First
off, let me get one thing out of the way. I enjoyed the hell out of House of 1000
Corpses. I know there are several people out there who hated it, but I don't care.
I thought the movie was grand, sick entertainment. Sure, it has a rather sizeable
amount of nonsensical occurrences, but I appreciate and admire Rob Zombie's love
of the genre. House of 1000 Corpses is full of freaky imagery plucked from the
bowels of 70's horror, and I really got a kick out of it's perverse sense of humor.
Many
readers out there are probably well aware of this film's lengthy trek to distribution.
After being virtually abandoned by a major studio, House of 1000 Corpses finally
found it's way into the loving arms of Lions Gate who nurtured and cared for the
picture, and while "House" wasn't a huge box office hit, it did find
an audience, particularly on DVD. The fine folks at Lions Gate decided to greenlight
a follow-up to House of 1000 Corpses, so Zombie wasted absolutely no time conjuring
up a truly sick and twisted sequel in which the villains are the heroes, the cops
are the bad guys, and the victims are...well...fucked.
The
Devil's Rejects features William Forsythe as Sheriff Wydel, brother of the law
man that was offed by Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) and his family of mass murderers
in the last picture. With revenge boiling in his blood, Wydel sets out to find
Spaulding, Otis (Bill Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), and Mother Firefly (Leslie
Easterbrook), and offer up a little blood soaked payback.When Spaulding and crew
discover they're being hunted, they quickly flee their white trash surroundings
and head out on a little road trip. This, of course, affords them the opportunity
to take out more innocent unfortunates on their path to gory.
Sid
Haig, William Forsythe, and Leslie Easterbrook in particular, give creepy, lively
performances. Haig's Spaulding is an absolute riot. He is, perhaps the only man
in the world who can intimidate the vicious Otis. Forsythe's Wydel is a vengeance
seeking cop whose methods are ultimately as demented as those of his pitiless
prey. Easterbrook (who replaces Karen Black from the original film) is hilariously
freaky as the mother figure of the redneck sociopaths. There are also several
noteworthy cameos to speak of including Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes),
Geoffrey Lewis (Every Which Way But Loose), Priscilla Barnes (Three's Company,
Mallrats), and P.J. Soles (Halloween).
Not
surprisingly, The Devil's Rejects is audacious as all hell. Zombie is hell bent
on disturbing the audience, and nothing, I mean absolutely nothing is sacred in
his eyes. He'll do anything to shock you. But then, anyone going into this movie
expecting otherwise, really shouldn't be there. It should also be noted though,
that The Devil's Rejects is really funny. Sure, it's as perverse as it's predecessor,
but my friends and I were howling with laughter throughout most of the picture.
The
Devil's Rejects was inspired by the likes of The Last House on the Left, The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, and I Spit on Your Grave, but it also offers up winks at higher
profile fare including Star Wars. Not only is there a hilarious bit in which a
whore decides that it might be more lucrative to dress like Princess Leia for
her tricks, but in another twisted homage, Dawn of the Dead's Ken Foree plays
a pimp who welcomes Spaulding and his family to his brothel Lando Calrissian style,
in what could be best described as a bizarre ode to The Empire Strikes Back.
Rob
Zombie is clearly having a fun time here. He provides this film with buckets of
blood (this picture gives new meaning to the term road kill), extreme violence
(Forsythe's torturing of a key character in the movie is gut wrenching), and laugh
out loud hilarity (check out a scene in which Zombie goofs on mainstream movie
critics like Gene Shalit), and this is what his fans want. Do I have any complaints?
Well, I think the movie could have been tightened up a tad and there are many
unanswered questions from the last picture (what is that Dr. Satan thing all about?),
that I would have liked to see addressed. Overall though I had a great time with
the Devil’s Rejects - there’s just something about having your funny
bone tickled and severed by a hatchet at the same time that makes for a interesting
time at the Bijou. The Devil's Rejects is disturbing, but it's laced with a most
welcome sense of humor. A sick one to be sure, but humor nonetheless.
