Funhouse Review (Film, 2021)
content warning: blood, gore, violence against women, foul language, nudity, death by suicide, gun violence
A group of wannabe celebrities are locked in a state of the art mansion for a new reality show. The last one standing based on public vote wins five million dollars. The loser of each vote faces a challenge that can permanently end their run at fame through death.
Writer/director Jason William Lee combines variations on some very familiar reality show character types to create the world of Funhouse. This is a well-researched and planned horror film. It’s designed to shake you from the beginning, as the cold open establishes everyone in this film has a price.
A woman, covered in blood, is begging for mercy. She’s attacking something while a man in perfectly tailored menswear watches with a smile. The camera pans out and she’s standing over another woman, beaten to a pulp and barely hanging onto life. The man reminds the crying woman that she agreed to this and will not receive the money she signed up for if she doesn’t finish the job.
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Funhouse is a deadly game film with an audience built in. Other deadly game films lean into the audience falling hard for it straight away. Battle Royale, Series 7: The Contenders, Running Man, even Guns Akimbo rely on the contestants losing hope because they know the audience eats up the violence. These games are established institutions that people just accept as reality. This time, it’s the start of a new era.
Funhouse is different. We see the reaction of the audience and the news as the show progresses. The crowds around the world that were cheering on their favorite contestants turn off the broadcast in horror when they realize the stars are going to be murdered live. The contestants can see how the audience is reacting, as their status in the game relies on the likes of the crowds. They learn soon enough that there is no escape, no Deus ex Machina to save them. If they don’t get the votes, they will die.
The commentary here is not about the sensationalism of media but how quickly we become inured to violence. Once the crowds become used to the actual nature of the show, they go back to voting. Instead of watching these bombastic on-camera personas do their gimmicks to earn votes, they watch them strip down to fear and desperation as they beg for their lives. The news stations try to find every angle they can to report on the horrors of the Funhouse. This just pushes the people who watched in groups to split up and watch on their own. You’re not supposed to like watching the show, but you’re drawn to anyway because everyone is watching.
Interspliced is the kind of reaction video that takes a cynical approach to everything. This recap of Funhouse has a man mock the contestants for being “famewhores” and revel in their deaths. He treats it like an act of justice. To him and others like him, the contestants aren’t really people.
All of this works to build the brand of the show and normalize its content to the audience. By the second elimination, the contestants are informed viewership has grown fivefold with more votes than ever before. People who would never watch the show are tuning in to see what it's about as more reality TV celebrities are murdered live on every Internet-connected device in the world. By the third elimination, people are watching in groups again and cheering on the violence.
Funhouse is a surprisingly mature take on the deadly games film. It reminds me of Funny Games or The Collection. These are horror films with a lot to say about society through their use of violence and dark humor. The level of violence makes them difficult to watch, which is part of the storytelling method. Everything escalates as the film winds its way to the big takeaway intended from the start. It’s all meant to shock you into a state where the most you can do is hope the pain onscreen will end soon.
Funhouse is available to rent or purchase on all digital platforms.
