THE FUNHOUSE

Amy, despite her parents' prohibition, goes with her boyfriend and two other friends to the itinerant amusement park where some teenagers had disappeared the year before. In secret, Joey, Amy's little brother, also goes to the same park. During the visit to the horror tunnel, the four friends decide to leave the mandatory path of the ride and hide until closing time to spend the night inside the tunnel. There, they accidentally witness the murder of Madame Zena, the park's magician, at the hands of a monstrous being, the son of the tunnel's owner. When the murderer and his father discover that there are witnesses, they will do everything to eliminate them... A successful and original slasher belonging to Hooper's golden period (who then inexplicably fell into a series of forgettable films with little success), "The Horror Tunnel" is structured like the most classic teen-slasher, even quoting almost to parody in the introduction where we witness, thanks to the use of a subjective behind a mask, the reconstruction of the initial murder of "Halloween - The Night of the Witches", mixed with the famous shower scene of "Psycho"; but in this case, the attempted murder turns out to be a simple prank that the little brother organizes at the expense of his sister. The intentions of complacency and deconstruction of horror clichés are therefore clear from the beginning, but the film, as the minutes pass, carves out its own identity creating really well-done moments that exploit the originality of the location, the amusement park, scarcely used in horror films but highly suggestive. Hooper's touch is felt, although now far from the cruelty and sense of disturbance with which he had seasoned his first two films ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Night of the Living Dead"), but still present especially in the moments when the monster is in action and in his relationship with sex, which cannot but remind us of the character of Leatherface (the clumsiness and sense of repulsion with which the monster acts towards Madame Zena and the protagonist's friend closely recall the abnormal relationships that the villain of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" establishes with his female victims). Furthermore, Hooper's thematic path is also identifiable in the creation of a new family core composed of outcasts and psychopaths, this time the monster and his father the carnival worker, degenerations of a bigoted and sugary vision of the "typical" North American family. The film's performers are all quite credible and immersed in their roles: Elizabeth Berridge, in the role of the protagonist and in her film debut, is the classic virgin destined to kill the monster and save herself; Shawn Carson (later trapped in the role of the horror kid since he will appear in "The Village of the Damned" and "Something Sinister is About to Happen") is the alert kid passionate about horror, another typical character of 1980s horror cinema. The monster is played by an unrecognizable Wayne Doba, splendidly and impeccably made up by the makeup artist Rick Baker. The only criticism that can be made of this film is the lack of imagination and the low level of gore with which the murders were carried out. In summary, "The Horror Tunnel" is an excellent 1980s slasher and one of the strong points of Hooper's filmography, characterized by a suggestive setting, excellent makeup effects, and a pleasant parodic sense. Avoid the edition that is broadcast on TV, characterized by numerous cuts.