Tobe Hooper’s
films, especially his early films, are ostensibly about family. Texas Chainsaw Massacre details a family pushed to the edge by
modernity and economic fallout of failing to keep up with the means of
production. We see how this family has sought to maintain its ways, keeping
traditions, while also looking for alternative sources of sustenance. This
family supports one another, and in a reverse, the kids are the ones who are
training to sustain the parents (or grandparents), looking to maintain their
lineage.
The Sawyer Family
Similarly, Eaten Alive follows two different families—one on the run and one following a
runaway. The family on the run is engaged in a kind of pretense, using
disguises to hide their criminal acts. The other family, a father and daughter,
are looking for their lost daughter/sister, who seems to have disappeared,
possibly finding a new family in a brothel. Although many may not see this as a
legitimate family, the runaway has found temporary shelter and employment, yet
we still see that she has people who care for her enough to try to find her. At
some point in both films, the protagonists (or maybe the antagonists) commit
violence towards these families. Hooper presents interesting critiques of
families, possibly highlighting the disintegration of families and the failure
of society and these kinds of American institutions to maintain the connected
family. In another way, he also might be holding a mirror to identify how
perverted and decrepit families in society have become—they must resort to
crime, violence, and other acts just to maintain a semblance of their prior
existence. It’s an interesting metaphor to think about, especially at the time
of the rise of the moral majority in America. It could also be like a kind of
reflection of what people were fleeing from in seeking autonomy and independence
from their families in the 1960s and 1970s, also coinciding with what some
developmental psychologists have identified as a new stage in human development
– emerging adulthood. In both cases, we see the product of families, and how
this kind of willingness and dependence on families creates a kind of ruin.
The great William Finley playing a father in Eaten Alive
The Funhouse is another film that deals with families,
although it also presents a kind of mirror image or duality of families that
also requires us to interrogate not only Hooper’s ideas, but also our own about
the nature and dynamics of American families. The film starts almost as a copy
of Carpenter’s Halloween, possibly another film about cursed
families, where we take the perspective of a stalker and possibly a killer. We
see the room, filled with weapons and masks, as the killer selects a tool and
proceeds to the bathroom to attack a victim, a teenager taking a shower. As the
killer thrusts the knife into his victim, it bends in a strange way, challenging
our sense of what we expect from scenes similar to Psycho and Halloween. We find out that the killer is actually the girl’s (Amy) younger brother,
Joey. Joey is a serious horror fan, and from Amy’s reaction and threats to lock
him in the closet for doing this, it seems like this is part of the typical
prank that Joey pulls on his sister. While Joey did seem to scare his sister,
it seemed strange that he would want to pretend to attack his sister while she
was showering. In some ways, it seems abnormal to invade her privacy, yet this
is our first introduction to the Harper family. Amy was getting ready to go to
a traveling carnival that is visiting her town with her boyfriend and friends. Before
leaving, she lets her parents know about her plans, but they object, or at
least her father does. Her mother is either drunk or anesthetized from the dull
life of a suburban housewife. She seems completely out of it, staring at the
television with little to offer. Amy’s dad vehemently objects to Amy spending
time with friends at the carnival, assuming that his daughter will be up to no
good. From these opening scenes, it’s clear that the family is dysfunctional;
mom is like a zombie, completely devoid of any kind of personality or spark
that shows her interest in the family. Dad seems to be controlling and
suspicious of his daughters attempts at socializing. Joey, the brother, is
locked in the closet after pretending to murder his sister while she showered.
Borrowing from Psycho and Halloween
Despite her father’s
objections, Amy visits the travelling carnival with her boyfriend, Buzz.
Joining along is Amy’s friend Liz and her boyfriend Richie. Both Buzz and
Richie seem much older than teenagers, and they possibly bring about the bad
luck that teens have in slasher films by not only encouraging Amy to lie to her
parents, but also by bringing weed to the carnival. Like many traveling
carnivals, there are some strange exhibits and attractions. The teens visit a
freak show where they witness some natural wonders, like a two-faced cow, which
we are unsure if this is the result of some kind of genetic anomaly or if it is
possibly from exposure to chemicals in the environment. In either case, the
teens are confused about how the feed the cow, yet are interested and repulsed
by it at the same time. On their way out of the freak show, there is a jar with
some kind of creature in it, preserved for all to stare at this freakish
spectacle. I think that these kinds of jars with an unknown species are a part
of freak shows. I visited the Coney Island show over the summer, and paid some
extra money to visit the mysterious “What is it?” jar after the show. While I’m
not exactly sure what it is and if the members of the troupe actually
discovered the object in the toilet as they claimed, it’s definitely something to
intrigue people (and make some money). Similarly, the crew stares at the
creature in the jar, which appears to be some kind of baby creature, deformed,
yet seemingly harmless. Like the cow, we aren’t sure if this is creature was
created from a genetic anomaly or some kind of teratogen or environmental
exposure, but it appears still and harmless, forever preserved in formaldehyde and
used to extract money from the rubes. We will learn later that some members of
the carnival have a stronger bond with this creature.
What is it?
Preserved for all to witness
Two-faced cow
Other animal oddities
The teens also witness
a magic show where the wonderful William Finley presents us with a magic trick
that seemingly turns tragic. Following his turn as the psychotic bank robbing
father in Eaten Alive, Finley takes on the role of a magician/father
who seems to accidently murder his volunteer, but it is just a trick to scare
the audience. He also reveals that the volunteer is actually his daughter. Once
again, we see another instance of families putting their daughters in a kind of
false risk, one where violence and death are simulated. Although the magician’s
daughter is in on the act and jumps out of the trap, I wondered whether this constant
exposure to violence maybe had some kind of effect on Mrs. Harper and wore her
down. Regardless, the crew wonders around the midway, noticing that the barker
from the freakshow looks similar to the barker they see at the peer show where
the teens partake in a smoke session. I’ve been to a number of carnivals, and I’ve
never seen a burlesque show at any of them, but hey, this was the 80s, so maybe
times were different. The teenagers are unable to enter the show, but we see many
older men being entertained by these dancers, and the teens are able to watch
from an opening in the back of the tent. They actually use a knife to cut a
hole in the canvas, which again suggests some kind of violence to witness these
women dance for a large group of rowdy men. The teens also visit Madame Zena,
the fortune teller, but the end up in a disagreement with her, and she seems to
curse them. Madame Zena also seemed to haggle with them about money or
something, so like the women in the strip show, Zena seems to struggle to make
money.
William Finley in another Hooper film, playing Marco the Magnificent
Missing out on the
teens, Zena looks to make money elsewhere in the carnival. The teens take a
ride in a haunted house, where a car on a track takes them through some monsters
and other scares that jump out at them. While unrealistic, the ride is creepy.
Even creepier is the strange ride attendant who is wearing a Frankenstein mask
and lumbering around, pushing the cars off to be scared and retrieving them for
new riders. After exploring the ride, the teens decide to spend the night
there, and Amy calls her parents to lie to them about where she is spending the
night, another strike in slashers that can often bring about death. I’m also
not sure why the teens would want to spend the night in the carnival, especially
in the creepy haunted house, except to smoke more weed and have sex, which is
what most teens in slashers do when away from their parents. It’s interesting
to note that all of the teens seem to want to escape their families and would
rather spend the night with animatronic clowns and monsters than the safety of
their own bed. However, with Amy’s spying brother, who also snuck out to the
carnival, it’s no wonder that this might be a more welcoming environment. The
teens sneak a final ride on the funhouse car and jump out, hiding among the
scares, while the Frankenstein man doesn’t ever notice that they don’t return.
They end up above the ride, looking down through an opening on Madame Zena’s
room, where they notice a strange scene. The Frankenstein mask wearing attendant
is in Zena’s room, and she is negotiating a price for sex. She seems to be both
selling her body, and also recognizing his need for human contact. He maintains
his mask, but something about the scene suggests that they have done this
before. As Zena gets close to him and begins to caress and hold him, the masked
man makes strange noises, and Zena also recognizes that he’s arrived a little
early. Although he won’t get to enjoy his ride with Zena, she refuses to return
his money, and he ends up killing Zena while the teens stare down at the scene
from above.
Zena and Frankenstein
The teens are
shocked and try to escape, but realize that since the carnival is closed, they
are locked in the funhouse. They make their way down to the room where Zena is
and take money from the safe where the masked man also took his $100. They then
proceed to look for other ways out. The masked man returns with one of the
carnival barkers, who are all played by the same actor (Kevin Conway), but who speaks
differently and looks slightly different. I loved this choice, and apparently
it was the actors decision to play the different roles of the barker. I didn’t
realize that the same actor was playing 3 different roles until the 3rd
one, and although there are some differences, it suggests that the carnival is
a family. We already saw that the magician and his daughter worked to trick the
audience, and that Zena seems to play both a mothering and seducer role to the
mask wearing attendant. This 3 person role also shows that the carnival is so
similar that it’s almost inbred. The teens move back upstairs, looking for
another way out, only to witness the barker return. He discovers the money is
gone and blames the masked man, who we learn is his son, Gunther. Enraged that
the money is missing and Zena is dead, he proceeds to attack Gunther, removing
his mask for one of the great reveals in 80s slasher movies. I loved that with
this slasher, we already know the killer, but there’s something mysterious and
strange about the mask and the animal like grunting that Gunther uses to
communicate with Zena. When Gunther’s mask is removed, we know why—he is
revealed to be deformed, much like the cow in the freak show. His eyes are spaced
wide and his face seems almost split in two. He has fangs and appears to have
albinism. We also learn that the creature in the jar was his brother who didn’t
survive, and that the barker is his father, thus revealing the true familial
nature of this carnival, where father’s exploit their children to make a living.
Furthermore, the use of the Frankenstein mask is really interesting as well,
since it suggests that Gunther is his father’s creation, just as Frankenstein’s
monster was a creation. Whether or not Gunther and his brother were twins or
whether his brother was maybe a prior birth that didn’t survive, we never
learn, but we are left to wonder what kind of a father the barker truly is, and
how exactly he brought Gunther into the world. Also, we are left to wonder what
happened to Gunther’s mother. Like other women in the film, was she exploited?
Was there some kind of violence done to her? Did she escape? Did she die?
Gunther’s desire to be touched by Zena suggests that this kind of mothering was
missing from his life. Nevertheless, Gunther’s reveal is both shocking and
intriguing due to Rick Baker’s amazing effects as well as the acting of Wayne
Doba, who doesn’t have any speaking lines, but brings excellent physicality to
the part. Interestingly, I read that Wayne Doba was a mime, and I also found
out that he is a tap dancer. His only other role was another masked man,
playing Octavio the Clown in Scarface. I thought his acting was both menacing and
animal like in this film.
Gunther, revealed
Gunther's father, who also plays 2 other barkers
I won’t get too
much further into details of the film, but the teens drop something as they watch
Gunther and his father in Zena’s room, revealing that the carnies are not
alone. This sets off a cat and mouse chase to hunt the teens down to exact
revenge and regain their money. Although the body count is not large like other
slashers, the claustrophobic nature of the funhouse creates great tension. The
deaths in the funhouse are also brutal, and Hooper brings the violence in much
the same way he did with
Texas
Chainsaw Massacre and
Eaten Alive. Although we don’t always witness the violence in person, we often see
the aftermath, and the deaths are gruesome. Joey, Amy’s brother, is also at the
carnival after closing, and he somehow sustains an injury. Her parents are
called to pick him up, and as the final girl, Amy tries to call out to them,
but no one can hear her over the fan. We see how her disconnection from her
family is continued, and she ultimately remains trapped in the funhouse as an animatronic
fat lady laughs to end the film, seemingly mocking Amy while also signifying
the end.
Final Girl, Amy Harper
Although The Funhouse may not be held in the same esteem as other 80s slashers, it’s a great
watch, filled with tension, gruesome kills, and an interesting monster/creation.
I loved the carnival setting, since it adds to both the creepiness and the
claustrophobia. Furthermore, I thought this film adds to the kind of
disassociation of families that is a theme in other Hooper films. Although this
film followed Salem’s Lot, his other features—Eaten Alive and Texas Chainsaw
Massacre—both featured families
that were complex—both supportive and problematic. The Funhouse features two
contrasting families that are almost like trick mirror images of one another. There
is the Harper family, the traditional suburban family who seems to have it all,
but also experiences the metaphoric violence to women, through Joey’s attempts
to play Norman Bates/Michael Myers and Mrs. Harper’s psychic disconnection
which she drowns in her drink. Similarly, Amy seeks to run away, joining her
friends and boyfriend at the carnival rather than staying at home. Despite the
imagined horrors and threats, she chooses to spend the night among the
animatronic threats, eventually discovering they are all too real. When
contrasted with the supportive carnival family, we see that the Harpers appear
more fractured and distant. The carnies are much closer (maybe too close), yet help
each other out, even at a price. Throughout the movie, we also see how women are
often exploited or absent, voiceless or victims of violence. Even when Amy
becomes the final girl and survives the night in the funhouse, her parents fail
to hear her voice, rescuing their son, and leaving their daughter to languish
among the horrors of the funhouse.
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