Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Devils Rejects Review

The Devils Rejects Dvd

While House of 1,000 Corpses scared us with insanity, The Devils Rejects shows how far depravity can go, when the firefly family go on the run after the events of the first film. If you’ve seen the original film, then you’ll see all the characters here that you saw from the previous film, and an introduction to a few of Rob Zombies friends, who aren’t half bad at all. This film also includes my favorite wcw superstar, Diamond Dallas Page! But that’s just a sidenote.

Devils Rejects x rated poster

First and foremost, the marketing for this film had a lot of great posters. The posters were grotesque to say the least, and they didn’t make it to the dvd box cover art, as shown above. The posters were so harsh, that I was wondering how in the world Rob Zombie got away with showing these in public. The brutality of the film is references with such a subtle positioning of an arm out of a hotel door, and that in itself was enough to get me hooked.

The film surrounds the family as they are being chased by a deranged and rogue Sheriff, who happens to be the brother of the first investigator, creating an intense revenge theme that circles the whole movie; if you recall the death scene from the first film, you’ll remember one of the most artistic pieces of death in a horror movie. (I know, that sounds morbid, but if you saw the film, you know how great that part of the film was) The movie follows a good revenge plot and it once again throws back a lot of scenes and dialogue to the greater horror movies of the past. References to grindhouse classics are felt throughout this film, which in my view, focuses more on the law than the actual family.

Here is a trailer for the Devils Rejects:


The gore has been turned up a notch, and the hostility is at an all time high. We’re not talking about boobs or nudity for the sake of it. We’re talking about complete and utter repulsion. We’re talking about as close as you’re going to get to shocksploitation in the new era as you are going to get. Nudity and near rape scenarios are highlighted in this film without flinching and the cruelty that you see is hard to watch. Even veteran horror movie fans can agree that scenes of harsh cruelty involving women who are “older” age is a horror in itself, and like I said hard to watch. We’re not talking about uncomfortable x-rated stunt double sex, we’re talking about cruel punishment that had to have shaken the actors to go through. The genuine feeling of the situation was definitely a fine touch by Rob Zombie, and is a credit to the horrors of this film. If you miss the emotional tie in that is given to the victims before their death, you are way too jaded to watch any movies and should most likely just give up altogether.

Captain Spaulding

This film is more than just a revenge throwback or a 70’s grindhouse film, it has a lot of layers that involve more than just the rainy night scenarios that were involved with the first film. There are also additional scenes with Captain Spaulding and his banter with his brother, who runs a brothel. The film doesn’t bode well overall and is not going to allow a sequel, nor is it going to spawn a prequel, this film goes out in a hail of furious revenge. I kid you not, this film is a hard luck piece of film making and is a good testament to horror ethos, while not forgetting how to crossover into the mainstream.

The Devil’s Rejects might not be hardcore horror, but it is essentially a better movie than the original. However, The Devil’s Rejects is like a brief introduction to the past, while cementing Rob Zombie as a viable director of horror film, even if you don’t like his remake of Halloween. I recommend The Devil’s Rejects to anyone that liked House of 1,000 Corpses, but remember it is a different film with a different tone.

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2 comments:

  1. The Devils Rejects was so much better than House of 1000 Corpses. I keep trying to get my hubby to watch it, but he hated the first one so much he won't even give it a chance.

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  2. "a different film with a different tone" and different characters, as in, Baby and the rest weren't themselves in this movie compared to House of 1000 Corpses. They were viewed as just regular killers, not as insane as they were in the first. It was a real disappointment.

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