Compared to the very Metrosexual/Californian Michael Bay trying to make his TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake, this is superior...if flawed.
Why did I enjoy Zombie's directorial debut? Maybe because there are some ideas presented that either Bay isn't clever enough or ballsy enough to bring out besides the manufactured-scares that constitute "Jump scares" for which some people think are essential for every horror picture, just like some folks who think action movies are "weak" without an orange-explosive fireball somewhere...which incidently sounds like a Michael Bay movie.
I do think that Zombie at least went overboard really with that music video "filter" shots that distracted from what was happening, and with the superior sequel THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, Rob Zombie was wise enough to dump.
But really, you gotta dig how there is a lesbo-perv pretty sister of the family full of ugly Texan white trash retards...or the idea of the family being part of an ancient cult of Christianity(where eating the body of Christ is literal), the really stunning camera-zoom shot where the expected death doesn't occur when it expect it, which makes us the audience nervous...and even the downer of an ending. While the film isn't perfect, it is a creative admirable effort from a reject child of the 70's.
In a way, the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE(as I'll review for RRA'S CULT MOVIE REVIEW) wasn't the jump-scare garbage stuff that Irishman probably expected. If anything, that movie was full of stuff that is supposed to make the audience shock in awe of a rather disgusting family culture that is just "wrong"...Hell, that film has zero gore really. While I won't say HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES is as good as TCM, I felt it was a more noble respectful homage of a remake than Bay's pathetic remake.
However, for sure THE DEVIL'S REJECTS(***/5) is a superior picture in narrative-direction and does away with the damn filter stuff. Besides, more Captain Spaulding in Sid Haig, who was charismatic in memory in HOUSE.
