House of 1000 Corpses is a 2003 American exploitation horror film written, co-scored and directed by Rob Zombie, and starring Chris Hardwick, Rainn Wilson, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie and Karen Black. The plot focuses on two couples who are held hostage by a sadistic backwoods family on Halloween. Zombie's directorial debut, the film is heavily inspired by the horror and exploitation cinema of the 1970s, in the fashion of films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977).
Filmed in 2000, the movie was originally bought by Universal Pictures, and a large portion of it was filmed on the Universal Studios backlots, but it was ultimately shelved by the company in fear that it would receive an NC-17 rating. The rights to the film were eventually re-purchased by Zombie, who then sold the film to Lions Gate Entertainment. It was released theatrically on April 11, 2003.
Plot[]
On October 30, 1977, Jerry Goldsmith, Bill Hudley, Mary Knowles and Denise Willis are two couples out on the road in hopes of writing a book on offbeat roadside attractions. When the four meet Captain Spaulding, a vulgar but friendly owner of a gas station and "Museum of Monsters & Madmen", they learn the local legend of Dr. Satan. As the four take off in search of the tree from which Dr. Satan was hanged, they pick up a young hitchhiker named Baby who claims to live only a few miles away. Shortly after, the vehicle's tire bursts in what is later seen to be a trap and Baby walks to her family's house along with Bill. Only moments later, Baby's half-brother, Rufus, picks up the stranded passengers and takes them to the family home.
Soon following, the four friends meet Mother Firefly, Baby's mother; Otis Driftwood, Baby's adopted brother; Grampa Hugo, Baby's grandfather; and Baby's deformed giant half-brother, Tiny. While being treated to dinner, they discover that the family has their own weird Halloween traditions. Mother Firefly then explains that her ex-husband, Earl, had previously tried to burn Tiny alive along with the Firefly house. After the dinner is over, the family puts on a Halloween show for their guests, where Baby offends Mary by acting flirtatiously towards Bill. After Baby is threatened, Mother Firefly tells the couples to leave and that their car is repaired. As they try to leave, though, they are attacked by Otis and Tiny, being taken as prisoners. Not long after, Otis creates a work of art out of Bill's body, Mary is tied up and abused, Denise is bedbound and dressed as a doll and Jerry is scalped because he failed to guess Baby's favorite movie star.
After Denise does not return home, her father, Don, calls the police to search for her. Two Deputy Sheriffs, George Wydell and Steve Naish, find the couples' abandoned car in a field with a tortured victim in the trunk. Don, who is an ex cop, is called and arrives at the scene to go with the two Deputies to search for information. They arrive at the Firefly house and upon finding bodies, the three are quickly killed. Later that night, the three remaining teenagers are taken to an underground well (they are dressed as rabbits, a reference to something Otis had said earlier in the film about how "scared kids run like rabbits, run little rabbit, run!") and Mary manages to escape, only to be killed by Baby moments later.
Meanwhile, Jerry and Denise are lowered into the underground chamber, where a number of feral figures pull Jerry away and leave Denise to find her way through the underground lair. As she journeys through the mysterious chambers and catacombs, she encounters Dr. Satan and a multitude of mentally handicapped patients. Dr. Satan has Jerry on his operating table, horribly torturing and skinning him alive. As Dr. Satan yells for his mutated assistant, revealed to be Earl, Mother Firefly's ex-husband, to capture Denise, she outwits the monstrous figure and escapes the underground chambers. Moments later, she is picked up by Captain Spaulding and passes out from exhaustion in the front seat, only for Otis to appear in the backseat with a knife. The film ends with Denise being tortured by Dr. Satan.