Rob Zombie, lead singer for the horror-rock band White Zombie, takes a stab at filmmaking with this energetic but ultimately tiresome tribute to the no-budget gorefests of the 60s and 70s. Four young people researching a book on bizarre roadside attractions arrive in the dead of night at the Museum of Monsters and Madmen, but the real sideshow is up the road at the home of a depraved surgeon and his weirdo family (which includes Karen Black). Universal Pictures bankrolled the film and allowed Zombie to use footage from some of its horror classics in the creepy low-resolution montages that periodically erupt on the screen, then refused to distribute it—no doubt Zombie’s juxtaposition of Karloff with real-life monsters like Ed Gein exceeded the corporate comfort zone. R, 88 min.
