The Devil's Rejects Year: 2005 Director: Rob Zombie Written by: Rob Zombie Threat: Psychopaths Weapon of Choice: Knife IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
House of 1000 Corpses (2002)

Rish's Reviews
Tyranist and I don't always agree on movies. We have been at odds before so dead-set in our opinions that communication seemed almost unsurmountable. But when it came to House of 1000 Corpses, man, we were blood brothers. And I know a lot of people disagreed with us, as reviews and letters have attested (people seldom write us emails, even when I'm offering free shit), but that film was made as an homage to the type of shocking, hyper-realistic, violent films of the Seventies, and that's a Horror subgenre I hate.
So, why did I see The Devil's Rejects, you ask? Doesn't that make me a hypocrite? Doesn't that make me a fool? Doesn't that make my mother a jackyl and my father the ambassador to England?
Well, yes, I suppose. But I was invited to go to a pre-release screening of Rob Zombie's follow-up to 1000 Corpses, with a Q & A afterward with Mr. Zombie, and I felt I owed it to my posterity, if not Horror fans, to go there and report back.
Described by Zombie as a sequel to House of 1000 Corpses in only the same way that Goldfinger is a sequel to Doctor No, The Devil's Rejects continues the tale of the Firefly family. After years of murder and depravity, their farmhouse is raided by an entire gaggle of Texas police officers, and only some escape. Where will they go? How will they get there? And who will they kill along the way?
The film was well-cast, with a score of familiar, or semi-familiar faces, like Ken Foree, Priscilla Barnes, Danny Trejo, P.J. Soles, Steve Railsback, and Michael Berryman. Sid Haig delivers another memorable performance as the ridiculously repugnant Captain Spaulding, and I was shocked (still am) to find myself charmed by the character. Sheri Moon (married to Rob Zombie since the last time we saw her) is still quite beautiful, though nuttier than a bag of trail mix and every bit the murderer her psycho brother Otis (Bill Moseley) is. Still, do you feel sorry for her when the tables are turned and she becomes the hunted?
Were we to root for the vengeance-motivated sheriff (William Forsythe) or the insanely murderous Devil's Rejects? Both commit seriously evil acts and the story focuses on them both at length. I figured the siblings and their father were supposed to be antiheroes, of sorts, but you'd have to have a dark side the size of Darth Vader's to relate to them. Just when you think the Firefly family are just 21st Century versions of the Addams Family, Baby goes and sticks eight inches of knife into someone's chest, or Otis beats someone to death with a piece of wood.
Boy, there was some shocking stuff in this movie. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but torture sort of bothers me. There were several scenes that could be classified as disturbing or unnerving, and a great deal of splatter, menace, and cruelty. There were moments where I literally had to look away from the screen (and not just because of the nauseating jiggling camera, used much less competently in the recent Bourne Supremacy). The aftermath of one death was so awful many in the audience could only laugh, in an attempt to shake off the shock of seeing it.
In many levels, Rejects is a much harder film than House of 1000 Corpses, more stark, more realistic, with half the budget and a different agenda and structure. In some ways, it was less of a horror flick and more a chase or revenge film, another two subgenres the Seventies abounded with.
But it was leavened with classic Seventies Rock songs, and a bit of humour here and there (granted, it was REALLY black humour, or jokes about sex with chickens, but it was in there), and that was a nice release of the tension. One of my big complaints about films like this are that they aren't fun. Well, listening to Rob Zombie talk, I found that it's intentional. And not all films have to be fun--especially Horror--I understand that. I just find that there is a fanbase out there for whom flicks like this (and Last House on the Left and Texas Chainsaw and Cannibal Holocaust) ARE fun, and they relate to the antagonists, getting off on pretending to be Leatherface or Frank Zito, imagining that THEY are the ones slashing throats and raping girls. You know it's true and I know it's true. I don't really dig that, and it sort of makes me uncomfortable to acknowledge it.
Regardless, the film was very well-written, and fairly well-directed too. I don't know why I'm shocked by that, but I am. When it was all over, Mr. Zombie (man, that feels strange saying that) really impressed me with his candor, his intelligence, and his understanding of the film medium. An audience member stood up to tell him it was the most horrible, degrading film he'd ever seen (even compared to 1000 Corpses) that he was highly offended, and had only stuck around instead of walking out to tell it to his face. Zombie responded with patience and thoughtfulness, telling the man he was completely entitled to his opinion on that one, and that it was not an invalid one. Devil's Rejects is not for everyone, Zombie was actually saying something with it, and the violence was meant to repulse and shock, rather than titillate and amuse.
I left feeling a great deal of respect for Rob Zombie, and less likely to dismiss certain films that otherwise would repel me. In fact, had I seen this film first and 1000 Corpses second, I might have been a bit more understanding and complimentary of that film than I was. I fully stand by my review, though. Sorry, Mom.
Best Scare: I was really freaked out when a lovely maid discovers the remains of The Devil's Rejects's latest victims. You would be too.
I'd Recommend It To: This ain't one you should take little Tommy and Melinda to see, and is not one I recommend for most folks. But if this sort of thing is up your alley, it just may be exactly what you've been waiting for.
Posted: July 18, 2005

Total Skulls: 17

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie		something with Bela Lugosi...fill me in
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?