495: The Devil's Rejects

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 202, let's get to The Devils Rejects which came out in 2005 once again done

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: by Zombie. It stars Sid Haig, Cheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, William Forsyth and

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: the synopsis is the murderous Backwoods Firefly family take to the road to

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: escape the vengeful Sheriff Wydell who is not afraid of being as ruthless as

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: his target. So this one was a first-time watch for me I knew it was a sequel a

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: continuation with these characters but that's about it in terms of narrative

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and plot for the movie and I had heard mainly good things about the movie a lot

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: of people I think seem to say this is the best Rob Zombie movie to date on

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_00]: first viewing it is about on par with House of a Thousand Corpses it would be

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: middle towards the top of his films ranking wise I do think that it is

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: mostly for the better a very stark difference in style from House of a

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Thousand Corpses in that the first one like I said he was really trying to

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: impress people at least that's what I got and every style he could think of

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: every cinematic flourish and this he's like alright I'm in Hollywood now I can

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: tone things down a little bit focus on other elements of the story and so I

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: don't have to over embellish the style as much

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: so this one feels a lot more normal quote-unquote at least in terms of a Rob

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Zombie film

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: getting right to the beginning of the movie the shootout at the house I like a

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: lot and he does a good job frequently throughout this one of making you

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: believe alright they're gonna get caught now they're gonna get killed like a

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: dozen cops show up with assault rifles and shotguns and they surround the house

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and they all start shooting and you think alright we're good now like these

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: guys are finally gonna be taken down this is it

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: even though it's fairly ridiculous with how they get out and how they're almost

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: entirely unharmed even though they had a dozen rifles shooting at them I do

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: like the homemade body armor even though it's silly it's at least creative

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: that's not what I was expecting to happen with their defensive plan

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and then they get out even though the mother gets captured

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: there is cutting too quickly sorry the scene the dream sequence with Captain

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Spaulding and the hooker is so gross and I mean it's intentionally that

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: for one thing it's super graphic but the dialogue between the two of them like the

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: dirty talk and it constantly showing close-ups of Captain Spaulding's rotting

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: teeth is just like it's really vomit inducing and I mean I guess it's

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: effective in that way it's not meant to be erotic I would think

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_00]: the whole motel sequence is really wild

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: the family gets captured or the couples get captured and then there's the

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: cutting off the face there's the reveal in the bathroom of the bodies with the

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: blood and devil's rejects written on the wall and I do like that name that's a

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: pretty good name for a gang or a serial killer group

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: one thing that I was going to mention at some point in this review that I'm not

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: going to mention in corpses is another style cinematic choice of

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: zombie that I don't totally love it's one of those bittersweet things is he also

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: feels the need to always have the cameras jammed into characters faces all

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: the time and so I guess that's meant to create claustrophobia

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and with a movie like this where he is really showcasing the gore and the

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: brutality and the sadism and all that I get that to an extent but he really in

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: all ways he doesn't really have an off switch in that sense and so there's the

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: he doesn't say alright this is important I want this to be in your face I'm gonna

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: zoom in on a character or on this scene and then not so much in another

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: instead it's like alright I'm always thinking okay is this something I should

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: care about is this important dialogue is it important character moments whatever

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: might be it's either all important none of it is important it's never clear

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: which maybe that's what he wants to do maybe that's just his idea what he likes

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: that's fine but regardless of whatever the actual

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: motivation of him the creative choice by him it's really I'd say 50-50 in

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: terms of it working and not working

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: few other things that I like the soundtrack is very solid I think he has

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: a good mixture of well-known hits but also some deep cuts

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: he also and I guess you can just look at it broadly where

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: like the Coen brothers for example they are usually seen or referred to as

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Americana filmmakers where they look at different aspects of American culture

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and tell a story within that but it's much more obviously much more grounded

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and restrained and Coen brothers are vastly better filmmakers to me

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: in some ways Rob Zombie is almost the horror backwoods Americana filmmaker and

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: he does that better than most and he makes that very iconic

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: also another neither here nor there creative choice to zombies films is that

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: most not all but most Rob Zombie protagonists look like Rob Zombie they

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: all have long dirty blonde scraggly hair like they're in a metal band they have

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: tattoos a scraggly beard they usually are wearing tank tops and you know or

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: sleeveless shirts raggedy jeans even Michael Myers and his Halloween

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: films look like Rob Zombie he's just beefed up like crazy so that's something

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: that I can't not always think of okay is this just being egotistical is it lazy

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and Otis I think his name is in this looks like Rob Zombie if you know what

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Rob Zombie looks like I do find though that overall the movie is fairly it's

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: fairly straightforward it is a meandering escape film of these three

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: killers trying to get out of Dodge and also cause chaos along the way there's

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: also the moment or the sequence at the fun town where there's the brothel and

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: that's another thing in Rob Zombie movies usually there's hookers of some

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: kind the sexualizing of older women and I'm not trying to rag or nitpick Rob

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Zombies movies but he opens himself up for more not criticism necessarily but

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: just general observations for some reason and I know that she's

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: his wife now he especially in this feels the need to show Sherry Moon Zombies but

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: all the time like especially like the top of her butt crack she always pulls

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: her pants down just enough or make some joke about her butt and then he also

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: zooms down on to it when it makes no sense in the context of the scene and I

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_00]: know that he is just a very explicit filmmaker when it comes to nudity and

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_00]: all that but even for me I was like alright this is excessive like we get it

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: she's your wife but also that's kind of weird that's just me though

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: the final sequence capture of the rejects at the house is good and where

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: the sheriff is able to give them payback at least for a little while the house

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: being set on fire however and that brings me to another

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: point I can totally get into slashers serial killers whatever having a larger

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_00]: than life seemingly unkillable nature in the context of a movie but his lack of

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: subtlety in the end of this film really bugged me because even though there are a

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: lot of idiotic things that people do the fact that this guy the sheriff has been

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: hunting these three and he went to so much trouble to find them to capture them

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and to torture them in this house he lets Sherry Moon zombie go in order to

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: have a cat-and-mouse chase I guess to have more sadistic revenge fun with her

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: which in some ways I get but realistically someone like that who had

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_00]: been hunting these people would kill that person on the spot and even Danny

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Trejo and the other thug who had the chance to kill all three of them at the

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: brothel I was like wait why aren't you shooting them and I know it's a movie

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: whatever I'm just talking about it for the sake of conversation

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_00]: it sort of fell off for me because I'm like alright we're going going going it's

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_00]: sort of plain realistically in terms of how they're able to get out alive and

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_00]: getting out of jams and all that but he sets the house on fire somehow in the

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: span of five six seven minutes the two men don't die even though they're

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: surrounded by gasoline in a burning wooden house and somehow they're

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: untouched

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: the cat-and-mouse chase obviously sets you up for the predictability of

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: someone's gonna come and save her or she's gonna find a weapon because

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_00]: they're on a farm like yeah go run off into the night on a farm where there's

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_00]: tools there's weapons more than likely so that even though the final moment

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: they are all shot in the car I did like how that was done with the intercutting

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: of the I guess home video footage and the soundtrack was good and that final

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: just bloodbath Bonnie and Clyde sort of thing I liked

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and so I'm glad that it had that epilogue as opposed to just seeing

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Sherrymoon zombie and the three rejects get away

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_00]: overall I did like it I think at some point I would like to go back and

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: revisit it and I could see it going up over time

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and yeah that is a heavy three and a half out of five