"Who is mad enough to enter that world of darkness? How about you, sir?"

What's the matter, mortal? Just not on top of your game, lately? Mired down in mediocrity? Punished so hard by the elements all winter, you're numb to the coming of spring? The appearance of sunshine and blue skies not exactly brightening your day?

You may be in a rut, but that's OK. You're OK. People might ask you how you're doing. Tell them you're OK. That's all most of them want to hear anyway. If you start going on about the warts on your feet or how you can't figure out what it is that's making your kid smell funny, you're just going to drag them down with you. They don't really care. They just want good news and the good news is that you're OK.

For most people, that is.

Some Nosy Nancies just can't leave it at that. Some of them don't believe you. Some of them feel it is their duty to be your personal cheerleader.

"How are you?"

"I'm OK."

"Just OK?"

Yeah pal, fair to fucking midland. Whatever. These people act like if you're not in a state of perpetual bliss, there must be something wrong. It's just not true.

You know what is true?

Sometimes it's OK to be just OK.

Take Tobe Hooper for example. In 1974, he shook up the world with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.  In 1982, he smashed the box office with Poltergeist. In 1987, he released a fantastic remake of Invaders from Mars. Any one of these would be considered a stellar achievement in an average lifetime, but to pull off three? Ho ho! Let's be honest, Hooper made a few movies that were just OK.

This week's Thursday Thriller is The Funhouse.

Hooper made this OK movie in 1981. It starts with a girl named Amy (Elizabeth Berridge) washing her breasts for her first date with Buzz (Cooper Huckabee). Amy's folks don't like Buzz because he works at a gas station. They also don't want Amy to go to the carnival that's in town because the place is trouble. Instead of coming to the door and knocking, Buzz honks his horn in the driveway and Amy runs to his car. Off they go to the carnival.

On the way they pick up Amy's friends, who are vaguely sufficient. Buzz tells a joke. Amy doesn't laugh. He explains the joke. They get to the carnival and meander around. Buzz explains his dumb joke again. They waste some time at a magic show that has nothing to do with the story. Then they waste some time peeking into a striptease tent. It has nothing to do with the story either, but it brings your attention back to the movie.

Finally, Richie (Miles Chapin) has an idea that will put the plot back on track. What if they spend the night in the funhouse? In this case, the funhouse is a dark ride. They get in in the little cars, a guy in a Frankenstein mask pushes them on their way, and halfway through the ride, they get out to make camp. The guy in the Frankenstein mask doesn't seem to think much of it when the cars come back empty. The carnival closes and the kids start making out. They hear voices from the cellar. Yes, the funhouse has a cellar. It's strangely huge for a funhouse in a traveling carnival.

Down below, the guy in the Frankenstein mask (Wayne Doba) wants to have sex with the old fortune teller (Sylvia Miles). He offers her $100, ejaculates prematurely, and when she won't give the money back, he kills her. Amy and friends are witnesses. They might make it out alive, if no one calls attention to their presence by, say, dropping a lighter through a gap in the floorboards.

Oops.

The Funhouse streams on Starz. It'll help you kill 95 minutes or so. It's OK, and it's OK that it's OK, because most movies are OK.