Denise Willis

Denise Willis is a fictional character and one of four primary victims targeted by the Firefly clan of Deadwood in the movie House of 1000 Corpses. Played by actress Erin Daniels, she is the last of the four to be killed in the film.

Biography
In October of 1977, Denise Willis accompanied her friends Mary Knowles, Jerry Goldsmith and Bill Hudley on an ill-fated cross-country expedition documenting obscure roadside attractions. Their journey brought them to a small horror-themed gas stop and eatery called Captain Spaulding's Museum of Monsters and Madmen. Denise had little interest in exploring the bizarre establishment, but was cajoled into going inside and even partaking in Captain Spaulding's underground "Murder Ride".

During the ride, they learned of a local urban legend about a crazed killer named Doctor Satan. Spaulding gave the group directions to where Doctor Satan was allegedly buried and they began driving down the road after Denise rang up and told her father they would be running late. Along the way, they picked up a hitchiker, Baby Firefly, to Denise's disapproval and later got stranded when their car tire was blown out. Baby invited them back to her farmhouse, promising that her brother Rufus would be able to fix their car. Rufus towed them back to the house, and Denise, like the others, was forced to endure an extremely uncomfortable dinner with Baby's family, which included Mother Firefly, Grandpa Hugo, Tiny Firefly and the depraved Otis B. Driftwood, who all lived on strange halloween traditions.

That evening, after Mary snapped at Baby for flirting with Bill, they tried to leave when the car was fixed, but Otis and Tiny attacked them. Tiny pulled a terrified Denise out of the car and dragged her back inside the house where she passed out while Otis dealt with the rest.

Mother Firefly and Baby would humiliate Denise by removing and discarding her cold weather clothes to dress her up as a doll for halloween that consisted of makeup, hair tied into pigtails, high ribbed socks, demonia sassie shoes and a doll checkered dress. She woke up the next morning after having a surreal dream, bedbound in the basement where the enormous Tiny attempted to feed her, but she refused to eat and begged Tiny to let her go free. The mute misanthrope complied, but her freedom was only momentary as Otis appeared seconds later, recaptured and locked her in a cage with other captured women that presumably raped her due to insanity.

That same day, Denise’s father, Donald Willis had grown concerned that he had not heard from his daughter. He contacted the county sheriff’s department who promptly started a search for the missing youths. Wilson and the officers found the Firefly house but Otis killed Donald by shooting him in the back while the officers met their fate. He then skinned the elderly man and used the flesh from his face, chest and shoulders to create a macabre Halloween costume.

That night, Denise, who is now groggy from hours of suffering in the cage was brought to the living room with her friends, in which were all then made to wear adult-sized rabbit costumes. Otis descended the staircase wearing her father’s skin chanting “Who’s yer Daddy?” Denise recoiled in terror as Otis began kissing her face through the mask.

The family then brought Denise, Mary and Jerry to a nearby cemetery; ironically, the same graveyard where Doctor Satan was presumed to be buried. Mary tried to escape, but Baby Firefly caught up with her and stabbed her to death.

Denise and Jerry were tossed into a coffin then lowered into a deep hole which led into a series of labyrinthine tunnels. A horde of bizarre, subterranean mutants descended upon them, pulling the wooden slats of the coffin apart. Jerry was taken away by the mutants while Denise managed to get away from them. She scrambled through the tunnels where she was approached by a strange man who apparently has a thing for rabbits, so he violently stripped Denise down to her dress, taking the costume for himself. She soon entered the corridor exiting into what appeared to be a doctor’s waiting room, occupied by more hideously deformed men. Avoiding these men, she pressed onward and found herself in the operating room of Doctor Satan. Doctor Satan was no mere urban legend. Nor was he dead. Clad in a strange body harness, he was in the middle of performing exploratory brain surgery on Jerry Goldsmith. Doctor Satan motioned to his attendant, the Professor to take care of Denise. The Professor was a huge man with burns all across his body who wore night vision goggles and wielded a large ax. Denise turned and ran out of the room, but the Professor chased after her. Denise scrambled through the tightened corridors of the mine shaft with the Professor hot on her heels. He swung his ax at her, but missed striking a support beam, which caused a section of the shaft to collapse down on top of him.

Denise managed to dig her way to the surface and escape into the morning sun. Bloodied and weak, she stumbled through the field out onto the highway. Captain Spaulding picked her up in his convertible and she insisted to be taken to a doctor, but Otis was in the back seat and they brought her back to Doctor Satan. The final fate of Denise Willis is unknown.

Notes & Trivia

 * Denise Willis may have been romantically connected to Jerry Goldsmith though this is never demonstrated in detail in the film.


 * Although Denise received the least amount of screen time early in the film, she proved to endure far longer than any of the other victims.


 * The stuntman who played the Professor had difficulty seeing through his goggles and nearly hit Erin Daniels with his ax. The item he was wielding was a real ax and not a prop.