Review of The Devil's Rejects (2005) by Alex K — 06 Nov 2010

It may be disgusting, it may be horrific, and it may be violent as all hell, but it's also campy, funny (in a sadistic sort of way), and is loaded with artistic camerawork, and makes a fine showpiece for Rob Zombies directorial talent (if that means anything).

The Devils Rejects is a hard film to watch for several reasons. Not only is it filled to bursting with gruesome, violent, sadistic death and torture scenes, but is also choc full of nasty, mean, and hateful lead characters.

Every character in this movie is a bastard, even the "innocent" victims (except for the already dead ones, and the woman in the opening credits, which by the way are one of the best credit sequences in movie history) are bastards in some way.

That makes it real hard to connect with any of the characters, and I don't know if Zombie's intention in this film was to get us to sympathize with the killers, but as far as I'm concerned, he failed.

That's not to say the killers are lacking in personality. They all have distinct, and terrible personalities that give each of them a unique presence, but I still wanted them dead less than five minutes in.

In the end, TDR is an okay movie when compared to better films in the genre, but as an R. Zombie film, it's about as close to perfection as I think he's ever going to get.