House of 1000 Corpses
House of 1000 Corpses is a 2003 American exploitation horror film written, co-scored and directed by Rob Zombie in his directorial debut. The film stars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon, and Karen Black as members of the Firefly family. Set on Halloween, the film sees the Firefly family torturing and mutilating a group of teenagers who are traveling across the country writing a book. The film explores a number of genres, and features elements of the supernatural. Zombie cited American horror films "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) and "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977) as influences on "House of 1000 Corpses", as well as other films released during the 1970s.
House of 1000 Corpses
The film was shot on a twenty-five-day shooting schedule. Two weeks were spent filming on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlots — the house featured in the film is the same house used in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982), and can be seen on Universal Studios' tram tours. Zombie stated that filming on the lot was at times difficult, as the amusement park would often be open and would ruin takes. The remaining eleven days of the shoot were spent on a ranch in Valencia, California. The scene involving Bill being transformed into "Fishboy" was initially much longer, featuring gory details of the creation of the monster. Zombie stated the scene was created after Universal passed on the film. Scenes featuring Baby masturbating with a skeleton, along with other cutaway scenes, were filmed in Zombie's basement after initial filming for the project had concluded. Zombie later cited home recordings from the Manson family as inspiration for the Firefly family's "bizarre" rants. Zombie often filmed two versions of scenes, one of which would be less gory, in an attempt to please Universal.