TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

House of 1000 Corpses

Go To

  • Acting for Two: Sheri Moon Zombie also appears as an extra during the neighborhood trick-or-treating scene, playing the tall young woman dressed as a nurse and pushing a baby carriage.
  • Career Resurrection: Sid Haig stated that Rob Zombie saved his career by casting him as Captain Spaulding.
  • Channel Hop: Went from Universal to MGM and then finally to Lionsgate.
  • Completely Different Title:
    • Japan: Murder Ride Show
  • Creator Backlash: In 2014, Rob Zombie acknowledged the movie's cult following but admitted that he himself is not fond of it. Zombie called the film "a calamitous mess [...] All I see is flaw, upon flaw, upon flaw...upon flaw".
  • Enforced Method Acting: In the DVD Commentary, Rob Zombie revealed that Jake McKinnon (The Professor) couldn't see very well in his costume. In the scene where he swings a real axe at Denise, his vision was so bad he could have seriously injured her if she didn't move fast enough. Rob says in his commentary, "We just assumed she would get out of the way."
  • Executive Meddling: The film was originally going to be released by Universal, but they shelved the movie when they saw the final cut. Eventually Rob Zombie bought the rights from Universal and sold them to MGM. MGM for whatever reason, didn't release it, which caused Zombie to buy the rights back again and to sell them to Lionsgate, who finally released it in 2003.
    Quoth Mr. Zombie, "I named it House of 1000 Corpses; what did they think it was going to be about?"
  • Friendship on the Set: Jennifer Jostyn and Sheri Moon Zombie became close on set, making the scene where Baby Firefly stabs Mary to death hard for them to film.
  • Hey, It's That Place!: The actual house is the same used in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which can be viewed during Universal Studios' tram ride. However, during filming Universal refused to stop the tram tours, which delayed filming during many scenes.
  • Orphaned Reference: The reason for the infamous "Skunk Ape" Cutaway Gag was that, in one version of the script, a Skunk Ape would emerge to kidnap the Final Girl. This was removed, but the reference remained.
  • Playing Against Type: Rainn Wilson as a Nice Guy.
  • Real-Life Relative: There is more than one instance where you see a poster for two missing young boys. Those boys were actually pictures of Rob Zombie and his brother (Spider One of Powerman 5000) as children.
  • Remake Cameo: The Brick House cover that's featured in the end credits recorded by Rob Zombie and Trina also features Lionel Richie, who co-wrote and sang the song when he was still a member of the Commodores.
  • Screwed by the Network: The film managed to get screwed over by two studios. First, Universal was set to release the film in 2000 (it was even filmed in one of their theme parks), but after seeing the final cut, the studios executives at the company were worried that the film would receive an NC-17 rating, and later decided to drop the film. Second, Rob Zombie made a deal with MGM to release the film in October of 2002, only to drop the film afterwards after Zombie claimed that the company had no morals for releasing the film. So, then, he had no other choice but to release the film independently, until Lionsgate showed interest in the film, and so they were able to cut some footage for an R-rating and they successfully released the film in April of 2003, 3 years after the movie wrapped filming.
  • The Shelf of Movie Languishment: The film was completed in 2000, yet wasn't released until 2003.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • The film's script was constantly changing, leading to an entirely different ending at one point. Originally Grandpa Hugo was going to be revealed as the mad doctor (who in the rough cut was not even called Dr. Satan).
    • Jon Polito was considered for Captain Spaulding.



Top