House of 1000 Corpses

For the song of the same name, see House of 1000 Corpses (song).

House of 1000 Corpses
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rob Zombie
Produced by	Andy Gould
Written by	Rob Zombie
Starring	Sid Haig Bill Moseley Sheri Moon Zombie Karen Black
Music by	Rob Zombie Scott Humphrey
Cinematography	Alex Poppas Tom Richmond
Editing by	Kathryn Himoff Robert K. Lambert Sean K. Lambert Robert W. Hedland (uncredited)
Studio	Spectacle Entertainment Group Universal Studios
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release date(s)	April 11, 2003 (2003-04-11)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$7 million
Box office	$16,829,545

House of 1000 Corpses is a 2003 American exploitation horror film written, co-scored and directed by Rob Zombie, and starring Chris Hardwick, Rainn Wilson, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie and Karen Black. The plot focuses on two couples who are held hostage by a sadistic backwoods family on Halloween. Zombie's directorial debut, the film is heavily inspired by the horror and exploitation cinema of the 1970s, in the fashion of films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977).

Filmed in 2000, the movie was originally bought by Universal Pictures, and a large portion of it was filmed on the Universal Studios backlots, but it was ultimately shelved by the company in fear that it would receive an NC-17 rating. The rights to the film were eventually re-purchased by Zombie, who then sold the film to Lions Gate Entertainment. It was released theatrically on April 11, 2003.

Plot

On October 30, 1977, Jerry Goldsmith (Chris Hardwick), Bill Hudley (Rainn Wilson), Mary Knowles (Jennifer Jostyn) and Denise Willis (Erin Daniels) are two couples out on the road in hopes of writing a book on offbeat roadside attractions. When the four meet Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), a vulgar but friendly owner of a gas station and "Museum of Monsters & Madmen", they learn the local legend of Dr. Satan. As the four take off in search of the tree from which Dr. Satan was hanged, they pick up a young hitchhiker named Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) who claims to live only a few miles away. Shortly after, the vehicle's tire bursts in what is later seen to be a trap and Baby walks to her family's house along with Bill. Only moments later, Baby's half-brother, Rufus (Robert Mukes), picks up the stranded passengers and takes them to the family home.

Soon following, the four friends meet Mother Firefly (Karen Black), Baby's mother; Otis Driftwood (Bill Moseley), Baby's adopted brother; Grampa Hugo (Dennis Fimple), Baby's grandfather; and Baby's deformed giant half-brother, Tiny (Matthew McGrory). While being treated to dinner, they discover that the family has their own weird Halloween traditions. Mother Firefly then explains that her ex-husband, Earl (Jake McKinnon), had previously tried to burn Tiny alive along with the Firefly house. After the dinner is over, the family puts on a Halloween show for their guests, where Baby offends Mary by acting flirtatiously towards Bill. After Baby is threatened, Mother Firefly tells the couples to leave and that their car is repaired. As they try to leave, though, they are attacked by Otis and Tiny, being taken as prisoners. Not long after, Otis creates a work of art out of Bill's body, Mary is tied up and abused, Denise is bedbound and dressed as a doll and Jerry is scalped because he failed to guess Baby's favorite movie star.

After Denise does not return home, her father, Don (Harrison Young), calls the police to search for her. Two Deputy Sheriffs, George Wydell (Tom Towles) and Steve Naish (Walton Goggins), find the couples' abandoned car in a field with a tortured victim in the trunk. Don, who is an ex cop, is called and arrives at the scene to go with the two Deputies to search for information. They arrive at the Firefly house and upon finding bodies, the three are quickly killed. Later that night, the three remaining teenagers are taken to an underground well (they are dressed as rabbits, a reference to something Otis had said earlier in the film about how "scared kids run like rabbits, run little rabbit, run!") and Mary manages to escape, only to be killed by Baby moments later.

Meanwhile, Jerry and Denise are lowered into the underground chamber, where a number of feral figures pull Jerry away and leave Denise to find her way through the underground lair. As she journeys through the mysterious chambers and catacombs, she encounters Dr. Satan and a multitude of mentally handicapped patients. Dr. Satan has Jerry on his operating table, horribly torturing and skinning him alive. As Dr. Satan yells for his mutated assistant, revealed to be Earl, Mother Firefly's ex-husband, to capture Denise, she outwits the monstrous figure and escapes the underground chambers. Moments later, she is picked up by Captain Spaulding and passes out from exhaustion in the front seat, only for Otis to appear in the backseat with a knife. The film ends with Denise being tortured by Dr. Satan.

Cast

Main article: List of Rob Zombie characters

• Erin Daniels as Denise Willis
• Chris Hardwick as Jerry Goldsmith
• Rainn Wilson as Bill Hudley
• Jennifer Jostyn as Mary Knowles
• Sheri Moon Zombie as Baby Firefly
• Bill Moseley as Otis Driftwood
• Karen Black as Mother Firefly
• Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding
• Tom Towles as Lieutenant George Wydell
• Walton Goggins as Deputy Steve Naish
• Matthew McGrory as Tiny Firefly
• Robert Mukes as Rufus "RJ" Firefly Jr
• Dennis Fimple as Grampa Hugo Firefly
• Jake McKinnon as Rufus "Earl" Firefly Sr
• Harrison Young as Don Willis
• Irwin Keyes as Ravelli
• Michael J. Pollard as Stucky
• Chad Bannon as Killer Karl
• Walter Phelan as S. Quentin Quale / Dr. Satan
• William H. Basset as Sheriff Frank Huston
• David Reynolds as Richard "Little Dick" Wick
• Joe Dobbs III as Gerry "Goober" Ober
• Gregg Gibbs as Dr. Wolfenstein
• Rob Zombie as Dr. Wolfenstein's assistant (uncredited)

The names of the villains were taken from the names of Groucho Marx characters (Animal Crackers' "Captain Spaulding", A Night at the Opera's "Otis B. Driftwood", Duck Soup's "Rufus T. Firefly", and A Day at the Races' "Hugo Z. Hackenbush", among others). While this was left as a subtle allusion in the first movie, the sequel The Devil's Rejects brought it out into the open, with the names becoming integral to the plot. Dr. Satan was inspired by a 1950s billboard-sized poster advertising a "live spook show starring a magician called Dr. Satan" that Zombie has in his house.

Development and production

Rob Zombie had a very small list of credits in film at that point— he had done animation for the 1996 film, Beavis and Butt-head Do America, tried to write a script for The Crow: Salvation, and directed some of his own music videos but little else. Zombie had designed a haunted maze attraction for Universal Studios; Bill Moseley, who later starred in the film, presented Zombie an award for his design in 1999. Back in the late 90's and in 2000, Rob Zombie was instrumental in reviving Universal Studios annual "Halloween Horror Night", which led to a friendship between him and the company.

Zombie initially took his script for House of 1000 Corpses to Universal Pictures with his manager Andy Gould to pitch the project in January 2000. Aesthetically and in the film's script, Zombie drew from a number of influences, particularly from 1970s exploitation horror films and monster movies of the 1930s. With the company's interest in the film and past collaboration with Zombie, production began in May of that year. The film was shot on a 25 day shooting schedule in 2000. Two weeks were spent filming on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlots— the house featured in the film is the same house used in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and can be seen on Universal Studios' tram tours. The remaining 11 days of the shoot were spent on a ranch in Valencia, California. The starting budget was $3–4 million, but finished at $7 million.

Release

The film was completed in 2000; Stacey Snider, who was head of Universal at the time called Zombie up for a meeting. Zombie feared Snider would give him money and say "go re-shoot everything". Snider feared the film would receive an NC-17 rating, which led to the company refusing to release the film. After several years of the film being shelved, Zombie was able to purchase the film rights back from Universal, and sell them to Lions Gate Entertainment.

Box office

The film grossed $3,460,666 on its limited opening weekend and $2,522,026 on its official opening weekend. The film grossed $12,634,962 domestically and $4,194,583 in foreign totals. Altogether the film made a worldwide gross of $16,829,545.

Critical reception

The film opened on April 11, 2003 without being pre-screened for critics. Those who viewed it gave it generally negative reviews. Frank Schrek of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film "lives up to the spirit but not the quality of its inspirations" and is ultimately a "cheesy and ultragory exploitation horror flick" and "strangely devoid of thrills, shocks or horror." JoBlo.com said "[the film] slaps together just the right amount of creepy atmosphere, nervous laughter, cheap scares, fun rides and blood and guts to satisfy any major fan of the macabre."

Clint Morris of Film Threat slammed the film as "an hour and a half of undecipherable plot" and found the film to be "sickening" overall. James Brundage of Filmcritic.com wrote that the film was simply "hick after hick, cheap scary image after cheap scary image, lots of southern accents and psychotic murders," and was "too highbrow to be a good cheap horror movie, too lowbrow to be satire, and too boring to bear the value of the ticket."

The film was followed by a sequel, The Devil's Rejects.

Sequel

Main article: The Devil's Rejects

Zombie produced a sequel in 2005, The Devil's Rejects. Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Matthew McGrory reprised their roles from Corpses. Karen Black demanded a higher salary — which Zombie could not afford — to return as Mother Firefly; Leslie Easterbrook was approached and later cast as her replacement. Tyler Mane - who would later play Michael Myers in Zombie's Halloween and Halloween II - took over the role of RJ. The character of Grampa Hugo was removed entirely as Dennis Fimple died before Corpses' release. The sequel received mixed reviews, but the critical reception was generally better than its predecessor.

The film's three leads (Haig, Moseley, and Moon Zombie) also appear as voices in Zombie's animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. Haig and Moseley made cameos as their characters from both films, Captain Spaulding and Otis B. Driftwood, respectively, while Sheri voiced one of the lead characters, Suzie X.

Soundtrack

Main article: House of 1000 Corpses (soundtrack)

See also: House of 1000 Corpses (song)

Zombie composed the film score with Scott Humphrey. It is isolated on the DVD as a separate audio track.

External links

• House of 1000 Corpses at the Internet Movie Database
• House of 1000 Corpses at AllRovi
• House of 1000 Corpses at Box Office Mojo
• House of 1000 Corpses at Rotten Tomatoes