Release Year: 2016

Rating: 6.2/10 ( voted)

Critic's Score: /100

Director: Rob Zombie

Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Richard Brake, Jeff Daniel Phillips

Storyline
The day before Halloween, five carnival employees are kidnapped & held hostage in an isolated compound known as "Murderworld". On Halloween, they are thrown into a sadistic game called "31" where they must survive 12 hours against a gang of maniacs dressed like clowns. However, the clowns aren't the only ones they need to worry about - a grand scheme of satanic rituals & a much more sadistic plot awakens. It's time to play 31.

Cast:
Elizabeth Daily - Sex-Head
Sheri Moon Zombie - Charly
Meg Foster - Venus Virgo
Sandra Rosko - Satan's Slave
Malcolm McDowell - Father Murder
Richard Brake - Doom-Head
Lew Temple - Psycho-Head
Ginger Lynn - Cherry Bomb
Daniel Roebuck - Pastor Victor
Judy Geeson - Sister Dragon
Tracey Walter - Lucky Leo
Torsten Voges - Death-Head
Jane Carr - Sister Serpent
Jeff Daniel Phillips - Roscoe
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs - Panda Thomas

Taglines: The Show Must Go On

Country: USA, UK

Language: English

Release Date: 3 Jan 2016

Runtime: 102 min

Trivia:
Rob Zombie previously directed Sheri Moon Zombie, Torsten Voges, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Meg Foster, and Judy Geeson in The Lords of Salem (2012). See more »

Goofs:
When announcing the casting of Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Rob Zombie announced him as being "the manager of a traveling roadshow known as The Venus Lux Happy Time Fun Show". Later, when announcing Jeff Daniel Phillips, Zombie called him "the ass-kicking carney mechanic of Venus Virgo's traveling show", inexplicably changing the show-within-a-film's-title. Zombie has not addressed this apparent memory slip. Actually, Zombie did not change the show's title; The Venus Lux Happy Time Fun Show IS Venus Virgo's traveling show. See more »

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Author:

Rating: 9/10

I really enjoyed this movie, despite the awesome atmosphere of the crowd which included most of the cast and the director himself, it was the film itself that had me on the edge of my seat. The opening monologue by the most evil, dangerous and deadliest clown of them all Doom-Head himself (but don't call him a clown) sets an extremely exciting pace to the film. James Gang's Walkaway was the opening credit's song that immediately told us that we were back in the 70's just like Rob Zombie prefers to set most of his films in and he made the right choice again. Setting the film in 1976 made our main characters that bit more interesting but it was the cast itself that made these characters really enjoyable to watch, so we meet our quirky carnies and learn a bit about their own little world. But before long the carnies are on their way to their next gig, driving through the desert on Halloween eventually being kidnapped in a way that's quite different from what you'd expect from a Zombie movie and find themselves in Murderworld. An enormous underground compound run by three old psychos in powder wigs who explain the rules of the game known as 31 where five people each year are set free in Murderworld each given a numbered bracelet, a weapon and must try to survive for 12 hours which once over are set free but so far there has never been a winner. The five carnies are untied as they enter the labyrinth with a weapon waiting for the first of the six clowns known as the heads to attack. Then what commences is none stop attacks, fights to the death, torture, bloody mayhem and the true hell that is Murderworld! I found this film quite thrilling you really don't know what's going to happen next like when we see who the toughest of the carnies really is and how all the heads are all very unique. Yes the brutality is extreme even for Rob Zombie but what really makes this film stand out is the originality of the story and how characters defy every expectation not one character slows down this film in fact it's the characters that drive this film and surprise an impress you constantly because they keep changing yet still keep their character true. The soundtrack worked very well to set the tone and setting for the film just like Zombie's masterpiece The Devil's Rejects. The ending couldn't have been better and all the actors brought their A game. The actors that really stole the show were Richard Blake who was indescribable as Doom-Head, Sheri Moon Zombie as Charly surprised everyone as being a full on action hero when she had to be, Meg Foster who was so deeply fascinating as Venus occasionally being a bad-ass and Jeff Daniel Phillips as the macho mechanic that cares about his group and will defend them with a crowbar! All in all Zombie has made this fan very happy when it hits theaters will make all his fans happy but I don't think critics will like it then again most of the greatest horror movies of all time were hated by critics initially so don't let that stop you from watching this flick!

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