The Funhouse

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Funhouse holds a 67% approval rating based on 18 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.96/10.[6] Tobe Hooper was specifically praised for bringing style and suspense to what could have been a standard early-1980s blood and gore-focused horror film, and his work here was largely responsible for him getting the job of directing the original Poltergeist. Film critic Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune liked the film and gave it a positive review.[7]

John Corry of The New York Times gave the film a middling review, noting: "At times, in fact, Mr. Hooper almost persuades us that he is up to more than just gore, creepiness and trauma. He has photographed a carnival - freak show, girly show, grifters and geeks -with a sense of style. The carnival is a small vision of middle-America gone sour, reveling in mean gaiety, and it is not bad while it lasts. Then the monster comes in and drools."[8] Variety's review of the film was similarly mixed: "For all the elegance of photography, [the] pic has nothing in particular up its sleeves, and devotees of director Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will be particularly disappointed with the almost total lack of shocks and mayhem."[9]

In a review published in People, the film was praised: "While the director, Tobe (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Hooper, ought to have moved on to better things, he is the master of this gore-and-sadism genre... The film features an excruciatingly tense final confrontation.[10] Alex Keneas of Newsday also gave the film a positive review: "The Funhouse doesn't trade on gratuitous and graphic gore, but it doesn't have to. In little ways and using the traditional tried and true devices of the genre ... it skillfully heightens expectations [and] nicely evokes the chiller of a bygone era as it pays respect to Hitchcock and James Whale."

Composer John Beal's mostly orchestral score was praised by critics, and the soundtrack CD later became a collector's item.[11][12]

The film was unsuccessfully prosecuted as a video nasty in the UK a few years after its release. Some commentators have questioned its attempted banning, given that the film is fairly tame in comparison to other entries on the list, leading some to suggest it was mistakenly chosen instead of the infamous Last House on Dead End Street,[13] which was released under an alternative title The Fun House and oddly did not appear on the list. It was released uncut on VHS in 1987 and later on DVD in 1999.

On July 18, 2011 Arrow Video released a new special edition Blu-ray disc in the UK, with the following special features: an audio commentary with The Funhouse special effects artists Craig Reardon and Jeffrey Reddick (creator of the Final Destination series), an audio commentary with producer Derek Power and genre scholar Howard S. Berger, an audio commentary with Justin Kerswell, author of Teenage Wasteland and host of the slasher cinema website Hysteria Lives, and author Calum Waddell, Carnage at the Carnival: Tobe Hooper Remembers "The Funhouse" , Miles of Mayhem: Acting in Tobe's Funhouse with star Miles Chapin, A Trilogy of Terror: The Make-up Madness of Craig Reardon, in which the S/FX wizard recollects his collaborations with Tobe Hooper; Eaten Alive, Poltergeist and The Funhouse, Master Class of Horror: Mick Garris, in which the director of Sleepwalkers and the miniseries adaptation of The Shining reflects on the crimson-covered career of his longtime colleague Tobe Hooper, a live Q&A with Tobe Hooper from San Francisco, never-before-seen behind the scenes photographs from the collection of Craig Reardon, the film's trailer, a brand new transfer of the film in high definition (1080p), a four-panel reversible sleeve option with original and newly commissioned artwork, a double-sided fold-out artwork poster, and a collector's booklet featuring brand-new writing on the film by critic and author Kim Newman.

January 30, 2012 also saw a UK release of The Funhouse by Arrowdrome DVD.

Arrow Video released a special edition of The Funhouse on Blu-ray on November 26, 2012.

Universal Home Entertainment released the film to DVD in the US on September 7, 2004. Shout! Factory released the film on Blu-ray and DVD in October 2012 under their horror sub-label, Scream Factory.[14] Universal also released The Funhouse in a four-film set, including Phantasm II, Sssssss, and The Serpent and the Rainbow.

Also noted that Gunther was meant to appear in the Boogeymen: The Killer Compilation; however, Gunther did not make the list. He did appear in the TV commercials of Boogeymen.