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The Funhouse

by Dean Koontz

3.31 · rating details · 5,836 ratings · 165 reviews

Once there was a girl who ran away and joined a traveling carnival. She married a man she hated and begat a child she could never love. Now Ellen has a new life, a new husband and two normal children. Memory is drowned in alcohol and prayers--neither of which will save her kids when the carnival comes back to town. A premiere release by the bestselling author of Dragon Tea...more

Mass Market Paperbound, 352 pages

Published by Berkley (first published 1980)

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Aug 19, 2009

Mike rated it

Shelves: i-still-remember-the-ending, potentially-life-changing

The book itself probably be no more than 4 stars, but because the idea of the book and the purpose it served for me I'll give it 5. I stole it from my mom's bookshelf in 8th grade and I remember it being the first definitive adult novel I ever read. I devoured it within days, it was such an easy read. From what I remember, the writing just flowed from one page to the next, making it simple for a relatively inexperienced reader like myself to follow along. I don't remember the sequence of events,...more

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Mar 01, 2009

Ryan Mishap rated it

Shelves: when-i-was-a-lad

I devoured Koontz and King back in middle school and part of high school. In retrospect, I could have spent my time on better books, but these chillers were an escape from things I didn't want to think about, especially at night when I couldn't sleep and my mind twisted my perceptions nauseatingly.
I'm not saying you should bother reading these, especially now that Koontz is openly being Christian and Stephen King thinks he is a writer, but I have a fondness for some of these books. I...more

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Oct 06, 2011

Laura rated it

Despite that a funhouse is a clichéd setting, Dean Koontz does manage to serve up some genuine thrills and chills. The movie (of the same name) does not do the book justice at all. Whereas the movie is based on a rather banal teenage bet to spend the night in the funhouse, the book is centered on a more elaborate plot for revenge. Ellen marries a carnival man in her youth and gives birth to a deformed creature that she senses is evil. After killing the “baby” her husband, Conrad, vows to tor...more

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Nov 19, 2010

Johnny rated it

· review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The first thing you should know when reading this book, is that it isn’t an original idea by Koontz. It’s based on the screenplay of what must have been a type of grind house horror movie (directed by Tobe Hooper by the way, of “Poltergeist” fame). Once you get past that, and you keep in mind the other books with elements of this story Koontz has written, it’s not all that bad. Basically it’s cheap thrills, but the characters are probably better worked out than in said screenplay.

On...moreThe first thing you should know when reading this book, is that it isn’t an original idea by Koontz. It’s based on the screenplay of what must have been a type of grind house horror movie (directed by Tobe Hooper by the way, of “Poltergeist” fame). Once you get past that, and you keep in mind the other books with elements of this story Koontz has written, it’s not all that bad. Basically it’s cheap thrills, but the characters are probably better worked out than in said screenplay.

Once upon a time, Ellen maried a carny named Conrad. At first I thought his last name would be Beezo, but turns out I got my clowns mixed up. Well, this Conrad isn’t a clown, but the clown face on his funhouse is made after his image. Conrad has a problem, though. Every child he conceives is heavily deformed. Think “Alien vs Predator”, with a dab of “Species”. Ellen kills their child, is thrown out by Conrad, and starts a new life somewhere else. She remarries, has two normal children. Then, years later, the carnival comes back to town. Conrad has spawned a new demon, which was allowed to grow up this time. When Conrad recognizes Ellen’s kids, revenge seeps up.

I always wonder whether Koontz would ever have written “Twilight Eyes” if he hadn’t first delivered “The Funhouse”; there are so many similarities between the description of carnival life, I think the idea of “Twilight Eyes” was first sparked as Koontz was doing research for “The Funhouse”. So I always consider this an exercise, a dry run, a familiarisation with the setting to later deliver – in my opinion – one of his best novels.

While he hasn’t yet had his own religious epiphany at this time, Koontz does recognize the importance of religion for his characters. After the prologue, Ellen has changed into someone close to the mother in “Carrie”. Conrad has gone the other way, becoming a Satanist. And throughout the last part of the tale, Ellen’s daughter Amy has some experiences which can only be described as divine guidance. Yet it feels like something is missing: the writer believing his own words.

Koontz has always juggled with the origin of evil; either it’s born, or it grows, usually during childhood. “The Voice of the Night” dealt heavily with this subject; we were all led to believe that Roy Borden was born evil, yet the conclusion tells us he became that way because of his parents’ reaction to what was essentially an accident. With “The Funhouse”, we get a very literal, physical manifestation of evil born. Though whether Conrad’s offspring can truly be called evil is up for debate, since they are more like mindless animals, thus having not much of a choice in their behavior.

Even though many people have stated their dislike of this novel, personally it never felt that much out of place. The original screenplay only dealt with the carnival scenes; everything leading up to those scenes, character backgrounds etc. were implemented by Koontz himself, as he explains in the afterword. That afterword actually reads as one huge apology for this book, blaming economic crisis. If you write something like that as a writer, you can’t expect people to take your novel seriously.

Like I said, it’s not half bad. There are probably worse stories. And Koontz probably didn’t have all that much freedom to begin with. Yet so much of the story is being “told” instead of “shown”, it’s like the entire history of these characters was quickly fabricated to work as an excuse for their actions in the original movie. This has the potential of a much better story, maybe in the style of “Life Expectancy”, and should have been revised more extensively upon republication.
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Nov 14, 2011

Gor93ous rated it

Somewhere between 2 and 2.5 stars

The Funhouse isn't exactly FUN, but it's not that boring either. I like it slightly better than Mr. Koontz's Twilight Eyes for the fact that the gore is très yummy-licious. Without a doubt, hanging-out intestine is really my thing.

But, it's mighty unfortunate that I've actually read better books demonstrating better goreXploration.

Now, let's talk about the plot, the storyline. Ellen was married to a handsome carnie named Conra...more

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Aug 05, 2011

Tina rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Koontz says in his afterword that he wrote this after being offered to turn a movie script from a rather third-class horror movie (my impression,not his words)into a "real novel".
And that is exactly what this remembers one of. There is the young female main character,Amy. She's grown up in a rather religiously abusive household,has a lot of internalized self-hate and therefore starts rebelling a bit,then gets an abortion and after that her Catholic mom lets her do what she wants c...moreKoontz says in his afterword that he wrote this after being offered to turn a movie script from a rather third-class horror movie (my impression,not his words)into a "real novel".
And that is exactly what this remembers one of. There is the young female main character,Amy. She's grown up in a rather religiously abusive household,has a lot of internalized self-hate and therefore starts rebelling a bit,then gets an abortion and after that her Catholic mom lets her do what she wants cause she's "given up"; anyway while she's out doing "bad" things like smoking weed and having sex (OMG!) she constantly thinks that she's "not like them"...or am I?
Of course at the end she "finds God" and is saved because she saves her little brother.
Then there's her best friend Liz who is painted very much over-the-top as "promiscuous" to the point that she aspires to be a Las Vegas escort girl (WTF this is a 17 year old girl from a rather bourgeois household - this just strikes me as unrealistic!),described as being wicked,a "tease" and oh the cherry on the shit sundae is her making an impression of a "Southern Negro" (original word choice) which I will not repeat so she's not only evil because she dares to have a sexuality,Koontz somehow thought that wouldn't be convincing enough so he makes her totally racist all of a sudden.
She is the one painted as becoming a coward as soon as things get serious and of course she is being raped and "torn apart" in a rather gruesome and tasteless scene near the end...because you know, these little sluts just gotta get their just desert,right? (Ouch that hurt to type.)

What else? Oh, I LOLd at the description of Gunther the Monster and his way of talking. It couldn't have been more stereotypical,eh?
"Smell woman. Smell good. Want pretty." This is disrespectful towards ANYONE who is actually developmentally disabled, because he ends up sounding like a caricature of the "How is Babby formed" Neanderthal.

Despite that all - I cannot give this book only one star...it IS surprisingly well written in general, and it's fun to read because the characters ARE believable and not one-dimensional,also it's finished quickly. However, Mr Koontz can and has done better than this sexist,ableist and occasionally racist drivel.(less)

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Jul 05, 2010

Maciek rated it

Shelves: horror, owned-books, own-in-paperback, read-in-2010

I as going to give it one star, but couldn't. It's a bad potboiler, a great example that teenage slasher-carnival themed moies should never be novelised. I think only VC Andrews could have pulled of such story with grace; she's the queen of trashy books after all. Koontz fails at this; but after all he was still a developing writer and needed the money to fuel his career and write better books.

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May 07, 2011

Joshua rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: owned

As a humongous fan of classic simplistic slasher films dating from about the late 80s back, I was not ignorant of Tobe Hooper's further addition to the genre with 1981's The Funhouse. What I didn't know was that it also came in the form of a novelization by Owen West, who was actually Dean Koontz. Disappointed by the film not actually standing out from the slasher crowd as entertainment or originality, I picked up the book in hopes of finding something better. Well, disappointed was I...once aga...more

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Jul 11, 2011

Jo Bennie rated it

This early Koontz story was written under one of his pseudonym Owen West and is a novelisation of a screenplay, which explains much of its lack of development. The characters are very two dimensional and sympathy is difficult to find for them. Amy Harper is a confused teenager, the daugther of a fanatical catholic alcoholic, Amy is torn between feeling that she is wicked and that her mother is the one that is not normal. Her brother Joey is terrified by her mother's night time visits to his beds...more

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Feb 07, 2012

David Watson rated it

A great Dean Koontz book written in 1980 called The Funhouse. Ellen ran away from home one night and joined up with a traveling carnival, she eventually married the man who runs the carnival and they had a deformed child. Ellen killed the child and ran away. She now has a new family but the carnival is coming to town and her ex-husband wants to do to her children what she did to his.

When I read The Funhouse I noticed that when I got towards the end, the story seemed very familiar. W...more

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Oct 28, 2011

Alissa Cook rated it

There's something wierd about this book... Deep down inside, for some unknown reason, I truly have a strong desire to hate this book, but i can't! I have NO idea why I think I should feel that way, I don't know anyone that's read it and hated it, therefore I haven't gotten any bad reviews on it; there's absolutely no logical reason why I should dislike it! But, all in all, the book was good, but not great. It was decent enough to keep me reading and wanting to know what happens. The story progre...moreThere's something wierd about this book... Deep down inside, for some unknown reason, I truly have a strong desire to hate this book, but i can't! I have NO idea why I think I should feel that way, I don't know anyone that's read it and hated it, therefore I haven't gotten any bad reviews on it; there's absolutely no logical reason why I should dislike it! But, all in all, the book was good, but not great. It was decent enough to keep me reading and wanting to know what happens. The story progressed somewhere between too slow and very quickly.. I guess the story progressed right in the middle. I have a strange yet exciting interest in carnivals, so maybe that is one reason why I was kept so interested? Idk.. I remember when I read "House of Thunder" ....or tried to read it at least....That I was SO uninterested that before I even got to chapter 5, I put the book down and never picked it up again. For some reason I was hesitant to start reading "The Funhouse," thinking I would do the same with it. (And I HATE starting a book and not finishing it. Even if I'm bored or don't like the story, I always still want to know what happens in the end! ...And I'm definitely not the type to skip to the last chapter or two to find out the ending...NO! if I don't read it the full way through, then I don't allow myself to find out the ending! One reason is because, maybe my reading interest might make a u-turn one day and i might be interested in giving the novel a second chance, who knows? But also, A LOT can happen in a couple hundred pages, so if you skip, you might not always be able to make sense of what you're reading anyway!...Not like you're supposed to be able to at least!) Anyway, Koontz even states himself in the afterword (which was interesting!) that it's certainly NOT his best work, but definitely not his worst either. I couldn't have said it better myself! In the end, I do not regret reading "The Funhouse." I'd say, if you're an avid Koontz reader then you should give this one a go just to add to your "already read" list. Otherwise, I wouldn't totally put this one off, but if you have other novels to read that you think might interest you more, then go ahead with them first... But whatever you choose to read, ENJOY! ....I have a closet full of some 428 unread novels that I've collected from thrift stores, books stores, garage sales, etc... so choosing my next read is DEFINITELY going to be a chore!! (less)

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Dec 12, 2011

Kathy Jackson rated it

Recommends it for: Koontz fans

Shelves: related

Goodreads describes the book as the following:

Years after leaving the carnival, her hated first husband, and the child she could never love, Ellen has a new life, a new husband, and two beautiful children, but now the carnival is coming back to town, and Ellen is going to have to pay for her sins.

The story is that Ellen killed her first child who was somewhat of a cross between human and the creature from the black lagoon. She is repulsed by the child and convinced it is ev...more

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Mar 15, 2011

Esme rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: horror-fantasy-scifi

"The Funhouse" ("Geisterbahn") erinnert an ältere Horror-B-Movies und das nicht ohne Grund.
Dean Koontz schrieb zu diesem frühen Roman ein Nachwort. Es war eine Auftragsarbeit, nach einem Drehbuch einen Roman zu schreiben. Er stellte fest, dass das Drehbuch nur Stoff für etwa 20% eines Romans hergab und fing an, die Hauptpersonen zu entwickeln und ihnen einen Hintergrund zu verschaffen, so dass sich die Ereignisse hin zum Showdown auf dem Jahrmarkt folgerichtig entwickel...more

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Aug 11, 2011

Tina (Martina ♥ Bookaholic) rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller, read-in-english, book-paper, also-for-men, leihbücher

I like Koontzs writing style, 'cause its easy to read and the suspense ist great. Still good storyline but it's not one of my favorits of his books.

Handlung:
Es wird die Geschichte eines jungen Mannes erzählt der Dämonen sehen kann, sie sich aber Geschickt als Menschen tarnen, so dass es ‚Normalsterbliche’ nicht sehen können, nur er kann durch die Fassade blicken und ihre wahre, furchterregende Gestalt erkennen….

Meine Gedanken:
Finde das Buch hat am Anfa...more

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Nov 01, 2010

Mark R. Rinker rated it

This book always confused me. I'd heard the Tobe Hooper movie "The Funhouse" was based on it, but then also heard that the book wasn't really related to the movie. Decided to check it out this Halloween season, and looked into it more and found that Dean Koontz was hired to write the book as a novelization of the screenplay by Larry Block, and that the movie was delayed and the book came out in advance of the movie. In the afterword of the 1994 edition of the novel, Koontz describes...more

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Dec 29, 2010

Graceann rated it

Shelves: suspense

This is one of Koontz's earlier efforts, written under the pseudonym "Owen West." He was asked to turn the screenplay into a novel. This is the opposite of how these things usually go, and he was intrigued by the challenge. The film that was made, which would usually boost a book's sales, was so terrible that it took the book sales down with it, too.

This is a shame, because The Funhouse, while no masterpiece, is a fun little scarer. In 1955, Ellen is married to an evil ...more

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Jan 09, 2011

Ashley owens rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 1of5stars, demons, book-i-own-read

Well in the spirit of halloween I thought I need to do a few more reviews so why not this one. I read this sometime last year so I don't remember alot from it, but what I do remember is one word. Weird! I originally bought it at Goodwill because the plot sounded somewhat interesting. I mean, it's about a funhouse and carnival it couldn't be that bad right? Wrong! Oh so very wrong. In a way this makes me not want to go to a funhouse or carnival. It's about a mother who tried to kill her baby, an...more

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Sep 06, 2009

Jerri Brissette rated it

Shivers!

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Oct 30, 2011

Anne rated it

Shelves: mystery, thriller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 02, 2008

Lilli rated it

Shelves: treasures-and-all-time-favorites

I think I've always liked reading, even as a kid, but this book really set me off. I picked it up myself in a airport one summer when I was flying home from my dads in florida to my moms in california. I read right thought entire flight, through the layover in St. Louis, and I kept reading when I got home til I finished this book a day or so later. Then I bought Dean Koontz books whenver I could. To this day my Grandma still clips newspaper articles about dean koontz and sends them to me, even t...more

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Sep 07, 2008

Kate rated it

Shelves: 1993-to-1997, age-adult, horror

I really enjoyed this story, and especially I liked the introduction that told of Koontz being contracted to write a novelization of the new Tobe Hooper movie "The Funhouse" (he directed "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), and how the book sold great until the movie was released and flopped.

I did like this book a lot, and spent years trying to find this "Funhouse" movie, and when I finally got it through Netflix, I was a little perplexed that I didn't remember...more

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Jul 26, 2011

Candace rated it

This book freaked me out. I could picture everything he described and everything about it was freaky. I won't be surprised to have a nightmare. I guess it's only flaw was that it was over too quickly. It could have continued to be built up to a worse climax. It is a story I could imagine being told at a campfire.

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Dec 18, 2009

Leslie rated it

Shelves: books-that-suck

This book is so bad that I wish I could give it negative stars. The story we were promised sounds like it would be good:

"Years after leaving the carnival, her hated first husband, and the child she could never love, Ellen has a new life, a new husband, and two beautiful children, but now the carnival is coming back to town, and Ellen is going to have to pay for her sins."

But, Ellen is only part of the set-up of this story. Once the focus shifts to Ellen's "...more

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Jan 11, 2012

Joel Gomes rated it

Shelves: reviewed

It was only after ten or so years of reading Dean Koont'z novels that I found on old bookshop some of his older novels. THE FUNHOUSE was one of the four that I bought at the time (the others were THE KEY TO MIDNIGHT, TICK TOCK and WHISPERS).

It was a very interesting book to read. Not just because of the story, but because it felt like going back in time. It felt a bit strange reading an old novel after reading so many of his most recent ones, but the journey back was a very pleasant,...more

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Oct 03, 2011

Kristy Sorenson rated it

I usually enjoy Dean Koontz's books....this one just fell flat for me. There was a LOT of build-up (which had the potential to go some very interesting places...) but then the resolution was rushed, and consequently was a big let-down. Granted, it was written early in his career...chalk this one up to the rookie years!

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Aug 02, 2011

Ryan Solski rated it

At times this one gave me the creeps, lots of suspense, and a solid build up. For a movie tie-in this one made sense and had lots more depth to it than the horror flick from 1980. Enjoyable parts were in the dialogue and suspense.

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Jul 03, 2011

Kristina rated it

Shelves: 52-books-52-weeks-2011-challenge, cover-love, grown-up-books

This is the first Dean Koontz book I have read, and I liked it. It was definitely outdated but I was expecting that since it had been written in 1980 lol. I LOVE anything that has to do with fairs or carnivals, so I really enjoyed the "Carnie lore" that was explained in this book. I didn't really like the main girl character, she was a little too naive and I don't think Mr Koontz wrote from a girls perspective very well haha. I liked the creepiness of this and I think it would make a r...more

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Sep 23, 2011

Eleanor Thompson rated it

When I read this, Koontz was writing as Owen West. Didn't think this book was all that great...often wonder if he started using Koontz so people browsing Stephen King books would see his as well...just sayin....

· see review

Sep 04, 2011

Sharon rated it

· review of another edition

The first Dean Koontz book I read, and am surprised I bothered to continue to search out his books. I figured they would have to get better which they did (sometimes).

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Jul 22, 2010

Xaviera rated it

Shelves: horror

Koontz is een zeer productieve schrijver en daarmee fijn om te lezen (er is altijd wel wat nieuws). Funhouse is een van zijn mindere boeken.

Het verhaalt over een vrouw die trouwt met een kermisman. Ze krijgen een monsterlijk kind, die zij vermoordt. Daarop vlucht ze weg van de man waarmee ze een kermishuwelijk heeft gesloten. Hij zweert wraak op de kinderen die ze nog zal krijgen. En hij heeft geduld en een zwart hart.

Het verhaal blijft heel erg op de oppervlakte. Het wordt n...more

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About Dean Koontz

Acknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.

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