The carnival is a world apart, endlessly travelling from town to town, providing thrills and magic for new kids every week. And the biggest, most popular attraction is the Funhouse - the ghoulish creepshow of ghosts and skeletons, rattling chains and make-believe terror . . .
Young Amy Harper is the most beautiful girl at her school, but to her life seems wretched. Terrorised by her mother, Amy's little brother Joey is her only real friend. Their mother's days are regulated by religious obsession, and nights by the bottle and drunken confessions.
When the carnival comes to town, Joey plans to escape his troubled home and join the revellers. But Amy and Joey fall under the carnival spell, unaware that their mother's secrets are buried here and that vengeance for past deeds lies in wait for them in the make-believe world of . . . the Funhouse.