Rob Zombie, formerly of heavy-metal music and currently of directing-movies-with-metal-torture-devices, has released the trailer for his latest horror movie, 31. In what must be a first for the genre, six traveling carnival workers are the potential victims, not the psychopathic murderers, trying to stay alive against all violent, bizarrely sexual odds. The carnies are kidnapped and placed in a mazelike house where three freaks, dressed in full 17th-century aristocratic regalia, have set up a series of torturous traps that are not faithful to Restoration-era aesthetics or sensibilities, but are in line with circus couture. Per one scary weirdo, “Murder school is now in session” and, “In hell, everybody loves popcorn.” Does this mean there will be a kernel-choking incident? Death by hot-butter scald? All possible. Or maybe a forgotten popcorn piece wedges itself between unflossed teeth and we are all taught that gingivitis is a real health risk and the true monster.
