Rating: 
Summary: VERY UNDERRATED HORROR FILM.
Review: This film starts off with a very obvious nod to the King of horror films, Halloween. The payoff is a film that has great atmosphere and genuine scares. One of the characters is such an idiot that you find yourself telling him off, as if he's gonna hear you. Tobe Hooper has really made some good creepy fun. Perfect for a Friday Night.
Rating: 
Summary: Funhouse? More like Scumhouse!
Review: Don't bother with this one guys....this movie SUCKS the big one! Tobe Hooper should be publicly lashed for making this crap, especially after serving us up the frightening classic "Poltergeist". "Funhouse" is about a group of teens that gets locked up in a carnival's funhouse for the night....ho-hum. I can't remember who the killer was (I fell asleep) and I really didn't care. The sooner these teens were killed, the sooner the film ended. I give it one star....but only just.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the scariest sleepers of that era.....
Review: This movie got kind of lost between Texas Chainsaw, Halloween and the Friday the 13th thing in the late '70's and early '80's. If you watch the film for what it is it's very effective. It was simply made to be dark and scary. Hooper only used 1 real actor (the barker) and the rest of the cast was just a bunch of kids which made it more believable once you got past the fact that most of them couldn't act. It slows down quite a bit when they first get to the carnival but once they lock themselves in the whole mood changes quickly. The monster is outstanding. I snuck into see this at an afternoon matinee when I was 12 and the scene where Gunther unmasks himself scared the life out of me. Great movie, a real pioneer for a genre that's been so dilluted over the past decade.
Rating:
Summary: "Pay To Get In And Pray To Get Out!"
Review: The Funhouse is a very dark horror movie. But it is also one of those horror movies that you just have to wach. For one thing there is a very good plot. One night a girl goes out on a double date to a carnival and gets stuck in it's funhouse where a killer runs loose. Yeah so that may not sound so exciting but if you really want to see a good movie rent the funhouse. And to make matters there best it starrs the beautiful ELIZABETH BERRIDGE.
Rating:
Summary: Cult Classic - GREAT MUSIC
Review: This is the film which propelled Tobe Hooper into the arena of his next film, "Poltergeist," with a well photographed, albeit somewhat silly, take on the teenage prank turned into terror. The dark and spooky funhouse is beautifully and terrifyingly enhanced by a brilliant score from composer John Beal, who created an almost ballet-like ending. See this and listen carefully to a breakthrough scoring style for the era!
Rating:
Summary: scary-and fun!
Review: another tobe hooper flick with 4 friends trapped in a funhouse at a carnavel wich they were told not to go to but like a teen films-they do note:notice that all tobe hooper films end up only one person surriving-watch the texas chainsaw massacre and find out what i meen.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing bad about it.
Review: The monster is great, the plot is great, and the how the movie came out is great. I can't find anything bad about it. If Ebert gave this a bad review, I'd hurt him severely.
Rating:
Summary: "The Funhouse" (AKA Carnival of Terror)
Review: After the success of the shocking slasher, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the eerily vampire tale of "Salems Lot", horror master Tobe Hooper came out with one of his most highly anticipated films yet! While being not as popular as some horror movies, this very rare gem was sadly neglected and barely even heard of throughout the years. Heck it may be low-budget, but I think that during its release it proved to be a very original and nightmarish work of art, showing us the more darker side of how a carnival REALLY can be! Originally released as a motion picture in the theaters back in 1981, "The Funhouse" was quite the treat for the fan of homemade horror movies. (Those are always the best!) The storyline concerns two young couples who decide to spend the night in the carnival funhouse... BIG MISTAKE! They witness a murder from inside and soon are stalked by a bloodthirsty monster that lurks from inside. One-by-one they fall prey to the numerous booby traps and terrifying surprises until only one remains in a desperate fight for survival against the horror from within! The actual funhouse itself is a really eerie set, and features some of the most scariest animatronics you'll ever see! (the fat lady one still haunts me today due to that I can't get that bizarre laugh out of my head!) I'd have to say that this may not be all big and bad as Tobe Hooper's other masterpiece, "Poltergeist" (which came out one year later) but it still packs quite punch that no other horror movie can do anymore. I first saw this on the A&E network a long time ago when I was in the third grade and it scared the hell out of me! It aired again on the Sci-Fi channel and that's when I really started to get into it! Over and over I'd watch and never EVER get tired of it! The actors and actresses did a very good job for their roles and are very convincing that you actually start having sympathy for them. (I felt so sorry for that poor blonde haired girl who becomes the monster's second victim) The soundtrack is also one of the best I've ever heard from a horror movie with it's scary carnival-like organ music. The effects for the monster were most excellent and truly brought the creature to life with all the fake drool and snot detail. Although there isn't much blood and gore to be found here, "The Funhouse" mostly focuses on the heart-stopping suspense and atmosphere. You want a horror film that's both original and scary? "The Funhouse" is a non-stop thrill ride that will have you on the edge of your seat and is all-in-all a FUN (literally) movie! No horror collection is complete without this! I also recommend, "The Tourist Trap" and "Black Christmas". Both of those movies carry the same similarities to suspense just like this one and are some of the best in classic horror history! They just don't make 'em like they used to! ^_^
Rating: 
Summary: Rather disappointing
Review: My best friend and I first discovered the book when going through some old stuff left behind by her sisters when they moved out. We both really loved the book. Then one day we discovered the movie at a rental store, we were really excited when we realized it was based on the book. I can't tell you how disappointed we were. We didn't even finish watching it. If I hadn't previously read the book I don't think I would have known what was going on. I gave it two stars because maybe my expectations were too high after reading the book.
Rating: 
Summary: good, but not as good as what it could have been
Review: When Tobe Hopper made The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) he made one of the
all time classics of horror cinema. The problem he was faced with was how to follow
it? With the possible exception of this films none of his subsequent films have come
remotely near The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The movie tells the story of a group of teenagers Buzz (Cooper Huckabee), Richie
(Miles Chapin), Liz (Largo Woodruff) and the final girl Amy (Elizabeth Berridge)
who go to the funfair. At the funfair they decide to stay in the funhouse overnight.
While they are in the funhouse they oversee a murder being committed. It was done
by the hideous son of The Barker (Kevin Conway). The killer is only known as the
monster (Wayne Doba). The fact that they viewed the murder is revealed when Richie
drops his lighter and it is found by the barker. The barker having trapped them in the
funhouse then sending in his son to get rid of the people who witnessed the murder.
Tobe Hopper, in spite of the dross which he has sometimes produced, is a talented
director. In the course of this film he shows sporadic flashes of his talent. At the
beginning there is an amusing spoof of the opening of Halloween (1978) and the
shower scene in Psycho (1960). The climatic chase of Berridge by the monster is well
done. The performance are good and although there is little characterisation the
viewer does identify with them. Berridge also looks rather like the heroine of Dario
Argento's Suspira (1977) Jessica Harper. The whole situation is a pretty nightmarish
one and Hopper exploits this well. The pace is rather slow though. Viewers brought
up upon the gore feasts and fast action that are Friday the 13th (1980) and its sequels
with find the pace slow. It is like George A Romero's modern vampire movie Martin
(1978) in that regard. The music provided by John Beal is good as well. Incidentally
there was a book tie-in to the film which was written by a Owen West. This was a pen
name for the prolific horror writer Dean Kootz. The film was released at the height of
the slasher film boom and is a good example of how the slasher film would go down
hill in the mid 80s. There is little actual killings, which is the main reason why people
go to these films. It did however have the muscle of a major studio behind it. In this
case it was Universal. In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Hopper brilliantly subverted
the idea of the family and during times in the film he seems to return to this. The
relationship between the monster and the barker is similar to the one between the
head of the family and Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The Funhouse is not another Friday the 13th (1980), but it does not seem to want to be. Rather it is a slow some what stately slasher film sharing some similarities with the
superior Hell Night (1981).
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