"Directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist, Toolbox Murders), The Funhouse follows two teenage couples as they dare to stay all night in the funhouse of a creepy carnival. It isn't long before their mischief lands them in serious trouble when they witness a murder and become caught in a seemingly inescapable web of terror.
It also isn't long before our leading lady (Elizabeth Berridge) disrobes in an opening sequence that sends up both Psycho (1960) and Halloween (1978), before she joins her boyfriend, Richie, and friends "I'm just going to make sure she's dead" and "I'll find my own hole" to go to the carnival. Their real names are hardly important; these two won't be sticking around long enough to root for, hunted down by a guy that wears a Frankenstein mask to hide his monstrous deformity.
Hooper seems happiest when lampooning horror classics and showing off his weird and wonderful carnival oddities (the freaks of nature tent is a joy), and for the viewer, the opening half hour is far more entertaining than the set-ups and pay-offs during the hardly original stalk and slash scenes. The characters lack any redeeming qualities, the villain is cartoonish (Pat Sharp's hair would've been scarier), there is a surprising lack of gore and no twin cheerleaders whatsoever - disappointing." DW
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