House of 1000 Corpses ★★½

THE final instalment of Rob Zombie’s ‘Firefly’ horror trilogy will be with us shortly.

In fact, as I write this review, 3 From Hell will screen in Perth for the first time tonight at Monster Fest 2019.

But we were introduced to the serial-killing Firefly family in 2003 with House of 1000 Corpses.

Has there been a more despicable, foul-mouthed bunch of characters in cinema? Possibly not.

There’s Otis Driftwood, who enjoys wearing other people’s faces; his sister, Baby Firefly; her daddy, the clown-faced Captain Spaulding; the disfigured giant Tiny; Gloria ‘Mama’ Firefly and assorted inbred others including Rufus, Hugo and Earl.

Oh yes, there is also Dr Satan, some kind of demented overlord of said House of 1000 Corpses that seems to be located underground and serves as both a dumping ground for the family’s victims and an experimental torture chamber.

Yes, this is one sick and twisted film that starts with Captain Spaulding murdering two thieves who stupidly try to rob his petrol station, takes unsuspecting tourists on a journey through his ‘Museum of Monsters and Madmen’, stops in to watch Otis and Co. defile a trio of missing cheerleaders, joins the family dinner table featuring all sorts of bizarre things in jars and somebody baked into a fish pie and ends with live victims in a coffin being lowered into a grisly pond filled with crazed, hungry lunatics.

Sound like your cup of tea?

There is actually a fair bit to admire in the imagination and energy that goes into bringing Rob Zombie’s concepts and visions to the screen.

The cast, including horror veterans Sid Haig and Bill Moseley, Zombie’s wife Sheri Moon and Karen Black, is nothing if not thoroughly committed to their roles.

Definitely gory, but actually not that frightening, this first entry is more a showcase for Zombie’s talent as a visualist rather than a story-teller.