nixar55

This movie was hard to track down. Living as I do in America, I had to order a VHS copy. I saw the NC-17 version, by the way, which I didn't find to be too graphic. The sex scene was extremely sexy and I thought the actors playing Nina and Eddie, the young couple at the center of the movie, had a ton of chemistry. You could believe they were attracted to each other. Nina, the Croation daughter of Ivan, was an interesting character: a wild rebel and a scared child eager to remain her father's favorite all in one. The actor who played Ivan did the best job, as a man who fled his homeland due to ethnic cleansing and finds himself obsessed with race and dissatisfied with his new life in New Zealand. The beginning half of this movie was more enjoyable than the latter half, when the story devolves into a slightly predictable romantic comedy and none of the interesting implications about class, race, and family are dealt with in a serious way. However, a lot of romantic movies never even ask the audience to think about anything greater at all, so Broken English still comes out ahead of more traditional movie fare. Perhaps it's because this movie comes from the producers of "Once Were Warriors" which is one of my favorite dramas of all time. Watch for the romance between Nina and Eddie (played by Julien Arahanga from "Once Were Warriors",) Ivan, and Martin Csokas' portrayal of Ivan's menacing son.

Let me first say I hated House of 1,000 Corpses. I thought it was more like a bloated music video than a horror movie. There were glimpses of talent, some moments of fear, but overall, it felt like an over-edited, over-art directed piece of fluff. The only thing I loved about the first movie was Sid Haig's Captain Spaulding.

The Devil's Rejects is a much, much better movie. It *felt* like a movie. There was a structure. some really good lines in the script, and it was really atmospheric. Rob Zombie excels at the whole Peckinpah vibe - everyone's dirty-looking, worn, caked with dried blood. This movie wasn't supernatural at all and I appreciated that. It was the horror of random violence inflicted on innocents and sadists alike. It was really nihilistic and very, very funny. The casting was excellent. Sid Haig was still the best actor, but Bill Mosely was equally great, and Sherri Moon was a lot less grating. The cameos were well-done, too, especially Michael Berryman and Ken Foree.

There were some slow monologues (mostly the sheriff's) and montages, but overall, the film went along pretty quickly. I have a lot of respect for Rob Zombie. I enjoy his music and I really like his taste. You could tell he put a lot of genre love and reverence into his movie, much like Tarantino, and I'm really happy to see him grow as a filmmaker. I got into a free advance screening, but I'd definitely pay money to see this movie again.