"That's a nice-a donut."
Thursday, January 12, 2006
The Devil's Rejects (2005)
Who would have ever thought that hard rock musician Rob Zombie would eventually morph into a competent, very promising - and dare I say good - director? It sure didn't seem to be in the cards for him after his first feature film, House of 1000 Corpses, which was roundly critically derided. But with The Devil's Rejects, which is actually a sequel to it, he has crafted a well-made and worthy entry into the horror and thriller genre of film.
In the film, it is some months after the events in 1000 Corpses (though that is never explicitly stated). Police have closed in on the compound of a family of cold-blooded killers, and things start off with a shootout, some bloodshed, and you get the impression that it will end up something like what happened in Waco. But it doesn't, and most of the Firefly family escapes. Young Baby (Sherri Moon Zombie) and her brother Otis (Bill Moseley) make their way to a motel, where they are supposed to rendezvous with their father, an evil clown named Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig). Where most criminals on the run might try to stay below the radar and keep things quiet for a while, these folks are hellbent on having fun and causing more death. Meanwhile, a Texas Ranger (William Forsythe) is hot on their trail. He even has Mother Firefly locked up in a jail cell (she didn't escape with them), and with memories of his dead brother, he has his sights set on a grisly revenge.
Set against a nice beat of hard-rocking tunes from the Seventies, such as Lynryd Skynyrd's "Freebird" and "Midnight Rider" by the Allman Brothers, Rejects is clearly trying to emulate the age of horror from that decade. It's also very noticeable, in fact, that the movie is a direct descendant of Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It even takes place in the same general setting as that classic: the vast dustbowl of Nowheresville, Texas. And just like TCM, The Devil's Rejects is like an orgasmatron of violence and bloodshed.
Zombie sort of turns the Chainsaw Massacre comparison on its head and inside out, though, since the protagonists are now diabolical monsters. But, yet, these monsters are the ones being chased. The hunters have become the hunted, so to speak. Unlike the relatively simpler story in TCM where average everyday schmos are the focus and they are running for their lives.
The movie isn't a brilliant textbook exercise in modern acting - though it's definitely not bad, especially Sherri Moon Zombie. And it won't serve as a classic vision of police work, or provide meaningful insights into the mind of crazed homicidal lunatics, or as a complex dramatic study in family relationships - though the Firefly family is very interesting. The biggest accomplishment is that you actually build an attachment to Baby and Otis and Capt. Spaulding. You root for them. You actually hope that this group of violent criminals will stay free and that the law enforcement will be reduced to nothing more than the bumbling fools on old TV shows like the Dukes of Hazzard.
It won't be for everyone's taste, but The Devil's Rejects is a good movie, especially for those who are fans of 70s-style horror. Count me in as a Zombie-convert. I eagerly await his next feature. And I would love to see him try something like a gritty police drama a la Seven. Note that on the unrated director's cut DVD, there is a fascinating documentary (even longer than the actual movie) that details the trials of getting the movie made. It was clearly a labor of love.
The Verdict: B.
Michael Bentley 10:35 AM
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