[Siemelle]

I'm going to set aside Zombie and his take on Halloween because that's a whole different topic unto itself. I'm also going to set aside his newest addition to the horror genre - The Lords of Salem - because I haven't had a chance to see it yet! That being said, I loved both House of 1000 Corpses and its follow-up The Devil's Rejects, but I see them as, really, two different entities with the same characters because those two films are completely different from one another. Both are throwbacks of a different kind with House of 1000 Corpses having a more early 1980s flare to it and Rejects feeling very much like a throwback to the grand time known as the 1970s and all its wonky glory! Rejects is definitely a cleaner, crisper, more violent Ode to Horror than its predecessor which, I think, makes it a far easier pill to swallow. It's very up-front, very in-your-face, and packs a punch that leaves you sort of sitting there blinking and wondering what you were just dragged into. There are also sinister parts in there that make it far more real. For instance, when Otis says that he is the devil and there to do the devil's work, that is attributed to "Tex" Watson (think that's his name) who is infamously connected to the Manson family and the Tate/LaBianca murders. So there is something very gritty about the film, something you can reach out and touch that makes it a fan favorite while still being absolutely horrifying.

House of 1000 Corpses, on the other hand, seemed almost experimental in design not only with the plot - which could have been fixed up to be neater - but with the overall look of the film which played like one of his music videos. I believe, not surprisingly enough, he directed a lot of his videos, too, but I could be wrong about that! House is definitely the harder of the two films to come to terms with because, while Rejects is clean and crisp in presentation, House is almost disjointed in its appeal. However, to me it has a certain charm to it that I loved because it's a roller coaster ride visually and there was something there that reminded me heavily of all the films I watched in the 1980s that made me feel very nostalgic. It has plenty of flaws, but it's fun. I would have, personally, left Dr. Satan as a boogeyman, so to speak, instead of an actual being that lived below ground. Even that part is confusing because everything moves so quickly in the film that the viewer just doesn't know what's what anymore. lol

What I can say is that the man knows how to use music effectively in his films and has a good grasp on what music to use, where to put it, etc. I still just stare without movement during House of 1000 corpses when Slim Whitman starts to sing I Remember You above the police arriving at the Firefly house and discovering the tied up, missing girl in the garage/shed. It's been awhile since I've watched the movie, but that scene stood out from the first time I saw it.