Movie Review The Devil's Rejects

The Devil's Rejects (2005)

Directed by Rob Zombie 

Written by Rob Zombie 

Starring Sid Haig, Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Mosely, Diamond Dallas Page, Danny Trejo

Release Date July 22nd, 2005

Published July 23rd, 2005

Rob Zombie is a talented artist and musician and a very interesting personality. However, in his short career as a filmmaker he has not acquitted himself well. Zombie's House of a Thousand Corpses was about as skillfully directed as a twelve-year-old shooting a Mountain Dew commercial with a handy cam, and his latest effort, the nihilistic serial killer film The Devil's Rejects, shows no improvement. Once again Zombie has committed to film his dark Id, and while there may be something disturbingly fascinating in there, it takes a far more skillful filmmaker than himself to find that and bring it to light.

The Devil's Rejects is not exactly a sequel to House of a Thousand Corpses. Sid Haig, who played the crazed clown Captain Spaulding in House, returns to that role in The Devil's Rejects. Spaulding, with his children Otis (Bill Mosely) and Baby (Sheri Moon), are serial killers who have for years abducted, tortured, and murdered innumerable teenage girls and one dedicated cop. 

That dead cop happens to have been the brother of sheriff Wydell, played by the always sadistic William Forsythe. Not surprisingly, capturing the captain and his clan is a crusade for Sheriff Wydell, who will do anything inside or outside the law to get them. His methods include hiring a pair of sick, twisted, biker bounty hunters (Danny Trejo and Diamond Dallas Page) to hunt the family down and kill anyone who gets in the way of their capture.

The above description amounts to a semblance of a plot but it's not what The Devil's Rejects is about. Rather, the film is about just how twisted and disturbing Zombie can be in presenting violence and gore. In what could have been an interesting break in form, The Devil's Rejects never bothers to establish a connection with the audience through a heroic character. Instead, the audience is forced to witness everything from the perspective of these deplorable murderers. This could be an interesting challenge but it is a failure in execution.

There has to have been a central idea to The Devil's Rejects, something Zombie was attempting to say or demonstrate with these characters but I could not find it. In the end, The Devil's Rejects is pointless, like watching Rob Zombie's twisted imagination come to life. It's an insight into his mind that leaves you feeling that he should seek counseling rather than committing his disturbing fantasies to film for the whole world to see.

In the horror genre you can get away with a lot of sick and twisted stuff in an attempt to frighten audiences. But there is a limit to what even the most forgiving horror fan can take. The Devil's Rejects surpasses that limit by not merely being sadistic but by glorifying sadism. The film is a love letter to the murderous behavior of its sick characters.

A scene where a group of touring musicians is taken hostage in a motel room is used as an opportunity for Zombie to lovingly capture the near naked form of his wife, Sherry Moon, as she goes through the titillating motions of humiliating a female captive. The slow deaths of each of the musicians is a pointless exercise in gore for the sake of gore. This is not typical horror movie gore, with a wink and a nod. No, Zombie takes a nearly verite approach to the violence of these scenes and seeks to tap the twisted excitement someone might find in a snuff film.

Zombie revels in these characters' violent sexual assaults and cruel murders as if they were poetic misunderstood outlaws just out for a good time. The influence of Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers can be felt throughout, but where Stone was at least experimenting in form while exercising his sick and twisted side, Zombie lacks the talent and imagination to mix his horror with artful filmmaking. That is not to forgive Natural Born Killers which I also did not care for, but it's certainly better than the mess that is The Devil's Rejects.

The Devil's Rejects is experimental in that it has no point beyond its graphic violence, but it's an experiment with no real results. What should we take away from this film other than the idea that Rob Zombie lives in a very dark place?

Movie Review Halloween 2 (Remake)

Halloween 2 (2009) 

Directed by Rob Zombie 

Written by Rob Zombie 

Starring Scout Taylor Compton, Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris

Release Date August 28th, 2009

Published August 27th, 2009 

Rob Zombie just doesn't know when to quit. Thinking that he is pushing the envelope, Zombie adds one more swing of the knife, one more snap of the bone, one more stomp of a boot to a skull. He can't leave well enough alone and what should be an exercise in horror and fear becomes a twisted, sadistic and just plain sad insight into Zombie's own twisted psyche. This guy wasn't hugged enough as a kid.

Halloween 2 picks up the story of young Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) who just survived being attacked by crazed killer Michael Myers. With her parents gone Laurie is staying with the sheriff (Brad Dourif) and his daughter. It is exactly one year later and Halloween is once again upon us.

We learn quickly that the body of Michael Myers was never recovered, though another survivor of Myers's attack Dr. Loomis (Malcom McDowell) assures those buying his new book that Michael is dead. He's not. As Halloween looms Michael Myers is seen walking the plains.

Like an evil Caine from Kung Fu, Myers has apparently been wandering the countryside for the past year waiting for Halloween to arrive. Why would a psycho killer wait a year? There is some gobbledygook about Michael's late mother and a deeply set psychosis but really, the only reason Michael has waited is because the movie is called Halloween.

That's about all the depth that writer-director Rob Zombie is capable of. Zombie is a hack who thinks gore is the end all be all of horror. Forget suspense. Forget characters you care about and invest in, the most important thing for Rob Zombie is getting just the right amount of entrails and just the right sound of a knife hitting skin and bone.

There is zero story, a nothing plot, the film is a series of gory set pieces in which a victim is chosen and that victim is dispatched in the loudest and most blood spattered, innards spilling fashion Zombie can dream up. For some, the lower brain oriented, this will be enough. For those with a brain, it will not.

Halloween 2 is as or maybe more brain dead than the 2007 film. Both are supremely inferior to John Carpenter's original which wastes no time with the vague notions of pop psychology that Rob Zombie uses to break up the monotony of blood and guts. Carpenter's killer was a force of nature and his unknown qualities were part of what made him fearsome.

Rob Zombie can't understand this and thinks that the demonstration of human evisceration was what made Halloween a cultural touchstone. He is, of course, wrong and his complete misunderstanding of his chosen genre is part of his overall hackery. Lame dream sequences, overwrought sound effects, overkill gore and awful acting, directing and editing make Halloween 2 one terrifically bad movie.

Movie Review Halloween (Remake)

Halloween (2007) 

Directed by Rob Zombie 

Written by Rob Zombie

Starring Scout Taylor Compton, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler Maine, Danielle Harris, Malcolm McDowell

Release Date August 31st, 2007

Published September 1st, 2007

A question for fans of the Rob Zombie version of John Carpenter's horror classic Halloween (if there are any). What did you enjoy about this movie? This is honest curiosity. I watched Halloween aghast not necessarily because of the ample, overwrought gore. No, rather because Halloween manages to be sloppier and less professional than either of Zombie's previous two bad movies.

More to the point of my curiosity however is the question of what you really did enjoy. The film isn't frightening, it's too ineptly put together to be frightening. It's certainly not humorous, the violence and attitude that Zombie brings to the film is far too self serious for humor. Is it that you find this misogynist,  fantasy titillating? If that's the case boys, get out of mom's basement and get yourself a girlfriend or maybe some counseling.

Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) has no idea where she came from. The life she has known since being very small is one of loving parents and a beautiful home. She has no idea that she has a brother and that her brother changed her life forever by killing their parents. It turned out for the best for young Laurie, unfortunately her brother Michael did not turn out so well.

Committed to an institution for the criminally insane at the age of 10, Michael at first refused to acknowledge what he did, despite the caring entreaties of Doctor Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell. After 15 years and a couple more murders while incarcerated, Michael refuses to speak to anyone and Dr. Loomis is gone, having turned Michael's murderous life story into a bestseller.

It's Halloween; 15 years to the day Michael murdered all but his little sister. He is to be moved to another, more secure institution, when he decides he's had enough. Killing everyone in his path, Michael escapes and begins the trek home. Only Dr. Loomis is able to determine Michael's whereabouts and even his motivations. Michael is going home to see his little sister.

In John Carpenter's original Halloween no reason is given for why as child Michael Myers killed his older sister. Like more than a few horror fans, Rob Zombie was not satisfied not knowing why Michael became evil. Thus Zombie invents a family and an injurious back story that includes a vile, abusive step father (William Forsythe), a stripper mom (Sherry Moon-Zombie), and a resentful older sister (Hannah Hall).

Michael also has trouble at school where he is constantly made fun of by classmates. 10 year old Daeg Fanch is quite convincingly disturbed for a 10 year old and I credit Rob Zombie for finding the kid and giving him one creepy looking clown mask. That is where my praise of Mr. Zombie will end. The new backstory doesn't explain Myers' supernatural strength and ability to survive multiple bullet wounds and impalings.

What John Carpenter knew and what Rob Zombie ignores, is that not having a full backstory for Michael Myers allowed Carpenter to make him into whatever he wanted, including giving Myers the air of the supernatural. The backstory provides something of a psychological background but Zombie's reaching for realism sinks the film from a logical standpoint. Michael Myers can't survive all of those bullets, impaling's, and falls from great heights if you are aiming for 'realism'.

Of the many failings of Rob Zombie's Halloween is the lack of any kind of suspense. Zombie's approach to Michael Myers' taking of victims has as much suspense as a hammer hitting a nail. Put Myers in a room and whoever else is in the room with him is guaranteed death. That is, except for the lead actress who, at the very least, has to last to the ending. Whether she survives or not, I won't spoil it.

Maybe Zombie was too busy ogling his young female cast to consider that their deaths should have some significance or drama. Zombie's main concern throughout Michael Myers' second act killing spree is making certain that each of the young girls is topless before they are fileted like fish. That these actresses are playing under age characters, high schoolers, seems not to have bothered or put off Zombie in any way.

And yet, there is a classic horror movie clichéd conservatism to Zombie's approach. I have always been fascinated with the moralistic streak that horror films have and Rob Zombie's Halloween is no exception. As in many classic horror films the young victims, male and female, are decimated by the killer after having had pre-marital sex. Michael Myers, like his brethren Freddy and Jason, is the hand of a punishing god, killing for the sins of man.

Zombie lacks the intellect or insight to explore this horror movie moralism and abandons any notion of it after he has sliced and diced his nude teenagers.

Rob Zombie's Halloween pales in comparison to the compact, suspenseful horror of John Carpenter. A master of the genre, Carpenter knew that realism and grossout are not the real tools of the horror trade but rather that suspense and tension are what keep audiences on the edge of their seats. Yes, Carpenter spilled a great deal of blood and he knew how to use death for shock value but his skills far exceed those of Rob Zombie and that is why Carpenter is a legend and Rob Zombie is a low life hack.

Movie Review House of 1000 Corpses

House of 1000 Corpses (2003) 

Directed by Rob Zombie 

Written by Rob Zombie 

Starring Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, Karen Black 

Release Date April 11th, 2003

Published April 10th, 2003

Horror fans have been buzzing for three years about rocker Rob Zombie's first foray into feature films, House of 1,000 Corpses. Based on Zombie's unique music videos and avowed love of classic horror films, fans of Fangoria have been foaming at the mouth in anticipation of what Zombie could produce. Now after three years of studio leapfrogging and MPAA kowtowing in an attempt to avoid the kiss of box office death NC 17 rating, House Of 1,000 Corpses is finally receiving a limited theatrical run. Was it worth the wait?

House begins as the story of four college kids in the late 1970's on the road writing a little travelog about kitschy roadside attractions. It stars a couple of unknowns alongside a couple of where-have-I-seen-that-guy-befores who make the mistake of picking up a hitchhiker on a dark rainy night. The hitchhiker is named Baby, a sexy looking blonde with a laugh like a kitten in a blender and personality to match. A flat tire leads the kids to Baby's house where her brother will supposedly use his tow truck to help them get it fixed. Unfortunately, Baby's family is completely insane and demonically obsessed with a dead serial killer known as Dr. Satan.

As the kids wait for the car to be fixed on the night before Halloween, the family, led by mom (horror staple Karen Black) and Otis, the family's top psycho, prepare to raise Dr. Satan from the grave.

Zombie brings his trademark visual style from his music videos and paints a unique horror canvas with poorly focused cameras and the occasional intercutting of black and white scenes from classic horror films so numerous you can't keep up with them. Zombie, long a fan of horror classics from the black and white era, seems to want to recreate the aura of those films but can't resist falling back on the horror cliches of the more modern era the 1970's. Indeed House Of 1,000 Corpses has much more in common with Texas Chainsaw Massacre than any of the black and white movies Zombie claims as inspiration.

There is nothing wrong with an homage to 70's horror movies but House Of 1,000 Corpses seems more rip-off than homage. Outside of Zombie's visuals, everything in the film seems a direct lift from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The film's most fatal flaw however is its lack of interesting characters. The characters we are supposed to sympathize with are one-note characters that are either whiny or obnoxious. The villains are over the top obnoxious and, rather than being frightening, they are simply annoying. Zombies fail to create a rooting interest on either the side of good or evil. A good horror film has to have a character to cheer for whether it's Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween or Freddy in Nightmare on Elm Street. House of 1,000 Corpses never provides that charismatic character that holds your interest beginning to end.

The lack of a rooting interest leaves the film to rely solely on the director’s skill with visuals and set pieces. As successful as Rob Zombie is with those elements, it's not enough to hold an audience's interest.