Reviewed and Bloodily Dissected by Jerry Saravia
"3 From Hell" reminded me of my high school science class when I had to once dissect a frog. It was an ugly dissection and not much fun. Rob Zombie's extremely violent sequel seems to be meaner than the others but not leaner and not much fun. Sure, "The Devil's Rejects" (the best of this trilogy) was a raw, blood-soaked western slasher flick but it was, dare I say, far more spirited in a gruesome, albeit thrillingly bestial kind of way. "3 From Hell" had a lot of potential but it never delivers and it is Rob Zombie aiming for nothing more than excessive violence and complete nihilism. That could be said about the other two films in this grimy series but they had more of an ounce of thought to them than this.
The Firefly family, including the vicious Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) and equally vicious Otis (Bill Moseley), had been captured by the police and nearly gunned down at the end of "Rejects" (in fact, they should have been dead). Apparently twenty bullet holes in Otis's body is not enough to cripple him or damage any organs. Same with Baby though she barely has any bullet wounds, just a lot of tattoos (are they covering up the wounds?) Clownish Captain Spaulding returns far too fleetingly due to Sig Haig's unfortunate sickness and untimely death. The prison's square warden (Jeff Daniel Phillips) has a dilemma since psychotic Otis has escaped with the help of his half-brother, Winslow Foxworth "Foxy" Coltrane (a snarling Richard Brake), during a shootout which leaves Rondo (a Danny Trejo cameo) dead - a loose end in the narrative since Otis knows Rondo and wishes him death and that is all we get, folks. There's a further dilemma involving the warden's wife and her friend held captive in their home by Otis and Foxy in scenes of such savage brutality that I almost gave up on this movie. The brutality doesn't end there since we have an earlier scene of Baby killing two female prisoners (who were about to kill Baby) by stabbing them relentlessly and removing their intestines. Yuck. Back to the home invasion, a friend of the warden's wife has her clothes forcibly removed and runs from the house only to be stabbed to death by Baby (who of course escaped in an earlier scene with the help of the warden) in a scene far uglier and nastier than Isabella Rossellini's infamous nude scene in "Blue Velvet." There's also a scene where Otis skins a woman's face off, an act mercifully committed offscreen until we get a gory close-up of her face.
The Firefly siblings and Foxy take off to Mexico where they suspect nobody will discover they are wanted (why does everyone think Mexico is such a safe hideout?) It doesn't take long for anyone to figure out who these murderous lunatics are and you know what you are in for when Rondo's son is alerted to their presence. Just when the movie pauses for some quiet moments, the brutality re-appears and it is as unrepentant as before. I will say Sheri Moon Zombie plays a complete psychopath that reminded me of one of the Charles Manson girls - she gives a freaky, remorseless, eerie performance. Bill Moseley also reminded me of Manson himself though he is not given much to do other than shoot to kill and other grisly murder tactics. I sure hope Zombie ends his Manson Family fascination soon.
I had hoped for something more from Zombie's possibly last sequel in this series, some more scenes between Otis and Baby would've been sweet (Otis suspects that Baby has changed after 10 years in prison but nothing comes of it). The movie serves up the slaughter and no one is safe and nobody can be trusted. There is no one to root for and, when a character dies, it is hard to care. "3 From Hell" has its blackly comic moments (the discussion about starting a porno studio elicits a few smiles) and there is an unrecognizable Dee Wallace as a prison guard that gave me a smidgeon of sympathy for someone. But the movie is pure nihilism with spraying CGI blood at every corner and in every orifice. I rather dissect a frog again than repeat this experience.
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