The Fun House  | 1977 | USA | Roger Watkins

Very obscure and with a production shrouded in mystery, this film is much more well-known today by its universal title of Last House on Dead End Street, though its original cut was significantly longer under a tentative working title of The Cuckoo Clocks of Doom. Misanthropic and bitter Terry is released from prison with a chip on his shoulder, eager to pay society back for his incarceration due to drug charges. Deciding to become a filmmaker, he rallies a few willing allies in his crew and decides that his previous repertoire of amateur roughies is not going to be enough for the public. He and his gang decide that snuff movies are where the money is at, and after a negative response from Terry’s producer, the group decide to make a feature length special, cataloguing an orgy of torture, mutilation and sexual violence. Presumed to be the real target of the DPP’s listing of The Funhouse, the film was geared for a release with sleeves and master tapes produced by FLK. Initial copies went out without cover artwork oddly but the release was quietly canned due to fear of prosecution by police forces against video nasties, with only the original run of sleeveless tapes being distributed.