The main streaming services are competing for our attention with a lot of new and returning Halloween titles this season, and one of the most exciting things to look forward to is “Netflix and Chills,” the annual celebration of all things macabre. As part of this event, the platform is adding Rob Zombie‘s House of 1000 Corpses on October 1st, giving us all the chance to catch up on an underrated genre classic from the director behind the 2000s Halloween reboot and many other pictures.
Released in 2003, 1000 Corpses was Zombie’s directorial debut, coming alongside a successful musical career. A relatively low-budget production, he took inspiration from the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for a decidedly bloody but still humorous film. The story, for those unaware, sees a group of unfortunates enter into the orbit of the murderous Firefly clan, led by Sid Haig’s Captain Spaulding.
It’s fair to say that House of 1000 Corpses doesn’t hold back on the gore or surreal comedy, making it a cult favorite for horror fans. In 2005, Zombie returned to the series with The Devil’s Rejects and wrapped things up with 2019’s 3 From Hell.
Over the years, he’s been critical of his first outing as a filmmaker as being less focused than he’d like, but we’d still recommend checking out House of 1000 Corpses as it’s a solid horror flick and a nice a jumping off point for the flawed but enjoyable Firefly trilogy, which arguably achieved its high point with The Devil’s Rejects. You can catch that one on Amazon Prime and Hulu, while 3 From Hell is currently a Shudder streaming exclusive.
If Rob Zombie‘s particular brand of mayhem isn’t to your liking, though, there are plenty of other choices available for Halloween, too, including some new material from Blumhouse and a pretty comprehensive range of original content on Hulu and other platforms.
