FilmRSlasher Survival

The Funhouse1981

Name: The Funhouse
Genre: Slasher, Survival
Released: 1981-03-13
Rating: 6

“Pay to get in. Pray to get out!”

Directed by Tobe Hooper

6.0

Crypt Score

Blended from 4 sources

IMDb 5.9Rotten Tomatoes 68%Metacritic 56TMDB 5.9

✍ Review

Share this title

X Facebook Reddit Pinterest

Year

1981

Runtime

95 min

Box Office

Budget

$2,000,000

Revenue (worldwide)

$7,886,999

Domestic

$7,886,857

The premise

Rebellious teen Amy defies her parents by going to a trashy carnival that has pulled into town. In tow are her boyfriend, Buzz, and their friends Liz and Richie. Thinking it would be fun to spend the night in the campy "Funhouse" horror ride, the teens witness a murder by a deformed worker wearing a mask. Locked in, Amy and her friends must evade the murderous carnival workers and escape before it leaves town the next day.

Horror Vault's take

When a group of teens dares to spend the night hidden inside a traveling carnival's funhouse, a moment of terrible wrong-place-wrong-time bad luck transforms their thrill-seeking stunt into a desperate fight to stay alive. Director Tobe Hooper wrings maximum unease from the gaudy, neon-lit carnival setting, turning its garish attractions into a genuine labyrinth of terror. The threat at the heart of the story is deeply unsettling — a monstrous presence lurking beneath the surface of carnival showmanship. Dawn can't come fast enough, and the teens will have to outwit killers on their home turf to ever see it.

Content: Graphic Violence, Monster/Creature Violence, Sexual Content, Disturbing Imagery, Depictions Of Deformity