None of my friends liked House of 1000 Corpses. I can understand that. It’s
not really a mainstream kinda horror flick and it’s basically a remake of
Texas Chainsaw I and especially II. It was very cartoonish and over the top,
but it was a lot of fun.
The Devil‘s Rejects is the exact opposite of HO1KC. Rob Zombie has taken his
murderous characters that were so much fun and put them in a deadly serious
world.
To kick things off, somehow the police have figured out what the Firefly
family has been up to and there is a huge siege on their farmhouse. Otis
(the awesome Bill Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) and Mother Firefly (an
acceptable replacement for Karen Black being Leslie Easterbrook) put up a
good fight, but they are outnumbered. Mother Firefly is captured while Otis
and Baby escape to warn Captain Spaulding (crazy-ass Sid Haig) and meet up
at a shitty motel in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile Sherriff John Quincy
Wydell (William Forsyth) is slowly closing in on them.
Wow. Just … Wow. As I had hoped, Zombie learned from the mistakes he made on
HO1KC. It was his first film, so I was more forgiving than others, I
suppose. Aside from some signature shots, TDR looks and feels like it was
shot by a totally different director. All the colorful, almost playful
lighting and set-ups are gone. They’re replaced with harsh, washed out
locations. The over the top (dark) humor has been dialed way back and the
acting benefits from this more serious approach. Whereas Otis came off as
just Chop-Top from TCMII, he's actually frightening in this film. The same
for Baby and Spaulding, the fun and games are over, these are some sick
fucks that seem like real people. The movie feels like something that could
actually happen.
Otis, Baby and Spaulding actually seem like real people, here. And that’s
important, since Zombie pulls off what should have been impossible.
STUPID-ASS SPOILER ALERT: He brings us three of the most vile, filthy,
despicable, evil characters who do atrocious things to innocent people and
then makes us, how do I put this….”care” for them. Now, it may not work for
everyone, but by the end of this movie you’re supposed to sort of empathize
for them. You actually want them to get away with all the terrible things
they’ve done. You want them to drive off into the desert and survive. That’s
fucking an amazing thing to pull off.
I think what we’re looking at is the modern equivalent of Bonnie and Clyde
and, I guess, Joe, or something. I don’t know where Spaulding would fit into
that equation.
And there are extended cameos, as well. Cameos are tricky. They can pull a
knowledgeable viewer out of a film by making them go “There’s that guy from
that other movie I like”. I’m happy to say that Zombie has given these great
actors actual characters to play. Danny Trejo’s bounty hunter, Ken Foree’s
pimp guy, even Michael Berryman’s simpleton helper. They all feel like a
natural part of the story and not simply “Hey folks! Lookee at the cool
actor I got to be in my movie!”.
I watched the unrated cut of the film, but I couldn’t really say if it was
more bloody or just more intense. This isn’t a gore flick. It’s a raw,
almost psychological thriller. I wouldn’t even call it a horror movie. It’s
a suspenseful movie in which horrible things happen.
