HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (2003)

With special guest Ariel Powers-Schaub

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:14
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:15-54:45
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 54:46-1:14:43

Director Rob Zombie
Screenplay Rob Zombie
Featuring Karen Black, Erin Daniels, Dennis Fimple, Walton Goggins, Sid Haig, Chris Hardwick, Jennifer Jostyn, Matthew McGrory, Bill Moseley, Robert Mukes, Michael J. Pollard, Rainn Wilson, Sheri Moon Zombie

Released April 11, 2003
Budget $7 million
Box office $12.6 million US / $16.8 million worldwide

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

Grab your popcorn, kids:  it’s time for Dr. Wolfenstein’s Creature Feature Show… this week, the tale of Jerry, Bill, Denise, and Mary, American kids making their way across the country, working on a book about strange roadside attractions.  When their car runs out of fuel on Halloween eve, they pull in to Captain Spaulding’s Museum for Monsters and Madmen, a joint offering both chicken and gasoline, and where, we’ve learned, a brutal holdup and double homicide has taken place.  Spaulding tells the kids the legend of local crazy Dr. Satan, who used mental patients as bizarre experiments before being hung by enraged citizens.  Eager to see the tree from which said doctor was lynched, the kids gas up and move on — only to encounter Baby, a vivacious blonde by the side of the road who’s looking for a ride home.  Agog, the boys invite her into the car — but right on cue, an unseen marauder takes out one of their tires, and the kids are forced to pull up to Baby’s house, well off the road, and wait for her brother Rufus to replace the tire.  While waiting, they encounter Baby’s family, and the horrors of her home — which leads the kids to a hell that no one, save perhaps for Dr. Wolfenstein, could have predicted.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Ariel Powers-Schaub is a horror film critic and analyst from the great American midwest. She is a writer and a podcaster who champions 2000s horror. Ariel served as a senior contributor to and Administrative Assistant for Ghouls Magazine, and is a regular contributor to The Pod and the Pendulum. Her first book, Millennial Nasties, will be released September 17th from Encyclopocalypse publications. Pre-order it here. Recess snack: Hostess cupcakes.

EPISODE NOTES

Music from House of 1000 Corpses by Rob Zombie and Scott Humphrey.

Why did Professor Louryk choose this film? Find out in our Blog.

Thanks to Liz DeGregorio and Jerry Sampson for introducing us to Ariel.

TRAILER 

SUPERLATIVES

The Gaspar Noe Award for Most Disturbing Scene/Moment
Ariel: Don Willis and Deputy Naish open the shed and find the cheerleaders
Eric: The shooting of Deputy Naish
Bradford: The shooting of Deputy Naish

The Ellen Ripley Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Live
Ariel: Don Willis
Eric: Bill
Bradford: Bill

The Michael Myers Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Die
Ariel: Jerry
Eric: Jerry
Bradford: Mary

The Ken Russell Award for Most Baroque Screen Moment
Ariel: The burial/cemetery scene, in toto
Eric: The underground chase sequence in Dr. Satan’s lair
Bradford: Grandpa Hugo’s standup routine into Baby’s dance number

The Beatrice Dalle Award for Character Who Could (or Should) Have Been Played by Beatrice Dalle
Ariel: Mother Firefly
Eric: Mother Firefly
Bradford: Mother Firefly

FINAL LETTER GRADE

Ariel: A+
Eric: C
Bradford: A