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House of 1000 Corpses
Two teenage couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of serial killers end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.
2003 · Directed by Rob Zombie · 89 min · Horror · Screenplay in the scene database · 18 frames
Tagline
The most shocking tale of carnage ever seen.
Plot
On October 30, 1977, amateur criminals Karl and Richard Wick attempt an armed robbery at a gas station/horror museum, but are killed by the owner, Captain Spaulding, and his assistant, Ravelli. Later that night, Jerry Goldsmith, Bill Hudley, Mary Knowles, and Denise Willis are on the road in hopes of writing a book on offbeat roadside attractions. When the four meet Spaulding, who is also the owner of "The Museum of Monsters & Madmen", they learn of the local legend of Dr. Satan. As they take off in search of the tree from which Dr. Satan was hanged, they pick up a young free-spirited hitchhiker named Baby, who claims to live only a few miles away. Shortly after, a mysterious figure appears hidden in some overgrowth and shoots out their vehicle's tire with a shotgun. The group thinks it is just a blown out tire and so Baby takes Bill to her family's house to get a tow truck. Moments later, Baby's half-brother, Rufus, picks up the stranded passengers and takes them to the family home.
There, they meet Baby's family: her adopted brother Otis Driftwood, her deformed giant half-brother Tiny, Mother Firefly, and Grandpa Hugo. While being treated to dinner, Mother Firefly explains that her ex-husband, Earl, had previously tried to burn Tiny alive, along with the Firefly house after he suffered a psychotic breakdown. After dinner, the family puts on a Halloween show for their guests and Baby offends Mary by flirting with Bill. After Mary threatens Baby, Rufus tells them their car is repaired. As the couples leave, Otis and Tiny, disguised as scarecrows, attack them in the driveway and take them captive. The next day, Otis kills Bill and mutilates his body, turning him into a Fiji Mermaid. Mary is tied up in a room and tormented by Otis, Denise is tied to a bed dressed up as a doll for Halloween, and Jerry is partially scalped for failing to guess Baby's favorite movie star.
When Denise does not come home, her father Don calls the police to report her missing. Two deputies, George Wydell and Steve Naish, find the couples' abandoned car in a field with a dead, mutilated cheerleader in the trunk (one of five cheerleaders who went missing over a week ago, as explained in a news broadcast; an earlier scene established that the cheerleaders were being tortured, raped and killed by the Firefly family). Don, a former policeman, is called to the scene to help the deputies search. They arrive at the Firefly house and Wydell questions Mother Firefly about the missing teens. Mother Firefly shoots Wydell in the head and kills him; Don and Steve are then killed by Otis when they find more bodies of missing cheerleaders in the barn, along with a barely conscious Mary.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Rob Zombie
- Cinematography: Tom Richmond, Alex Poppas
- Edited by: Kathryn Himoff, Robert K. Lambert, Sean K. Lambert
- Music: Rob Zombie, Scott Humphrey
- Production design: Gregg Gibbs
- Produced by: Andy Gould
Cast
- Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding
- Bill Moseley as Otis B. Driftwood
- Sheri Moon Zombie as Baby Firefly
- Karen Black as Mother Firefly
- Erin Daniels as Denise Willis
- Chris Hardwick as Jerry Goldsmith
- Rainn Wilson as Bill Hudley
- Jennifer Jostyn as Mary Knowles
- Tom Towles as Lieutenant George Wydell
- Walton Goggins as Deputy Steve Naish
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Spectacle Entertainment Group, Lionsgate
- Budget: $7,000,000
- Box office: $17,949,758
- Themes: upper class, psychopath, sadistic, halloween, urban legend, satanic ritual, sadistic horror
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