Metascore
31 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 15
  2. Negative: 7 out of 15
  1. If your expectations aren't too high, there's lots of cool shit on-screen.
  2. Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    60
    A cobwebbed, mummified horror entry that makes obvious, cartoonishly grotesque demands for attention.
  3. Zombie's sense of fun gets buried under the growing pile of bodies, and eventually, we're left with little more than a frenzy of sadism.
  4. 50
    Shock-rocker Rob Zombie's loving homage to flat-out nasty horror films of the 1970s will leave many post-"Scream" (1996) horror fans cold because of what it's not. It's not slick or glossy. It's not funny or self-referential.
  5. Isn't coherent, exactly, but what dripping-ghoul horror movie is these days? The new rule is, It's not hip to make sense when you're raising hell.
  6. 50
    As much as film buffs might enjoy recognizing references to "Motel Hell" and other drive-in classics, Mr. Zombie's encyclopedic approach to the genre results in a crowded, frenzied film in which no single idea is developed to a satisfying payoff.
  7. 40
    The setup almost needs footnotes, which makes it all the more puzzling that Zombie's obvious love for horror's past would translate into such a joyless, grisly rehashing.
  8. The endless gore and violence make the experience torturous -- and not just for the victims in the movie.
  9. Reviewed by: Peter Debruge
    38
    Zombie's film plays more like an experimental pastiche than an outright homage to those classic road-trip-gone-wrong movies.
  10. 30
    Zombie wants his film to be gleefully demented, but he fails to grasp that loud, inbred evil people torturing stupid, grating benign people isn’t disturbing as much as tedious.
  11. Reviewed by: Alex Pappademas
    30
    Straining to put his own stamp on this stale-from-the-crypt material, Zombie falls back on the twitchy visual grammar of his videos, splicing in dream sequences and grainy porno-snippets apparently purchased at Bob Crane's estate sale. The violence eventually becomes more inhuman than human.
  12. Gosh, what to say about House of 1000 Corpses? That it's about 999 too many, for starters. Then again, in a picture where the body count is the whole point and the only purpose, carping about the math rather misses the mark.
  13. 12
    Kicks off as a cheap piece of retro schlock and quickly devolves into a putrid bloodbath with a thin narrative made utterly indecipherable by the first-time director's clueless approach to filmmaking.
  14. 11
    The film is a mess, going all over the graveyard but never finding the grave. It's the work of a fan with too much time (and money) on his hands, eagerly awaited but best forgotten.
  15. Reviewed by: Todd Levin
    10
    Rips off so many splatter movie tricks at once that it becomes totally frustrating.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 86 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 65
  2. Negative: 26 out of 65
  1. 10
    Rob Zombie gives us a cult classic horror film that we all have been craving for quite some times. I remember first seeing this film and being terrified by the Firefly family. I would highly recommend. Full Review »
  2. This Movie Was Pretty Good it was Bloody Insane Strange And Chilling it has all the good element of a Decent Horror Film It is alot better then Ridculas Horror Films Like Final Destination House of The Dead and So On Full Review »
  3. Rob Zombie's take on 1970's B-Movies. Full of weird and wonderful characters especially Sid Haig as the almost iconic Captain Spaulding. The acting is pretty bad throughout (I assume this was to get the B-Movie feel in parts) & it gets a bit silly at the end. A mention for the great use of Slim Whitman's "I remember you" in quite a morose scene as well. Not as good as Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror which is in the same genre & done a lot better. Full Review »