The first scene of House of 1000 Corpses begins with armed goons attempting to rob Captain Spalding’s gas station. The scene ends with the would-be robbers dead and Captain Spalding dressed as a clown smelling the barrel of his gun. Two young couples driving across the country are investigating roadside attractions. They make the decision to stop at Captain Spalding’s gas station. They ride the murder ride and learn of local murderer Dr. Satan. Then they decide to follow directions from Spalding to the Dr. Satan tree. The couples pick up a hitchhiker, Baby Firefly. A tire goes flat on the car and Baby leads them back to her house where her brother has a tow truck. Also in the house lives her other brothers Tiny, the badly disfigured giant, Otis, the sadistic one who makes sculptures out of dead bodies, Mrs. Firefly and Grandpa Hugo. Little do the young couples know they have walked into a nightmare, missing cheerleaders are already being tortured in the Firefly house. The stranded couples are introduced to the twisted family at dinner and then again at the Halloween family performance. Grandpa Hugo tells jokes and Baby sings seductively on stage. During the performance, one of the young ladies insults Baby and they are all asked to leave. The police followed a lead on the couple’s disappearance to the Firefly house. In one of the best scenes in the movie, the cops die to the tune of I Remember You by Slim Whitman. One of the young men was tortured, killed and his corpse was made into a sculpture that was later shown to his girlfriend while she was tortured. The other young man was scalped and he and his girlfriend were dressed up in bunny costumes and lowered into an underground tunnel. While trying to escape the young lady encounters Dr. Satan and his experiments. The girl thought she had gotten away when she hitched a ride with Captain Spalding, but at the very end of the movie Otis pops up in the back seat for one last scare. The last half hour has been referred to by some reviewers as Alice in Wonderland meets The Terminator.
Rob Zombie is a genius and not just in the musical sense. He exceeded my expectations with this movie and I am looking foward to seeing his future films. I give this movie 15 stars for the overall awesomeness. Yes I said, awesomeness.