Why would I be reviewing a movie from 2015 now ? Well all of this staying-at-home means I have been watching a lot of streaming movies and shows…and well, I seem to be out of things to watch. Like my que and watchlists got cleared out, and so I created new ones, then those got cleared out. So here we are, I’m looking for maze movies to watch. And there are some great maze movies out there, but this is not one of them.
The Funhouse Massacre (2015) (IMDB)
So The Funhouse Massacre is a comedy horror film heavy on gore and light on comedy. Let’s start with the comedy. There are many lines that are meant to be funny, and for whatever reason, poor delivery, bad jokes, they just seem to just fall flat. I found myself noticing this throughout the film, oh they thought that was funny. And that. And that. They were wrong. I did almost chuckle twice and thought - that was close.
The horror portion of the film is built around a great premise. It’s Halloween night and in a small town in Ohio during which there is a grand opening of a new Halloween fun-house. It just so happens that day a group of psychopaths break out of a nearby asylum and take over the fun-house unbeknownst to the customers. When customers do enter the fun-house they comment multiple times - oh my gosh that looks so real as previous customers are torn apart, tortured, and slashed. The film goes heavy on the gore to make things scarier. Also there is an evil clown, because of course there is, and an evil dentist (same same but different). Eventually the characters you are following begin to become victims and realize what is happening. They try to warn others who say - “wow that looks so real”.
Eventually we get a courageous fight back and a few plot twists leading to a final confrontation. But wait they aren’t dead the first time because this is a horror film, ok now they are dead. But wait after the credits now maybe they still aren’t dead and maybe there will be a sequel. Fade to black. You’ve seen it before.
The nice part about this movie is, other than an appearance by Robert Englund, is that it can always be found streaming for free somewhere. So you won’t feel any guilt turning it off before it is over just because you paid for it. And after 90 minutes (ok, maybe 10) you might realize, like me, that despite taking place in a maze, this isn’t a very good maze movie.
I give it a 5/10. It’s not bad enough to be a bottom 10 maze movie: 10 Unbelievably Bad Maze Movies to Never, Ever Watch. I recommend spending your time watching a good horror maze movie instead (list below the trailer).
