The Devil's Rejects

Note from reviewer, Staci Layne Wilson:

We hadn't planned on running this review so early (the movie isn't out till July 22) but things have a way of slipping out of the bag. I shared my review with actor Bill Moseley, who in turn shared it with director Rob Zombie. This morning (July 2) Rob posted it on his blog so I figured it would be cool to post it here now as well. Glad to know they're pleased with the review, because I mean every word of it. It's a truly great film.

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Review: The Devil's Rejects
by Staci Layne Wilson

Writer/director Rob Zombie’s gory horror debut, House of 1000 Corpses, was set in the 1970s and followed two young couples who take a misguided tour through the back roads in search of a local legend known as Dr. Satan. Lost and stranded, they are set upon by the Fireflys, a bold and bizarre family of sadistic psychotics. While the couples became forgettable grist for the mill, horror fans found heroes in Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon), Otis (Bill Moseley) and Captain J.T. Spaulding (Sid Haig).

In my review of the 2003 film, I wrote: “House of 1000 Corpses reminded me of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets The Funhouse, as co-directed by Oliver Stone and Mario Bava. Zombie definitely has talent as a director, but the movie is pretty uneven (and it’s easy to understand why, given the budget and time constraints). I have a feeling that if he doesn’t catch ‘sequelitis’ (e.g., afflicted with House of 1000 Corpses Pt 7 in 2012) Zombie could have a good film career ahead of him.”

I now know that was my understatement of the year. With The Devil’s Rejects, Zombie has joined the ranks of my all-time favorite living directors, right up there with Spike Jonze, Robert Rodriguez, and Guillermo del Toro. Yet, his style is quite apart from theirs… It’s more along the lines of the unflinching best of Oliver Stone or Sam Peckinpah.

Pluck me from oblivion, sit me down in front of The Devil’s Rejects, then ask me when it was made, and I’d say 1977 or ’78. It’s pitch-perfect for the era, bringing to mind such bleak and gutsy classics as Vanishing Point, Bonnie and Clyde, Electra Glide in Blue, Ned Kelly and even the peerless Taxi Driver (yep, a character talks to himself in a mirror). But to compare is unfair.

The Devil’s Rejects stands alone as not a copycat, or even a sequel — it’s a wild, grittily authentic, nihilistic jaw-dropper of a film that grabs you right from the opening credits and doesn’t let go of your throat till the bitter end — it’s the evolution of a good idea, made great.

The movie opens on the Firefly family enjoying a lazy day at home. Otis snuggles with the rotten corpse of a once-pretty woman in bed, while his sister Baby and their mother (Leslie Easterbrook, replacing Karen Black from the first film) reminisce about blonde Baby’s angelic looks as an infant. Meanwhile, their henchman Tiny (Matthew McGrory) takes some discarded human trash out deep into the woods that surround the ramshackle Firefly home.

Before you can say “I am the devil, and I am here to do the devil’s work,” all hell breaks loose when the local law comes down hard, quickly and effectively surrounding the den of murderers. The confrontation escalates to an all-out shootout, bullets flying. The family dons their Ned Kelly style archaic armor and it does the trick long enough to get Baby and Otis out and on the run. While Mother is taken by Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe), her outlaw thrill-killer kiddies find their way to Baby’s father, Spaulding.

While the essence of this unholy trio is still intact, you will find these depraved characters toned down considerably from the caricatures they portrayed in the funhouse freak-show that was House of 1000 Corpses. Baby’s maniacal laugh is gone; Otis has apparently been laying out; and the Captain loses his clown makeup early on. But make no mistake: They are as malicious and deadly as ever. It’s just that their cruelty and sadism have levels and depth which weren’t revealed until now.

I’ve always known Sid Haig was a terrific actor (he first came to my notice in Jackie Brown, then I went back and saw some of his other movies, like 1968’s Spider Baby and Black Mama, White Mama from 1972). I knew I liked Sheri Moon (now Moon-Zombie) from the moment I saw her; she just glows with charisma. I thought Moseley was really good as Otis in the first movie, and I’ve seen his journeyman work here and there, but I must say that The Devil’s Rejects is his tour de force. In my dreams, Moseley is nominated for an Academy Award for this performance — he is that good.

While not a “new” character, Mother Firefly is given much more credence this time. The frenzied, laid-bare Easterbrook makes you forget all about Black with her manic machinations and disgusting gusto for hate. Forsythe is also excellent as the nemesis of the Firefly family, hell-bent on revenge for the death of his brother at their hands. His transformation from justice-seeker to witch-hunter is simply awesome. The peripheral cast is also superb, but to say too much about them and what they do will only load this review with spoilers.

While The Devil’s Rejects does retain all that is the ephemeral essence of a true 1970s film, Zombie does an admirable job of somehow not making the medium boring or dated (while I do give props to those classics I mentioned in the 4th paragraph, I will admit they haven’t all aged equally well and a couple have actually lulled me to sleep). He definitely doesn’t do any M-TV cuts or employ modern-day snarkiness, but he takes the best and leaves the rest. Shot on Super 16 for a grainy realism and adorned with a period-appropriate blues and southern rock soundtrack, The Devil’s Rejects looks, feels, and sounds just right.

The dialogue is peppered with gallows humor and some very absurd situations pop up (a certain chicken-buying sequence comes to mind), but the story is mostly dead serious and totally riveting. Good as it is, fans of the first film might be taken aback when they see that this not a traditional horror flick by any means.

The Devil’s Rejects is definitely a radical road trip on the old highway to hell. It is a brutal, shocking, bleak, vicious — and oddly touching — giddy nightmare that is, in my opinion, an instant classic. I can’t wait to see it again.

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Be sure and check out our Rob Zombie-related links here:

Horror.com's comprehensive & exclusive Devil's Rejects Coverage featuring interviews, the premiere, photos, and more.

Horror.com's Sneak Peak on-camera interview with Sid Haig and Bill Moseley.

Horror.com Interview with Rob Zombie (done in 2003; the on-camera interview can be found on Staci Wilson's personal website, here)