The Devil's Rejects

Not the kind of movie I would normally even consider, but after recommendations from a couple of people who's opinion I trust, I rented the movie this weekend. Writer/Director Rob Zombie is obviously a great fan of 70s drive-in fare like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes" and has learned his lessons well. He has a solid directorial style and a great ear for comically profane dialog - the banter in this movie reminds me of "Goodfellas" with maniacal Southern rednecks rather than East Coast Italian mobsters. And with a cast that includes William Forsythe, Sid Haig, Geoffrey Lewis, Ginger Lynn Allen, Priscilla Barnes, Steve Railsback, P.J. Soles, Mary Waronov, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, and Michael Berryman, and a Super 70s Soundtrack featuring The Allman Brothers, The James Gang, David Essex, and Lynyrd Skynyrd among others - you know Zombie has his pop cultural/cult movie references in order. I enjoyed this movie more for the humor than the for the "horror". The characters are all named after various Marx Brothers characters and while the gore is graphic and there are some truly chilling images in the movie, Zombie just misses the "beat" to put some of these sequences over the top, while the acting performances by a couple of the leads - namely Zombie look-alike Bill Mosely and Zombie's utterly babe-o-licious wife Sherri Moon Zombie - are less than stellar (although in Ms. Zombie's case it doesn't really matter - major eye candy!). So, a "qualified" recommendation for those who don't normally go for this kind of movie but who think they might enjoy it based on the description above. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself and think Rob Zombie is a genuinely talented filmmaker who will eventually hit one out of the ballpark if he keeps at it, which I'm sure he will. He comes pretty darned close with "The Devil's Rejects".

by Dane Youssef

Rob Zombie is without a doubt one of the most versatile and true-to-his-genre artists out there. "The Devil's Rejects" is the kind of movie uptight censors and worried parents always warned you was gonna get made some day.

A movie where the leads are psychopathic murderers, the violence is excess and the gore is so voluminous, that you have to ask: "Does this movie satirize this kind of sadism... or celebrate it? Is it a fun campy parody... or a sign that we may have gone too far with our ultra-violent-based entertainment?" This movie actually defines the term "overkill." Three of the more interesting deranged killers from "House Of 1000 Corpses" get their own spin-off in the "Frasier" or "Jeffersons" tradition. The three, who are a family, actually (a father and his son and daughter) go on a mass killing spree and are racing out of the country to legal freedom on the other side of the border. They seem to echo the Manson Family.

Their sense of humor is the kind of acquired taste like the movie itself has. It stems from the experience you'd get from... watching slasher movies throughout a lot of your life. Like lime green Jell-O, anchovies, fish eggs and black licorice, this is not for all tastes.

The movie is actually a lot smarter and more complex than you might imagine, if you're unfamiliar with what Zombie's movies are about. It's akin to films like "From Dusk 'Til Dawn," "Vulgar," "Desperado" and "Freaked." If you like these types of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th" re-vamping in the video-geek traditions, here is a movie you may hold up as one for the history books. The dialogue is written a twisted brilliant way and the direction has a real retro-'70's homey-quality to it. In a way that doesn't feel contrived.

Sid Haig, Bill Moseley and Sheri Moon are all so perfectly demented in their roles, you have to wonder what they're like in real life. You pray they're nothing like they are here... and hope you never come across anyone remotely like this either.

Sheri Moon, wife of director Zombie, looks more like a typical American model-actress than the degenerate rank-skank she plays here. Moseley is real-life, was actually a columnist and Heig often played scuzzy thugs, but played the judge in Tarantino's "Jackie Brown."

I find it incredibly strange that some people seem to be COMPLAINING that the pursuing cop character (the sheriff, John Quincy Wydell) is as sadistic and mentally unbalanced as the family killers themselves. Why?

Yes, he is. But... why?

Why is that a bad thing? In any way at all?

Look, if there's anything history and government have taught us, it's that it takes one to catch one. Not just in the movies, but in life. And not just in real life, but in movies as well. You see, it's not just an opinion. It's a fact. It's the way of the world.

People... do we all not remember Tommy Lee Jones in "The Fugitive"? His I-Will-Catch-him-By-Any-Means-Nessicary-Law Enforcer way was one of the true milestones in the movie, and it got him an Oscar. Would we want any of the other major characters to be far less interesting than the leads?

When you eat a meal of any kind, you don't just want a rich main course and the side dishes to be as tasteless as styraphone. You want a whole meal you can taste.

And the stuff with the sheriff and the rest of the cops IS something to see. Why? Because he isn't any kind of undeveloped character. Zombie made him (and everything else) just as big, broad, colorful and energetic as the '70's genre that this one stems from.

There's some humor with the Kentucky-Fried Sheriff and the rest of his "Good Ol' Boys" in Blue. It goes without saying that in a small town, the cops are all red-necked. The way the stereotype of the small-town cop in a campy-slasher pic is handled with more laughs than usual. And there's a great moment where they call in a specialist, a film historian (see: uber film geek) to help them with the investigation and this film critic.... well, suffice to say, he insults the name of God in the house of the Lord and that's all I'm gonna say.

We all know Zombie is a neo-talent outside of the music biz. He did the LSD effect in "Beavis & Butthead Do America."

The end may justify the means, in this case. The hick cops and the colorful killers... in the end, it's an ending we all knew we deserved.

Speaking of Zombie, his film debut "House of 1000 Corpses," was a film I found to be embarrassingly bad. I'm a fan of those types of rock-horror camp movies in the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "House Of Wax" vein. SEVERED vein, in this case. But everything was played out so campy, so cheaply, so maudlin, so without suspense... that Zombie, I felt, made a movie that seems to be an insult, rather than a tribute to those horror-show camp classics.

But he's redeemed himself with this one. He's working without a net and it all could have gone horribly, pathetically wrong. So I give him props. BIG, BIG PROPS.

As I'm writing this now, he's currently re-making "Halloween." Though I wish he wouldn't, really. Why re-paint the Mona Lisa? Give it eyebrows, what? Will that REALLY be an improvement?

Brace yourself. Not for all tastes. Procceed with caution. Use extreme care.

NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED, SQUEAMISH, PRUDISH... OR TOO MORAL.

by Dane Youssef

The Devil's Rejects is not always an easy film to watch. It has a genuine savagery that makes recent films such as Hostel or Saw II, non spectacular though they were, appear rather tame.

I think part of the reason the film is such uncomfortable viewing is through Rob Zombie's creation of a strong sense of ambiguity as to who we are supposed to sympathise with- who are the antagonists and the protagonists? Initially things seem quite clean cut- psychopathic killers= evil, Sheriff on a vigilante mission = good, but then the lines blur. The Sheriff turns nasty, yet we the audience take joy in his sadism- are we as bad as these killers? And at the same time we the audience feel flashes of sympathy for the killers too- through glimpses of their own, warped domestic bliss. This is interesting and

one that gets under your skin and disturbs.

I have to mention the humour also- which is also a nice contrast to darkness, though some of the humour is very close to the edge- you DO need those moments of light relief, to prevent the proceedings becoming completely grimy and depressing.

The only main downside of this film is it does at times feel overly long, almost deliberately drawn out,and that can distract from the intensity of things.

Personally this film marks a huge improvement for Rob Zombie after the debacle that was House Of 1000 Corpses, a masturbatory fan boy effort which had an okay build up but quickly descended into cartoony drivel. With The Devil's Rejects Rob Zombie seems to have shifted focus from being a kid with a film camera and a budget, and shifted focus on telling a story, and making the audience FEEL something, and he actually does a pretty good job of it too.

Special mention has to go to Sheri Moon. A real delight to watch. I can't help but smile when I see her on screen- I wouldn't be at all surprised if she finds herself with a huge gay following. A lovely mixture of sassiness, innocence and an edge of something slightly darker. I like her a lot- well at least when she's not making racist playground chants fashionable again.

I'm actually excited now about Zombie's remake/ reinvention/ prequel of Halloween. Okay so the term "remake/ reinvention/ prequel" fills me with an underlying sense of dread, but I'm going to breathe out and try trust Rob Zombie on this one. If nothing else, I know it'll be anything but bland.

I went to this movie having seen 1000 Corpses which I thought was a great retro B style horror in the Texas Chainsaw massacre genre.

This movie FAR exceeded any expectation I had. Zombie NAILED it in this one. Classic Freeze frames, awesome soundtrack(used with purpose)-Just enough gore with out going over the top.. the essential random nudity shots that we B fans have come to expect. Suspenseful through-out.

I realize that what makes all of these components work:

A- This movie (Unlike 99% of all B Horros) is not predictable. You do not know what is going to happen next.

B- Zombie builds characters. You learn history and connections, and see things from their view.

C- Slight comedic aspect added.

Summary: MUST SEE, MUST OWN

in the words of my horror loving awe-struck friend "This is hands down the best B horror I have ever seen!"

I just saw this film at a sneak preview screening in San Francisco. I had really loved Zombie's first film, HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES, and was looking forward to seeing how he was going to "re-create" the characters from that first film into this new one.

Stylistically, this film is exceptional. Zombie knows how to build tension and has a real gift for being able to pay homage to the horror flicks of the 70's without insulting or copying them. His choices in casting is genius and the performances in this film are quite good.

However, gone is the camp-value he infused into CORPSES. This film takes itself much more seriously and this does not help. In fact, the fact that Zombie focuses more on horror and torture without the same level of dark humor makes the film come off as somewhat cruel. Are we to actually enjoy seeing the victims tortured? Somehow, the fun of his first film is absent.

However, for those of us who have an appreciation for the films of the original 70's renegade film makers such as Tobe Hooper -- you can't help but enjoy Zombie's style of filming. This film also enjoys have some of the best southern rock ever created to serve as its soundtrack.

The three lead actors stand out and give great performances, but one wishes Zombie would have allowed them to go a bit more over the top. Karen Black did not return to play Moma Firefly which is too bad, but the actress who takes over the role does a great job.

In the end -- I think this is an interesting and valid second film from Rob Zombie, but I hope that he allows his cast and his audience to have a bit more fun. The world has enough torture and violence -- if we are to see it in a film it needs to give us a bit of a scare and a bit of a laugh. If only he had utilized that dark/twisted since of humor a bit more.

Still, it is worth a look -- but not for those of you who get upset by violence. And, please, this is not a movie for children. There was a child at last night's screening. That poor baby is going to be scarred for life!