Horror House on Highway 5 Review
This movie is a brilliant, underground masterpiece due to it's surreal qualities, bizarre tone, atmospheric lighting and strange story. This film was made without taking itself seriously which is what makes it so great.
First, let me tell you what is DIFFERENT about the dvd release.
The DVD release, for some strange reason, abandons the entire soundtrack that makes the original version so effective. The original surreal score music is still there, but every single song from the original release has been changed. If you see this movie, you have to see the first release as that soundtrack moves along with the visual weirdness flawlessly, far more effectively than the "new" soundtrack. I also noticed they changed the end credits and removed all of the song credits that were in the original vesion. The only other difference is that the girl's dialogue in the beginning has been re-dubbed over her original version.
The storyline, while completely wacked out, has it's moments and there is plenty of visual weirdness and compellingly eerie moments. This is a movie you have to watch alone, in a dark room, with headphones on if possible so the soundtrack and sound effects can buzz in your head effectively as much as the visual cinematography and lighting tone.
Dr. Mabuse is a scientist with an agenda that he attempts to carry out with his friend Gary, a not so smart understudy of sorts, who seems to fall for a girl (Sally Smith) that Mabuse wants Gary to hold captive for some strange experiment which is never made completely clear and consists of a Mabuse chant with attempts to iron poor Sally with a hot iron.
When Dr. Mabuse gets frustrated with Gray and leaves to continue his father's work, Gary begins to bond with Sally as she remains chained up.
Meanwhile, Sally's classmates Louise and the pot smoking Mike Simpson trek into the woods nearby for an experiment they are conducting for a college research paper on the V-2 Rocket and it's inventor, Frederick Bartholomeo, which happens to be Dr. Mabuse's father, a raving madman wearing a Richard Nixon mask.
Bartholomeo roams the area, killing a few people in some interestingly lucid moments, which leaves the viewer wondering what the hell they just saw. There is nothing bloody here, and there doesn't need to be, because Horror House works on the mind, not blatant gore.
Eventually, Louise is the final student left, finding her way to the "red room" in the Horror House where a strange, unseen flying blade (which made me think of the silver sphere Phantasm) pursues her randomly.
Bartholomeo chases after Louise, determined to stop her from finding Sally and stopping the experiments of Mabuse and Bartholomeo.
The soundtrack is a masterpiece in itself - with psychadelic, rock-a-billy, and classic rock songs mixed with theme and background score that somehow perfectly compliments the visual scenery of the film.
I have literally seen this movie over 2,000 times...used to watch it once a day every day for a year straight. Yes I must be insane, but no matter how many times I see it, something new reveals itself or a new meaning is discovered in the highly disguised context of the story.
The only complaint about the DVD edition is that the releasing company should have provided more extras with commentaries, extra scenes, interviews or something of more substance than a generic documentary on horror movies.
Don't expect great film-making, expect a truly bizarre experience.
Horror House on Highway 5 Feature
Horror House on Highway 5 Overview
"A cult classic never before released on dvd." "Wild and wacky horror at its finest." "Horror films don't get much stranger than this odd little effort...you may find yourself strangely engrossed." - Matt Serafini in Geocities
Horror House on Highway 5 Specifications
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