House of 1000 Corpses

Director: Rob Zombie
Year Released: 2003
Rating: 2.5

Rob Zombie cobbles together bits and pieces of his favorite horror flicks - which range from House of Frankenstein to My Bloody Valentine to Nekromantik - and sticks them all in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's plot (dumb, curious kids encounter crazies; die one by one). To be honest, the lambasting this film has gotten isn't really fair - Zombie knows exactly how outlandish and campy it is (a mutant named Tiny is wearing a t-shirt that says "Cheap Ass Halloween Costume" while eating cereal *out of a fucking dog bowl*) - and the only thing that keeps me from embracing it is his failure to add any insight to the material, leaving only the senseless (and cheap) nihilism to remain (drawing references from past films isn't enough). Having a semi-decent knowledge of the genre, I found it to be more fun - not to mention funny - than a lot of people would.