Why House Of 1000 Corpses' Original Ending Is Lost (Will It Ever Be Recovered?)
House Of A 1000 Corpses has a lot of deleted footage and a cut ending that has never resurfaced, and sadly, it looks like it never will.
Rob Zombie has released stills from House Of 1000 Corpses' lost ending, but will the 2003 horror movie's deleted footage ever be recovered? House Of 1000 Corpses marked Zombie's directorial debut, but the film had a tortured path to the big screen. Originally produced as a Universal production, the studio declined to release it after fearing it would only be granted an NC-17 rating. Zombie then took it to MGM, but after a glib remark to the press that the studio had "no morals" for agreeing to distribute House Of 1000 Corpses, they dropped it. Three years after it was shot, Lionsgate released the film.
In order to make it R-rated, Zombie trimmed a lot of footage from House Of 1000 Corpses, including the creation of Rainn Wilson's "Fishboy" and deleting Jeanne Carmen's Miss Bunny character. He also reshot the ending, which featured Chris Hardwick's Jerry being eaten by Dr. Satan's test subjects and final girl Denise (Erin Daniels) escaping the doctor's lair but being recaptured by Sid Haig's Captain Spaulding. Zombie has released stills of this lost ending on social media, but as he's often restated, all the missing footage appears to be permanently lost. The uncut House Of 1000 Corpses screened only once in 2003 in Argentina but has since been lost.
House Of 1000 Corpses' Original Version Had A Major Twist
The original version of House Of 1000 Corpses featured more character development for the luckless tourists who are captured by the Firefly family, including more footage of their road trip. Most of the trims involved scenes of torture, violence and assault, however. One of the major deletions was the reveal that Grandpa Hugo (Dennis Fimple) was actually Dr. Satan. In this cut, the story revealed the legend of Dr. Satan was created by the family to lure victims to them, with Grandpa acting out the part. When reshooting the ending, Zombie decided to make the character real, reducing Grandpa Hugo's role in the final movie.
Why Zombie Dislikes House Of 1000 Corpses
Despite the controversy that surrounded House Of 1000 Corpses and its troubled release, the film was a solid hit when it finally arrived. It was met with bad reviews at the time, but fans of Rob Zombie's movie work now consider it one of his best. That said, Zombie himself isn't fond of the final version. In an interview, the director stated "The first film [I directed], which people seem to love, is just a calamitous mess" and that when he looks at it, "All I see is flaw, upon flaw, upon flaw… upon flaw.”
To Zombie, the characters and tone of House Of 1000 Corpses were far too cartoonish and silly. That's why the sequel The Devil's Rejects shifted genres to become something of a neo-Western. The sequel was shot in a gritty, handheld style, and the violence was rawer. This change in tone paid off, as The Devil's Rejects was another success and earned Zombie some of his best reviews as a filmmaker. 2019's belated sequel 3 From Hell followed the blueprint of Devil's Rejects but sadly proved to be a disappointing follow-up. If the missing footage ever surfaces, perhaps Zombie can cut a version of House Of 1000 Corpses he doesn't hate.
