The Funhouse

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The Funhouse

R

1981

1h 36m

Horror

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Popcornmeter

68%

Tomatometer

22 Reviews

45%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Rebellious teen Amy (Elizabeth Berridge) defies her parents by going to a trashy carnival that has pulled into town. In tow are her boyfriend, Buzz (Cooper Huckabee), and their friends Liz (Largo Woodruff) and Richie (Miles Chapin). Thinking it would be fun to spend the night in the campy Funhouse horror ride, the teens witness a murder by a deformed worker wearing a mask. Locked in, Amy and her friends must evade the murderous carnival workers and escape before it leaves town the next day.

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Alex Keneas

Newsday

Mar 18, 2026

3/4

While "The Funhouse" avoids the gross-out techniques generally favored by today's B horror filmmakers, it nicely evokes the chillers of a bygone era as it pays its respects to Hitchcock and James Whale.

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Jake Wilson

The Age (Australia)

Jan 11, 2019

[Tobe Hooper] shows both his range and his thematic consistency in this luscious, morbid 1981 fairytale.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Nov 25, 2022

1/4

...Hooper spends much of the movie’s endless runtime focused on the one-dimensional protagonists’ meandering, hopelessly tedious exploits.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Sep 11, 2022

3/4

The imaginatively designed funhouse, oddball characters along the periphery, and a masterfully staged climax allow this to stand out.

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Alan Jones

Starburst

Jul 27, 2022

The Funhouse is all the fun of the fair with no disappointment.

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Diego Galán

El Pais (Spain)

Aug 21, 2019

The story is slow, obvious, and repetitive. [Full Review in Spanish]

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B P

@Bradster69 Sep 3, 2026

Not Bad, but Not My Favorite

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Melissa L

@Agent99 Jun 27, 2026

It's not bad. Tobe Hooper directs the movie, but I don't recognize the names of the actors. It's an '80s horror movie, but not really a slasher.

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Clarence H.

@clarencew Apr 5, 2026

One of my favorite horror/suspense movies. 1980’s teenagers trapped inside a carnival funhouse where they try to survive the night while being attacked by a deformed freak. Scary enough to be legit, cheesy enough to be really fun.

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Horror fan 4

@Horrorfan4life Sep 30, 2025

A movie that goes from a sweet fun night to hell and torture. What a great place for a Slasher Movie. One of the best of the 1980's. Tim Treakle

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Christian K

@ckacar Sep 22, 2025

A perfect setting. It mostly does nothing though for the majority of its runtime, it needed to flip the switch sooner and commit to what we all knew was coming. Great final girl and act.

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thiago s

@Thiagostone Sep 16, 2025

Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas de terror são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom

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Tobe Hooper

Director

Elizabeth Berridge

Amy Harper

Cooper Huckabee

Buzz Dawson

Miles Chapin

Richie

Largo Woodruff

Liz

Sylvia Miles

Madame Zena

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Synopsis

Rebellious teen Amy (Elizabeth Berridge) defies her parents by going to a trashy carnival that has pulled into town. In tow are her boyfriend, Buzz (Cooper Huckabee), and their friends Liz (Largo Woodruff) and Richie (Miles Chapin). Thinking it would be fun to spend the night in the campy Funhouse horror ride, the teens witness a murder by a deformed worker wearing a mask. Locked in, Amy and her friends must evade the murderous carnival workers and escape before it leaves town the next day.

Director: Tobe Hooper
Producer: Derek Power, Steven Bernhardt
Screenwriter: Lawrence Block
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal/Universal Int, Mace Neufeld Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 13, 1981, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 7, 2015
Runtime: 1h 36m
Sound Mix: Surround

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