THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (2005)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
I wish I could say that "The Devil's Rejects" works as a pure horror movie, but it does not. As horror, it does little besides titillate us with blood-soaked images. As a slasher flick, it does practically the same thing. So what gives? What has Rob Zombie wrought with a sequel as bloody as the original? Well, that is a good question. "The Devil's Rejects" is such a wildly sordid state of affairs that it did not appeal
to my basic ignoble sense of morality (that is a joke by the way).
Quite frankly, Zombie is not interested in the morality of
these characters nor does he (nor do we) like any of them
very much. So what gives? What is there to gain from a
movie like this? I have no idea except some good old-fashioned
brutality for the sake of those who like that sort of thing.
The reason I persist with these notions when I could easily
dismiss them, since one could dismiss "The Devil's
Rejects" as an average slasher film, is that this movie
does aim slightly higher, a higher body count that is.
This is an unrepentant assault on the senses, but it is
not as cartoonish or laughable in its savagery as its
original incarnation, "House of 1000 Corpses." This time,
Rob Zombie means business.
So we have the returning psychotic family from the original on hand. Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie) and her truly psychotic brother, Otis (Bill Moseley), and their mother, Mother Firefly (scenery-chewing, tongue-wagging Leslie Easterbrook replacing Karen Black), are back for more carnage galore. The police have discovered this murderous family's hideout in the opening sequence, where we have a standard shootout right out of the Old West. Sheriff Wydell (Snarling William Forsythe) wants some good old-fashioned, hellbent revenge on this family since they killed his brother, a cop, last time out. The Fireflys warn a creepy clown, Captain Spaulding (the King of Scenery-Chewers, Sid Haig) to meet up with them at the local motel and, get this, Spaulding is the patriarch of the family! Of course, at the motel, these Fireflys have to exact their inner demonic violent tendencies upon another family, which includes Geoffrey Lewis as a guy who once shook hands with Johnny Cash, his wife (Priscilla Barnes), and a young couple. Oh, there is also the marijuana-stoked guy who wants to be a clown, which is good for a few laughs.
Watching "The Devil's Rejects" is an unnerving, unbridled, curiously shallow experience. Shallow only because Zombie spends no time in getting know the Firefly family or any of the victims. It is a pre-sold, prepackaged, grainy 70's homage to slasher films where everyone gets their comeuppance - they are all action figures with deplorable personalities and nothing but murder on their minds (that includes the Sheriff). The acting is about as good as it can get with Sheri Moon more delirious than ever, and Bill Moseley acting less anarchic. Only Sid Haig reaches the same heights of devilish intensity that we come to expect from Captain Spaulding (his feverish sex dream is a classic). Add to the mix a human roadkill scene that is as violent as one can expect, a movie critic called in to decipher the legend of Groucho Marx, a nod or two to "The Empire Strikes Back," more bloody executions, Ken Foree and Michael Berryman, discussion about screwing chickens, and you got one hell of a demonic ride that will make you sick to your stomach. If I can say one last positive aspect, Zombie is mean as hell as a director and is not about to tolerate any "Scream" jokes or post-modernist winks anymore.
So we have the returning psychotic family from the original on hand. Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie) and her truly psychotic brother, Otis (Bill Moseley), and their mother, Mother Firefly (scenery-chewing, tongue-wagging Leslie Easterbrook replacing Karen Black), are back for more carnage galore. The police have discovered this murderous family's hideout in the opening sequence, where we have a standard shootout right out of the Old West. Sheriff Wydell (Snarling William Forsythe) wants some good old-fashioned, hellbent revenge on this family since they killed his brother, a cop, last time out. The Fireflys warn a creepy clown, Captain Spaulding (the King of Scenery-Chewers, Sid Haig) to meet up with them at the local motel and, get this, Spaulding is the patriarch of the family! Of course, at the motel, these Fireflys have to exact their inner demonic violent tendencies upon another family, which includes Geoffrey Lewis as a guy who once shook hands with Johnny Cash, his wife (Priscilla Barnes), and a young couple. Oh, there is also the marijuana-stoked guy who wants to be a clown, which is good for a few laughs.
Watching "The Devil's Rejects" is an unnerving, unbridled, curiously shallow experience. Shallow only because Zombie spends no time in getting know the Firefly family or any of the victims. It is a pre-sold, prepackaged, grainy 70's homage to slasher films where everyone gets their comeuppance - they are all action figures with deplorable personalities and nothing but murder on their minds (that includes the Sheriff). The acting is about as good as it can get with Sheri Moon more delirious than ever, and Bill Moseley acting less anarchic. Only Sid Haig reaches the same heights of devilish intensity that we come to expect from Captain Spaulding (his feverish sex dream is a classic). Add to the mix a human roadkill scene that is as violent as one can expect, a movie critic called in to decipher the legend of Groucho Marx, a nod or two to "The Empire Strikes Back," more bloody executions, Ken Foree and Michael Berryman, discussion about screwing chickens, and you got one hell of a demonic ride that will make you sick to your stomach. If I can say one last positive aspect, Zombie is mean as hell as a director and is not about to tolerate any "Scream" jokes or post-modernist winks anymore.
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