Hey folks, Harry here with Capone. Like Capone, I strongly disliked the original... So when ObiSwan wrote his love sonnet to DEVIL'S REJECTS - I was not convinced, as he also was fond of HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES. However, Capone found himself enjoying the hell out of THE DEVIL'S REJECTS... let's see his thoughts...
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here. I've never subscribed to the theory that if you cram a horror film full of recognizable figures in genre movies, you've automatically got a great work on your hands. If I have to sit through another shitty amateur production featuring the original Leatherface Gunnar Hansen in a cameo, I'm going to take a mallet to someone's head. Guess what, dude? The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a landmark film, but Gunnar Hansen is a terrible actor without his human-flesh mask and a Toro in his hands. These are the thoughts that are crowding my head as I entered a theatre to see a very early screening of Rob Zombie's sequel to House of 1,000 Corpses. I really hated House of 1,000 Corpses. The rapid music-video-style editing and piercing soundtrack absolutely ruined what could have been a great homage to the '70s horror-torture films that Zombie so clearly loves. My expectations for The Devil's Rejects were extremely low.
Then something remarkable took place: I found myself actually digging this follow-up. Zombie doesn't just have well-placed cameos from once-more-famous actors; he's fills every role with a legendary face (or at least one that makes you think "Wasn't he/she in that movie...?"). Returning are Sid Haig as clown-faced lead psychopath Captain J.T. Spaulding, Bill Moseley (looking more like Charlie Manson than ever) as Otis Driftwood, and Sheri Moon-Zombie as hotter-than-hell "Baby" Firefly. As the film opens, the three (plus Leslie Easterbrook filling in for Karen Black as Mother Firefly) are involved in a firefight with police. Mother is the only one captured, and she is interrogated brutally by Sheriff John Wydell (the incomparable William Forsythe, essentially playing the same cop-preacher character that Dennis Hopper did Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2).
Most of the film consists of the evil Firefly folks running from the police, pausing only to kidnap, torture, mutilate, and murder innocent folks along the way. The Devil's Rejects is unflinching, gory and nerve-shattering. What it is not is loud and furiously edited. All of the things I disliked in 1,000 Corpses are gone, which forces me to declare that Rob Zombie has finally become a pretty great filmmaker. His soundtrack is filled with mostly Southern-rock ballads, which often play as some unspeakable act of cruelty is being inflicted on someone. The pacing is slower (not slow, but slower). He actually gives us time to see what's happening. He lingers as his characters plot their next move.
The acting seems better too, which is such a relief. The supporting cast consists of such dignitaries as Steve Railsback, Tyler Mane, Matthew McGrory, Preiscilla Barnes, Danny Trejo, and Michael Berryman. My particular favorite supporting player is Ken Foree as Texas pimp Charlie (with Deborah Van Valkenburgh as his whore wife). Foree eats up the scenery, and I loved every second of it.
I particularly liked the final showdown between the Sheriff and the Rejects. It doesn't play out how you think it might, and Zombie (who also wrote the film) actually allows some depth to the unbalanced Sheriff character as he begins to systematically brutalize the family as they so often did to others. He has become what he has beheld. The Devil's Rejects is pure, unapologetic exploitation. Nudity, guns, blood, and guts are the order of the day, and that's all right by me. I believe the film is slated for a July 22 opening.
Capone
If you want a photo of me wearing my best Daisy Dukes - E-me!!!
