Tobe Hooper (director) FUNHOUSE [THE FUNHOUSE] (ca. 1980) Film script

[Los Angeles, ca. 1980]. Vintage original film screenplay, printed stiff wrappers, 11 x 8 1/2″ (28 x 22 cm.), brad bound, 113 pp., just about fine.

Tobe Hooper’s fifth theatrical feature film (from a script by Lawrence J. Block), now acknowledged as a horror classic, about four teenagers who become trapped in a dark ride at a local carnival in Iowa and are stalked by a murderous, mentally challenged carnie. At the time of the film’s original release, the film received somewhat mixed reviews, mostly because critics of the time did not yet recognize horror movies as artistically valid. Nonetheless, Hooper was specifically praised for bringing style and suspense to what could have been a standard early-1980s slasher film, and his work here was largely responsible for him getting the job of directing the original Poltergeist movie.

Needless to say, as with most of Hooper’s film scripts, a definitely scarce screenplay.