January 25, 2020

Tobe Hooper Weekend – The Funhouse (1981)

Director: Tobe Hooper

Writer: Lawrence J Block (Screenplay)

Starring: Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson, Jeanne Austin, Jack McDermott, Cooper Huckabee, Largo Woodruff, Miles Chapin

Plot: Four teenage friends spend the night in a carnival funhouse and are stalked by a deformed man in a Frankenstein mask.

Tagline – Something is alive in the funhouse!

Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Standard 80s Horror

Story: The Funhouse starts as four friends Amy (Berrirge), Buzz (Huckabee), Liz (Woodruff) and Richie (Chapin) head to a mysterious carnival, that has a reputation for the strange occurrence appearing around it. While they smoke weed and have a good time, Amy’s little brother Joey (Carson) sneaks his way to the carnival to as he follows her to report back to mum and dad.

When the friends decide to try and stay in the carnival overnight they find themselves needing to fight to stay alive after it turns out the carnival has their own deformed man that has an anger problem which will leave anybody in his way dead.

Thoughts on The Funhouse

Characters – When we look at the characters we follow the generic horror figures, we have Amy the virginal leading lady that is trying to learn to break the rules from her parents by sneaking off out to a forbidden location. Buzz is the jock with a job that is taking Amy on her first date, he is the most macho of the group. Liz is the slutty friend that is trying to push her friend into bed for the first time and Richie is the lucky one that Liz has picked for tonight, partly the geek figure and part the stoner, chances are you can work out which one will be in trouble first. When it comes to the villain, it takes a while for us to understand who they are and what they want, but turns into the generic freak figure.

Performances – When it comes to the performances Elizabeth Berridge is the star of the film, your typical final girl if you want. When it comes to the rest of the friends, they are fine without being standout and when it comes to villains they are mostly fine too again nothing standout in their performances.

Story – The story follows the four friends that go to the carnival only to try and stay the night and learn the darker side of carnival life as they must fight of the resident freak to survive. The slasher genre of horror was just coming to life and this style of story fits in perfectly to this movie, it is nothing overly original and with carnivals being something that attracts the American audience it does make sense to make a horror film out of something that has always had an air of mystery around them. The fact the story happens over one night is a big plus because we are not left to see the slow pacing which would have ruined the idea, but it does take a while for this film to get going with the horror side of the story.

Horror – The horror side of the film is the slasher genre through and through, we get the generic horror characters, we know the order they will die and we know the final girl will need to face the hardest obstacles to survive, this is routine if you have ever seen a slasher you know the way this will go.

Settings – The film takes place at the carnival, we get to see the populated side of the carnival and the closed side which brings the horror.

Special Effects – The effects are good for a slasher, we get the blood where we need it and the bodies falling when needing to add the terror.

Scene of the Movie – The first meeting face to face with the freak.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Calling an old guy a perv for doing the same thing as her boyfriend, peeking at strippers.

Final Thoughts – This is a by the book slasher movie, it checks the boxes well and you will get enjoyment out of the film if you are a fan of the genre.

Overall: By the books slasher.

Rating

ABC Film Challenge – Catch-Up 2019 – Y – Yesterday (2019) Movie Review

Director: Danny Boyle

Writer: Jack Barth, Richard Curtis (Screenplay)

Starring: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Sophia Di Martino, Ellise Chappell, Meera Syal, Harry Michell, Vincent Franklin, Ed Sheeran, Joel Fry

Plot: A struggling musician realizes he’s the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate timeline where they never existed.

Tagline – Everyone in the World Has Forgotten the Beatles. Everyone Except Jack

Runtime: 1 Hour 56 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Enjoyable Throughout

Story: Yesterday starts as we meet musician Jack Malik (Patel) who when he isn’t performing, works a dead-end job in a cash-n-carry. Jack gets his first festival in Latitude Festival thanks to his manager Ellie Appleton (James), which makes Jack realise he might walk away from music, until on his way home a shocking event around the world sees all power down for 12 seconds and Jack gets hit by a bus, waking up in a world where The Beatles never existed.

Jack uses the ideas that The Beatles never existed to start singing the songs, which sudden thrusts the spotlight onto the young singer, who sudden burst into international stardom, only can he live with the knowledge of the music he is singing is from the most famous band in the world.

Thoughts on Yesterday

Characters – Jack Malik is a small-time musician who only performs in his own free time, while trying to balance a part-time job in a warehouse. He does have talent, only he hasn’t been discovered yet, he is about to give up when he gets hit by a bus in a freak event around the world. He wakes up to discover he is the only person to have heard of The Beatles and decides to use this knowledge to give music on more crack, where his rise to super stardom is sudden and he must learn to adapt to this new career. Ellie Appleton has been the best friend, manager, rodeo and driver for his music career, secretly in love with him, unable to give up her teaching career to follow his new success. Rocky has been involved in music only he tends to let people down, he is however the only person that Jack can turn to for help for his new stardom. We get to meet Jack’s parents who have always supported him, Ed Sheeran playing himself discovering the new talent in Jack and the manager who takes Jack to the next level with his debut album.

Performances – Himesh Patel is brilliant in the leading role where he handles the singing with ease as well as the troubles that his character goes through in his sudden rise to fame. Lily James as the girl next door figure is wonderful to watch to, never looking out of place in the manager role. The rest of the cast do nothing wrong, you might see a couple of weakness in some of the performances in the film though.

Story – The story follows a musician that is involved in an accident only to discover that when he wakes up, The Beatles don’t exist, using this knowledge to make himself a mega star, while dealing with his own love problems. This is a story that does work if things are kept just around the idea of The Beatles not being around, where the story does seem to use as a little joke, other major products or bands also haven’t existed either, they are only used for jokes rather than being proper points in the story. Away from that weak point we do get to see the struggling to deal with sudden fame and the guilt for using the songs of somebody he idolises. This story is one that can be enjoyed even if you are not a Beatles fan too.

Comedy/Musical/Romance – The comedy in the film will get laughs where it needs to, we aren’t given constant jokes either, with the music side of the film playing into the strengths of all Beatles fans who will get to enjoy their favourites. The romance in the film does take centre stage, with how the two are left to wonder what if through their lives, showing how people are tempted to let people go or not for stardom.

Settings – The film uses the small town where Jack is from, which shows the struggle of a small town musician, LA where things move so fast and Liverpool where the inspiration can be found.

Scene of the Movie – Wembley.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The other random disappearing products, just being a joke, rather than a point in the story.

Final Thoughts – This is an enjoyable comedy musical, that will show the importance of love in the world, how music can make people famous and just how far people will go for a chance of stardom.

Overall: Enjoyable