky yet somewhat genial manner and are given a sense of hope that nothing bad will happen until it finally does.

This movie fell apart for me in the second half. I dare say House of 1000 Corpses was almost brilliant in its first half, but turned into a run-of-the-mill horror picture the second. We get some good special effects, plenty of blood, and some great monster make-up in the film’s final minutes, but the second half is just too predictable. Zombie has some serious potential to be a grade-A horror director and this a very admirable first effort, but it just became a little too by-the-book for me. Corpses does introduce us to some genuinely classic horror characters and sets us up for the much better "sequel," The Devil’s Rejects.

House of 1000 Corpses Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

House of 1000 Corpses is presented for the first time in 1080p high definition courtesy of Lionsgate Entertainment in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Lionsgate has released several Blu-ray discs with stellar transfers (Crank, The Descent) and this is among the best I've seen from the studio. Rich, vibrant colors pop off the screen throughout. Black levels are excellent (and there are plenty of dark, gloomy scenes to put the disc through its paces). Detail is extremely high despite the many dark locales and we get a nearly 3-dimensional image. There are a few speckles here and there, but they are fleeting and only pop up every so often. It's hardly enough to mention, but it is there. House of 1000 Corpses looks great on Blu-ray.

House of 1000 Corpses Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio design on this disc is just as solid as the video presentation. Lionsgate has chosen to include not only a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack but also a DTS HD 7.1 track that runs at 1.5 MBps. This movie features some wonderful sound design with a great soundtrack that is integral to the film. There is quite a bit of very good directional effects and at times, great use of surrounds that helps create the horrifying atmosphere of the second half of the film. The soundtrack also features excellent, well-defined bass and dialogue that never gets lost in the rest of the track. The 7.1 track produces some terrific sound fields that completely immerse the viewer in the action. Even though the film is a throwback to 1970s-style horror, we certainly get 21st century sound design here.

House of 1000 Corpses Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

An average number of supplements compliment this movie. First is a commentary track with director Rob Zombie. This is a rather dull track that offers up standard background on how some scenes were shot, information on the cast, and artistic choices in the movie. A good part of it is simply a rehash of what is happening on screen. Zombie never allows dead air to permeate the track, but there are no revelations here either. Also included is a game entitled Zombietron. This is a very simplistic game where users must navigate the sheriff from the movie around the screen, avoiding zombies and rescuing captives. It's a nice option but nothing you're likely to play more than once. A making-of featurette (480p, 4m 15s) and a brief behind-the scenes featurette (480p, 2m 35s) that shows the cast and crew mingling and talking between shots at a barely audible level are available for your perusal. A short 3 minute clip (480p) of several cast members telling crude knock-knock jokes is included. Casting takes, rehearsals featuring several cast members, and interviews with Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Sheri Moon, and Wayne Toth (all 480p) round out the movie-specific supplements. We also get trailers for other Lionsgate films available on Blu-ray, all presented in 1080p with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound including The Punisher, The Condemned, The Descent, and Saw III.

House of 1000 Corpses Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

House of 1000 Corpses features a terrific build-up leading up to a dull, lifeless, unimaginative finale. The build-up alone is worth the price of admission, but Zombie just couldn't deliver to the end. Nevertheless, this is a solid first effort from Rob Zombie. The casting and writing is excellent, even for the more predictable parts of the movie. Lionsgate has gone all out in terms of presenting House of 1000 Corpses with a standout transfer and great audio. There is a long list of supplements but it's all fluff and filler, even the majority of Zombie's audio commentary. Fans of the movie will be eager to get their hands on this disc, and it's worth a look for horror fans who have yet to see it.