Review of House of 1000 Corpses (2003) by Sarah L — 03 Jun 2014

[5/23/14] After being impressed by Rob Zombie's "The Devil's Rejects" via DVD purchase 1-2 months ago at a yard sale, I sought out to watch the prequel but I was unable to acquire it (cheaply).

Last night, my dream came true in that I was able to view Zombie's debut(?) as a director on the IFC channel aka the one place that doesn't try to censor all the good stuff. I'd been told (prior to viewing the film and on a different occasion in the past) that "House of 1000 Corpses" is a good movie but inferior to 'Rejects.

' And I thought to myself, how can this be? Now that I've seen it, I can attest that it is certainly a different flavor to the "plate with a serving of sick, disturbing, graphic, and at times humorous spices" that I received with my order of "Devil's Rejects.

" Zombie's camera-work, while brilliant in some instances, shows a bit of an amateurish side when it involves the constant flashbacks that we see of Otis, Baby, etc. It's almost as if Zombie was being too direct in telling the audience that these characters were evil, the flashbacks (or whatever they are) ruin the fun for this very reason.

In 'Rejects,' those flashbacks weren't there--and I had never seen 'House' before--I knew the characters were twisted, but I didn't know just HOW evil they were, and this allows for the shock value to be efficient.

In 'House,' the narrative isn't entirely linear and that fucks up Zombie's ability to effectively show off his characters. The REAL good thing to say about 'House of a 1000 Corpses" is that led to "The Devil's Rejects"--I hate to put down its prequel but.

...that's just the way it is.