Review of The Devil's Rejects (2005) by Francisco M — 14 Jan 2010

I really want to hate this movie. Not because I started the movie with the intentions of hating it, but because it's such a disgusting movie. Now don't get me wrong, that doesn't make the movie awful, it just makes it extremely hard to watch.

I never saw House of 1000 Corpses, nor do I want to, so I can't compare the two. I've been told that they have almost nothing to do with one another, so I don't think I'm missing out by skipping the first movie.

What makes this movie worth sitting through is a couple of things. First off, Rob Zombie has excellent musical taste, this movie features several fantastic songs, and the opening credits are almost perfect thanks to the musical choice. Second, the camera work is really good. It's not perfect, but it isn't sloppy, distracting, or filled with annoying jump cuts. And finally, the acting, although disgusting, is compelling as hell. I hated every character in this movie, every single damn one, but I was supposed to. That's what makes the acting good. Bill Mosely was phenomenal (and disgusting) as Otis.

Of course, as with any RZ film, I have plenty of gripes. For starters, some of the supporting characters were extremely over the top. The chicken F*cker being just one of them. RZ really sticks to his belief that all humans are nasty, inbred, animal humping, hillbilly bastards. It annoys the crap out of me. All the supporting characters in his movies are the exact same. They're all so simple and shallow. There's no development. RZ needs to work on his supporting roles. The story had me extremely confused, not the plot, but the meaning. I couldn't tell what the hell I was supposed to be feeling during the final sequences of the movie. The (spoiler) family gets captured and tortured by the sheriff and I think I was supposed to feel sorry for the family in that scene, but I didn't. I was shouting at the TV "Quit wasting time and kill the F*ckers! If this movie does what I think it's gonna do then you probably have just a few more seconds before someone comes in and kills you!" I didn't sympathize with the killers at all. I wanted their asses dead from the start of the movie. Then, RZ starts showing us scenes where the family are acting fun and nice to each other. Again, I don't get what RZ is trying to tell me. That sick, twisted, souless serial killers are good people deep down inside? Or that they're people, just like us? While that's technically true, normal people (like myself) wouldn't skin the face off a womans fiance and wear it in front of her. I hated the killers from start to finish and I was glad (another spoiler) when they died at the end.

All in all, The Devil's Rejects is a rare gem of a movie. Not because it's a marvelous achievment of film-making, but because it was written and directed by RZ and it didn't suck. That alon makes the movie worth watching. I will warn you again though, this movie is disgusting.