House of 1000 Corpses Blu-ray delivers stunning video and great audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
Two young couples take a misguided tour onto the back roads of America in search of a local
legend known as Dr. Satan. Lost and stranded, they are set upon by a bizarre family of
psychotics. Murder, cannibalism and satanic rituals are just a few of the 1000+ horrors that
await.
Better you leave here with your head still full of kitty cats and puppy dogs.
House of 1,000 Corpses marks the directorial debut of heavy metal rocker-turned-director
Rob Zombie. Though his film The Devil's Rejects has garnered a fair amount of praise both
with the critics and film lovers, his 2007 remake of the John Carpenter classic Halloween
failed to capture the attention of either critics or audiences. House of 1000 Corpses falls
somewhere in between. Because of their unrelenting scares and gore along with healthy doses of
humor, Zombie's films have entered the realm of cult status with a devoted fan base.
What terrors await inside the House of 1000 Corpses?
What we get with House of 1000 Corpses is a seemingly straightforward plot we have
already seen a hundred times. A handful of teenagers manage to find themselves in a horrific
situation with madmen trying to slaughter them. Most will die, one will escape. Yawn. The
teenagers are on a cross-country trip gathering information to write a book about the various
off-beat roadside attractions they find. Of course, they will soon enough be living a
nightmare. When running low on fuel, the quartet finds "Captain Spaulding's Museum of
Monsters and Madmen." This is an all-in-one joint that sells gasoline, fried chicken, and an
amusement park
ride. The ride is a guided tour of the history of murder, hosted by Spaulding himself, a man who
dresses like a sloppy, filthy, drunken clown, and who sounds just like Tommy Lee Jones but is
actually
played by Sid Haig. Reluctantly, the teenagers go on the ride and learn about Dr. Satan, a local
madman who, legend has it, was hung for his crimes on the branch of a tree only a short
distance from Spaulding's
museum. One teenager in particular, Jerry (Chris Hardwick), is eager to learn more about the
lore of Dr. Satan. Spaulding draws him a map and the four are on their way to the tree. Of
course, this has been an elaborate set-up to get the foursome into the house of 1000 corpses
where they meet various oddballs and weirdos from the Firefly family clan, including Otis (Bill
Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon), Mother Firefly (Karen Black), and Tiny (Matthew McGrory). Soon
enough, murder, torture, and mayhem ensue. The teens are cut in half, scalped, beaten, and
have their skin turned into halloween costumes for the family's annual October festival. There is
quite a bit of nasty gore here but a lot of it is hidden in darkness, and there is some great
monster make-up throughout.
This movie is extremely effective at building up the
tension early on. We have no doubt as to what is in store for the teens, but the lead-up to the
brutality is actually quite a bit of fun. The acting from both the teenagers and the family is
top-notch. Sid Haig is nearly brilliant in his portrayal of Captain Spaulding. He's crude, crass, and
a
barrel of laughs. Baby and Mother Firefly are disturbing yet fun characters, flirting with the
teenagers aggressively to the point of being creepy, but never letting their true intentions be
known. The family acts in a way that while we the audience know that they are crazed
murderers (we see gritty images of some of the evil deeds the family has committed in the
past), they never let it be known to the teens just exactly what they really are until it is too late.
In
many horror films like this one a teen or two slowly move through an old, dilapidated house and
are knocked off quickly by a freakish entity jumping at them from a shadow. Here, it takes quite
a while for this first kill to occur. The teens get to know their killers beforehand in a spooky yet
somewhat
genial manner and are given a sense of hope that nothing bad will happen until it finally does.
This movie fell apart for me in the second half. I dare say House of
1000 Corpses was almost brilliant in its first half, but turned into a run-of-the-mill horror
picture the second. We get some good special effects, plenty of blood, and some great monster
make-up in the film's final minutes, but the second half is just too predictable. Zombie has some
serious potential to be a grade-A horror director and this a very admirable first effort, but it just
became a little too by-the-book for me. Corpses does introduce us to some genuinely
classic horror characters and sets us up for the much better "sequel," The Devil's
Rejects.
House of 1000 Corpses is presented for the first time in 1080p high definition courtesy of
Lionsgate Entertainment in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Lionsgate has released several Blu-ray
discs with stellar transfers (Crank, The Descent) and this is among the best I've
seen from the studio. Rich, vibrant colors pop off the screen throughout. Black levels are excellent
(and there are plenty of dark, gloomy scenes to put the disc through its paces). Detail is
extremely high despite the many dark locales and we get a nearly 3-dimensional image. There are
a few speckles here and there, but they are fleeting and only pop up every so often. It's hardly
enough to mention, but it is there. House of 1000 Corpses looks great on Blu-ray.
The audio design on this disc is just as solid as the video presentation. Lionsgate has chosen to
include not only a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack but also a DTS HD 7.1 track that runs at
1.5 MBps. This movie features some wonderful sound design with a great soundtrack that is
integral to the film. There is quite a bit of very good directional effects and at times, great
use of surrounds that helps create the horrifying atmosphere of the second half of the film. The
soundtrack also features excellent, well-defined bass and dialogue that never gets lost in the rest of
the track. The 7.1 track produces some terrific sound fields that completely immerse the viewer in
the action. Even though the film is a throwback to 1970s-style horror, we certainly get 21st
century sound design here.
An average number of supplements compliment this movie. First is a commentary track with
director
Rob Zombie. This is a rather dull track that offers up standard background on how some scenes
were shot, information on the cast, and artistic choices in the movie. A good part of it is simply a
rehash of what is happening on screen. Zombie never allows dead air to permeate the track, but
there are no revelations here either. Also included is a game entitled Zombietron. This
is
a very simplistic game where users must navigate the sheriff from the movie around the screen,
avoiding zombies and rescuing captives. It's a nice option but nothing you're likely to play more
than once. A making-of featurette (480p, 4m 15s) and a brief behind-the scenes
featurette (480p, 2m 35s) that shows the cast and crew mingling and talking between shots at a
barely
audible level are available for your perusal. A short 3 minute clip (480p) of several cast members
telling crude knock-knock jokes
is included. Casting takes, rehearsals featuring several cast members, and interviews with Bill
Moseley, Sid Haig, Sheri Moon, and Wayne Toth (all 480p) round out the movie-specific
supplements. We also get trailers for other Lionsgate films available on Blu-ray, all presented in
1080p with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound including The Punisher, The Condemned,
The Descent, and Saw III.
House of 1000 Corpses features a terrific build-up leading up to a dull, lifeless,
unimaginative finale. The build-up alone is worth the price of admission, but Zombie just
couldn't deliver to the end. Nevertheless, this is a solid first effort from Rob Zombie. The casting
and writing is excellent, even for the more predictable parts of the movie. Lionsgate has gone all
out in terms of presenting House of 1000 Corpses with a standout transfer and great audio.
There is a long list of supplements but it's all fluff and filler, even the majority of Zombie's audio
commentary. Fans of the movie will be eager to get their hands on this disc, and it's worth a
look for horror fans who have yet to see it.
Blu-ray bundles with House of 1000 Corpses (1 bundle)
