"I am the Devil, and I'm here to do the Devil's work."
The Devil's Rejects
Starring: Sid Haig, Bill Mosely, Sheri Moon Zombie
Director: Rob Zombie
Genre: Horror
I'm gonna be totally honest. Despite the fact that Zombie's first film,
House of 1000 Corpses, was by and large nothing more than a rehash of old 70's horror themes and cliches, I still found it to be a disgustingly entertaining film. If for no other reason than the fact that two of the principal characters, Captain Spaulding and Otis Driftwood (played by Haig and Mosely, repectively) were two of the most interesting and creatively demented new movie characters I'd seen in years. The rest of the movie was both good and bad in mixed portions, but those two guys lit the screen up for me every time they waltzed into the frame.
So, now we have Zombie's second directorial outing, the sequel to 2002's House of 1000 Corpses,
The Devil's Rejects. When the movie was originally announced, I was stoked. When I learned that the new film would be substantially more down-to-earth, and less cartoonish than the original, I was pleasantly surprised. When it was revealed in interviews a few months back that the plot would focus primarily on Spaulding, Otis and Baby Firefly (played by Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon), rather than some dumb bunch of bumpkin teenagers, I nearly wet myself with anticipation. I sat down and watched the film last night, and when I walked out of that theater, I nearly screamed with satisfaction. Zombie's first film was fun, but altogether not fantastic. His second film is one hair shy of perfect, and it is a viewing that will scar you for life.
Plot
A few years after the final events of House, the Firefly family (consisting of their leader and father, Cutter "Captain Spaulding" Firefly, Mother Firefly, Otis Driftwood, Baby Firefly, Rufus Firefly and a massive, masked freak named Tiny, suddenly find themselves under attack from local police. The fuzz has caught onto their horrible deeds (the deaths of hundreds of missing individuals, as well as the mutilation and desecration of the victims bodies and souls) and have launched a raid on the Firefly home. The attack, however, turns sour as Otis and Baby manage to escape their pursuers and meet up with their father, Captain Spaulding a ways down the pike. The remaining three members of the Firefly family flee from authorities and proceed to exert their vicious mentality on any innocent bystanders unlucky enough to cross their paths.
All in all, the plot itself works quite well. The overall pacing is that of your typical Bonnie & Clyde-style outlaw film, however the real uniqueness comes from how unbelievably visceral and demented the entire tale is. There's stuff in this movie that will churn your stomach, both by way of nasty visuals and just the overall
wrongness of the subject matter.
Acting
The film's strongest point most certainly lies in the expert presentation put forth by the cast. The film's three protagonists, Spaulding, Otis and Baby, are handled better than I'd imagined they
could be handled. Sid Haig lights the screen on fire as the twisted highway freakshow clown, spitting vulgarities and wiseass lines that will be quoted from here to eternity. The entire film, he exudes this inhuman confidence. Even in the face of imminent death, his hostility and murderously-joyful expression never fail. Baby takes a surprising turn for the better in this film, going from an extremely attractive but infuriatingly annoying chunk of eye candy in the first film, to a genuinely human but nonetheless disturbed seducer. She successfully plays the "Not Quite So Bad Cop" to Otis' "Spawn Of Satan Himself Cop" throughtout the entire film.
And then you've got my personal favorite character in the piece, Otis Driftwood. The guy is just
evil. EVIL, EVIL, EVIL. He is one of the most verbally abusive characters I've ever seen on screen, and it just makes his presence all the more terrifying. He's perfectly willing to gut and mutilate
anyone who poses a problem to him, and the entire time he mocks and ridicules his victims to the severest degree. He's a sick motherfucker with a
sick sense of humor.
However, regardless of the fact that the principal characters in the film are guilty of horrendous crimes, and their death would be nothing less then a gift to the entire world, you can't help but sympathize with them the entire time. Beyond their murderous actions, they are genuinely human people, with strong family values and an honest amount of heart. Sure, they kill people randomly and for nothing more than the hell of it, but they're a
likeable bunch.
The cast beyond the three main characters puts on a great performance as well. William Forsythe blew me away as the primary antagonist, Sherriff Wydell, the brother of a cop slain by the family in the previous film. As the story accelerates bit by bit, Wydell begins to lose more and more focus on reality, driving him to become just as evil, if not worse than the villains he strives to capture. Special mention also goes to the five members of Banjo & Sullivan, a travelling musical group taken hostage and brutalized by the Firefly fugitives. Priscilla Barnes in particular, best known for her role as Terri Alden on the TV series "Three's Company", deserves a round of applause simply for being the victim of one of the most profoundly disturbing scenes in the entire flick.
"Rejects" also features several swell appearances from the likes of Diamond Dallas Page (of professional wrestling fame), Brian Posehn (stand-up comedian, played a recurring character on "Just Shoot Me") and Danny Trejo (From Dusk Til Dawn, Desperado, Con Air; tough old mexican guy with a tatoo on his chest; he's in everything).
All in all, the cast is exceptional. The only bad seed would be Leslie Easterbrook, as Mother Firefly, and I only criticize her based on a single scene. One particular instance in which she was viciously antagonizing Sheriff Wydell went a little too over-the-top for me towards the end. Most of what she was ranting was completely unintelligible, and went on for too long. Beyond that one scene, she did a great job, and fit in well with the rest of the cast.
Effects
Consiering that this is a horror movie, you're bound to squirm and fidget as a result of a lot of the gore and violence portrayed on-screen. You'll see violated corpses, gory stabbings and a hefty dose of blood with a suitable amount of guts and meat thrown in for good measure. Most of the effects are well-done, particularly a certain scene involving an 18-wheeler and one very unlucky individual.
My biggest complaints also fall into the effects category. Just to prevent ruining the overall experience for anybody, I'll spoiler-tag this issue, simply because I was the
only person out of the group I went with who even noticed it, and I'd be willing to bet that most of you won't catch it either.
| To be blunt, there are a few instances in which some great gore shots were marred by the fact that they were achieved through CG. For the most part, these instances were cleverly hidden by the grainy look of the film, shaky camerawork and rapid editing. Well-masked these sequences were, however, I was unable to ingore them, and they detracted a bit from the overall package. |
Overall
This year has been the absolute best year for movies that I've had since I was a kid. Sin City, Star Wars, Batman Begins and now The Devil's Rejects.
When I sat down to watch this one last night, I was expecting a good movie, but what I got instead was a shockingly exceptional piece of disturbing and intelligent film. This one hit me in about a thousand places, it engaged my attention and my focus entirely, and when I walked out of that theater feeling mentally
raped by what I'd seen, I had to restrain myself from turning right back around and seeing it again. This one will punish you, and if you're not up for a truly
evil piece of work, you should probably sit this round out. However, if you're in the mood to do yourself some genruine psychological damage, head to your local theater and subject yourself to
The Devil's Rejects immediately.
Score: 9.5
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