House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

Director: Rob Zombie

Writer: Rob Zombie

Composers: Scott Humphrey, Rob Zombie

Starring: Sid Haig, William Bassett, Karen Black, Erin Daniels, Joe Dobbs III, Judith Drake, Dennis Fimple, Gregg Gibbs, Walton Goggins, Chris Hardwick, Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, Michael J. Pollard, Tom Towles, Rainn Wilson

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The most shocking tale of carnage ever seen.

Plot: Two young couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of murder end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.

My rating:  6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

9 years ago I watched THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (2005) and loved it.  HOUSE is Rob Zombie's first feature as writer/director and in some ways it shows.  I don't mean that in a bad way, either, because he's got a lot of great ideas and he's got a flair for visuals and gore.  That man loves the blood.  It shows because he's trying a lot of different techniques and he's tossing in a lot of stuff; some of it works and some of it is just superfluous.  He does a lot with the great cast he assembled.  It just tickles me to pieces to see Michael J. Pollard in something modern and to hear him tell the story about a guy with a PLANET OF THE APES doll stuck up his butt.  Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon, makes her feature debut as an actor.  She got better as she went along.  She was wonderful in THE LORDS OF SALEM (2012).  I've now seen every one of Rob Zombie's features and I really dig what this cat brings to the genre.  Like him or not (and it's staggering how much automatic hate there is for this guy), his love of the genre shows in every film and he's bringing a different perspective and making horror movies fun.  I get the feeling I might like this one more on repeat viewings and the next time I watch it I'll have to make it a double bill with the sequel and see how that plays out.