www.thedevilsrejects.com
Dir: Rob Zombie
Cast: Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, William Forsythe
Shoot-out at farmhouse
sheriff has a staple-gun
now they're on the run
And so to the sixth and final FrightFest film, the first public screening of Rob Zombie’s sequel to House Of 1000 Corpses. It begins with an ambush on the Firefly family’s home led by bible-bashing Sheriff Wydell (Forsythe) whose brother was shot dead during the events of the previous movie. Whilst Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook, replacing Karen Black) is captured, Otis (Moseley) and Baby (Moon) manage to get away and hole up in a motel while they wait for lumbering clown, Captain Spaulding (Haig) to join them and then lead them to refuge at a whorehouse owned by his brother. As The Devil’s Rejects – as they’re dubbed by the media – go on the run and the body count rises, we follow Wydell’s single-minded and increasingly desperate quest to find them and exact his own personal justice. This kind of movie requires little else in the way of plot as it’s nothing more than an exercise in exploitation, sleaze and unflinching violence. Make no mistake, this is a nasty piece of work which aims to shock and offend the viewer in every conceivable way. Honestly, the Firefly clan make Mickey and Mallory Knox seem about as threatening as Spongebob Squarepants. But as with Natural Born Killers, quite what the BBFC will make of this, with its violence towards women, and in one particularly uncomfortable scene which sees Otis terrorise a female hostage by slipping the barrel of his gun into her panties, remains to be seen. Zombie also risks alienating his audience by having no sympathetic characters in the movie, so you’re never really sure who exactly you should be cheering for. The Devil’s Rejects are completely beyond redemption, but Wydell is little better as his thirst for revenge sees him use more and more extreme methods. Yet for all their flaws Zombie has created some fascinating characters who are eminently watchable; Haig’s foul-mouthed Spaulding is one of the finest anti-heroes of modern times, and both Otis and Baby make a welcome return with their constant bitchy banter. Moseley seems more subdued this time around, but Moon has a lot of fun with her role, switching from tease to tormenter at will. There’s a fine array of genre talent on show too, with Ken Foree, Michael Berryman, Steve Railsback and Danny Trejo all making appearances in supporting roles. Director Zombie has learnt a lot since his first foray into film-making and The Devil’s Rejects is a far more assured picture with some fine editing (check out the opening credits) and a terrific score. With its washed out colours it evokes the look and feel of gritty seventies flicks like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Despite the grim tone there is plenty of humour injected into the dialogue, and especially in the scene in which Foree and Berryman’s characters attempt to purchase some chickens. Whilst I sadly had to miss the film’s big finale in order to catch the last train home, I’m reliably informed that it ended pretty much the way I expected it to. It’s a film that will divide audiences – as indeed it did here – and certainly won’t appeal to readers of The Daily Mail, but for me there’s a lot of pleasure to be had from such an uncompromising, balls-nasty horror film.
soulmining rating: ****
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