Review of The Devil's Rejects (2005) by Jenn F — 07 Jul 2010

Rob Zombie's first work as a director, "House of 1000 Corpses" was gritty, innovating, brutal, gory, creepy, scary, funny and simply awesome; "The Devil's Rejects" is more. This is one of the few Horror sequels that is is creepier, grittier, nastier, even more brutal, demented and more shocking, and, simply put, even more awesome than its already great predecessor. "House of 1000 Corpses" already proved that Rob Zombie is both an enthusiastic Horror connoisseur and an innovating filmmaker as it paid wonderful tribute to the greatest decades of Horror, introduced wonderfully demented characters and wonderfully combined brutal shocks with a very twisted sense of pitch black humor. The sequel is again about the murderous hillbilly family presented in the first film, and while "House of 1000 Corpses" was mainly a typical Hillbilly Horror feature primarily set around the same place, "The Devil's Rejects" takes the likable family of demented psychos to the road. The film, which references various sub-genres of Horror and Exploitation cinema, is a delightfully sick modern Grindhouse experience that has shocks and black humor alike, and I simply cannot imagine which lover of Horror and Exploitation cinema would not love it.

Set in 1978, a year after "House of 1000 Corpses", the film begins when the remote Texas ranch of the Firefly family, in which they have murdered around 75 people, is raided by police forces under the command of Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe). After killing a bunch of police officers, Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) and Otis (Bill Moseley) escape, and meet with Baby's father, the demented family patriarch Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), ready to raise hell. Sheriff Wydell, who has arrested Mama Firefly, is upon their heels, and he is almost equally demented as our favorite serial killer family...

"The Devil's Rejects" is a mixture of grisly Hillbilly Horror and demented revenge Roadmovie that is gritty and brutal like low-budget 70s Horror and Exploitation features and is often both shocking in its violence and exquisitely funny in its morbid sense of humor. The demented family of brutal murderers do unspeakably evil deeds and yet one somehow likes them. I was a big fan of Sid Haig even before first seeing "House of 1000 Corpses" a few years ago, for his great presence in the many fantastic 70s Exploitation flicks he was part of. It can be said that the character of Captain Spaulding is probably the highlight of his entire career, both because he has a leading role, and because he is playing what is positively the coolest Horror character of the decade. The director's wife Sheri Moon Zombie is incredibly sexy and equally evil, and simply magnificent in the role of babe-fatale Baby Firefly. Bill Moseley is wonderfully demented as Otis, the arguably most psychotic member of the family... I'm taking it back - they're all about equally psychotic. William Forsythe's is great as the nearly equally psychotic, revenge-obsessed hard-ass Sheriff, and the supporting cast includes names such as Ken Foree, Michael Berryman, Danny Trejo, Geoffrey Lewis and P.J. Soles.

In addition to being an extremely intense, nasty and wonderfully demented Horror experience with enough shocks, thrills, gore, creepiness, eccentric characters, macabre make-up effects and morbid humor to please any Horror fan, there are are lots of other positive things to say about "The Devil's Rejects", be it the great cinematography and settings, the awesome score or, most memorably, the jaw-dropping gorgeous Sheri Moon, but it all comes down to the same point: This film kicks ass! "The Devil's Rejects" is a must-see for all fans of Horror, Exploitation and demented cinema, and as much as one should see "House of 1000 Corpses" first, this film is even greater. Rob Zombie knows how to make true Horror (which is a rare thing with American directors these days), and "The Devil's Rejects" is doubtlessly his greatest achievement, one of the best films that was released in 2005. Hopefully Rob will get back to original material like this instead of doing more of the awful Halloween films that he has made in recent years. To say the least The Devil's Rejects is very highly recommended.