Strong and Moving!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Fresh and Exciting

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Are you ready to be further confused by the House and La Casa numbering and naming structure? The Horror Show had been financed through pre-sales of foreign distribution rights using the title House III. By the time filming began, the film was definitely going to be part of the series, then United Artists thought that The Horror Show was a better title for the U.S.OK. Makes sense so far, right? But when House IV came out in 1992, many of us couldn't remember there being a House 3. And with the internet in its infancy, not many of us knew that The Horror Show was also La Casa 6 in Italy. Confused yet?It gets worse. The Horror Show is about a killer named Meat Cleaver Max, played by Brion James, who is sentenced to the electric chair and dies. But wait - he's made a deal with the devil and comes back to haunt the cop who put him away - as well as that policeman's family - with supernatural powers.There are also some character actor appearances - Lewis Arquette (father of the Arquette family of actors) and Lawrence Tierney (Reservoir Dogs). But this movie feels the weight of the late 80's push for movies to be sequelized, in the same way that Shocker felt like it was made to set up a franchise.But wait - isn't that the same plot as 1989's Shocker with Horace Pinker making a deal with the devil to come back and haunt the football player who helped capture him? Yes. You are 100% correct. The same year, The First Power had the same exact storyline, too! You could also point to 1987's Prison and 1988's Destroyer as having similar concepts, but The Horror Show/House 3/La Casa 6 and Shocker go beyond that and feel like the same exact movie (except for the pop culture elements that Craven injected into his take as he tried to create a new Freddy).And again - this has nothing to do with the two House movies that came before, which have nothing to do with each other either, other than the title. Whew!Let's just get to the movie, where Meat Cleaver Max escapes and frames Detective Lucas McCarthy (Lance Henriksen, Near Dark) for a new series of crimes and haunts the house where his family lives. Only a parapsychologist can help them now.Of course , everything ends up happy. Of course, the cat survives. Of course, they get a 5-year supply of chili at the end. What?!? Seriously - I regret the time I spent watching The Horror Show and that doesn't happen all that often. I'm not the only one embarrassed. Noticeably in the opening credits, Allyn Warner is credited as Alan Smithee. I love that they spelled Allan Smithee - the pseudonym when someone wants their name taken off a movie - incorrectly.

House II the second story had nothing to do with House (1985) And this has nothing to do with House (1985) or House II the second story. But this this better then House II the second story. This is very scary. I can think of one movie scarier then this House (1985). This scarier then House II the second story. And that is not easy to do. It is scary then The Exorcist and that is not easy to do. I am glad to see it got a good ratting. 4.9 is a good ratting. But still this such a great movie that 4.9 is underrating it. This movie has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. It is a great horror movie. See it. It a 10. Not a 4.9.

The leads make the difference in this undistinguished but adequately entertaining horror film from producer Sean S. Cunningham. It marked the directorial debut for the late effects artist James Isaac, who was brought in to replace a man named David Blyth. With a screenplay credited to Leslie Bohem and the pseudonymous "Alan Smithee" (in reality Allyn Warner), it bears a strong resemblance to Wes Cravens' "Shocker" from the same year, and never has any really good ideas, or scares. There's some enjoyable makeup effects, and mild gore, by KNB (in one of their earliest gigs as a company), and a reasonable level of cheese (including the expected end credits rock song). Although unrelated to the two "House" horror comedies from 1986 & 1987, it was retitled "House III" for the overseas market, so when Cunningham and company made another entry in the series stateside, they were obliged to name it "House IV".Lance Henriksen is typically rock solid in his portrayal of Lucas McCarthy, a police detective haunted by images and the voice of Max Jenke (the late, great character actor Brion James, in an amusingly campy turn), a vicious serial killer whom Lucas had captured and who had been strapped into an electric chair and fried. Not surprisingly, Jenke has found a way to "live on" and he proceeds to terrorize McCarthy and his family by injecting nightmares into reality. With the clue to defeat Jenke supplied to him by scientist Peter Campbell (Thom Bray), Lucas determines to fight his undead foe and finish him once and for all.As "rubber reality", "A Nightmare on Elm Street" type cinema goes, "The Horror Show" isn't bad, although some fans of the genre may be disappointed that it doesn't go farther than it does. As it is, it's pretty tame. Still, there are elements to enjoy; other than those already mentioned, there's the cinematography by genre pro Mac Ahlberg, a very nice Harry Manfredini score that's unlike the stuff he did for the "Friday the 13th" series, and a supporting cast featuring a number of familiar faces: Rita Taggart as Lucas's wife, Dedee Pfeiffer and Aron Eisenberg as his kids, Matt Clark as a psychiatrist, Terry Alexander as your standard-issue doomed partner, Lewis Arquette as Lucas's boss, Lawrence Tierney as a warden, and Alvy Moore as a chili salesman.The contrasting styles of Henriksen and James work for their roles; the latter does look like he's having a ball and reportedly had stated that Jenke was his favourite out of the roles he'd played.This should serve as a decent diversion for some horror junkies although others may indeed find it dull and underwhelming.Seven out of 10.

Wes Craven : A Nightmare On Elm Street. Sean S. Cunningham: Friday the 13th. Wes Craven ( 1989 ) Shocker : About a guy who gets electrocuted in the electric chair, and continues to wreak havoc afterward as a supernatural force. Sean S. Cunningham ( 1989 ) The Horror Show: About a guy who gets electrocuted in the electric chair, and continues to wreak havoc afterward as a supernatural force. Is it fair to assume that these two horror giants were after the same film idea, the same year? Really? So why is The Horror Show dubbed House 3? It's certainly the black sheep of the House franchise. Much more violent, less humorous then the other House films, and a ton of cussing with some very angry characters. So, what does The Horror Show have to offer? First of all, don't underestimate Sean S. Cunningham, he is a very good director. Unlike Craven, who seems to favor special effects over violence, Cunningham seems to favor the violence over the special effects. That's not to say that The Horror Show doesn't have special effects. Believe me, it does have a few surprises in store for you. It has a few funny scenes, one of them is the wisecrack that Max Jenke delivers after he's been electrocuted : "Well, all that did was give me a b***r ". It is a silly and freaky movie at the same retrospect. Detective Lucas McCarthy is responsible for bringing some justice to the community, by catching the infamous Meat Cleaver Max. If you want to know how he got his name, well, the name says it all. He has a meat cleaver, a very big cleaver, and he's not shy about using it. He is a ruthless killer with a Skeletor laugh. The reckoning day has finally come for Max, when it's time to strap him down and fry him. Now Lucas can move on with his life, right? WRONG! Max's evil spirit has found a new home, Lucas home. His furnace, to be exact. And you thought you had furnace problems? Now, the killer is wreaking havoc on his life. Max is not interested in killing Lucas, he instead seems to have a plan on destroying Detective Lucas by messing with his mind, body, and family. He begins to have vivid hallucinations, including seeing Max himself at times. So, how do you stop something that is already dead? A source that deals with paranormal activity shows up in the picture, and seems to want to help Lucas in putting and end to Max once and for all, but Lucas doesn't believe what is going on is anything supernatural. The longer his disbelief lingers, the more his life goes to hell: Meat Cleaver Max is out for more then blood, he wants Lucas to repay with his own life by destroying it. It starts to affect his job, and in the end, it's going to come down to Lucas to just listen, once and for all, on how to end the insanity that Max has introduced to his life. The Horror Show isn't a complete bust, but it is one crazy movie. It is dark, silly, and scary, which is probably what Cunningham intended.