499: 31

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 206, let's get to 31, which came out in 2016, done by Zombie, stars Malcolm McDowell, Richard

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Brake, Sherry Moon Zombie, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, Kevin Jackson, mainly people who are

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: in all of Zombie's films.

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And the snops is, five carnival workers are kidnapped and held hostage in an abandoned

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: hellish compound where they are forced to participate in a violent game, the goal of

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: which is to survive 12 hours against a gang of sadistic clowns.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So this was one of the first Rob Zombie films that I saw.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I got it on Blu-ray just blind-botted because I was curious about Zombie's films, wanted

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_00]: to see what he was all about and this was only my second time watching it.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I know this is considered to be him having done Lords of Salem before this.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess this was his not return to form in terms of quality, but just returning to his

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: roots I guess stylistically because this is pretty much in the same vein or might

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: as well be in the same trilogy as Devil's Rejects House of a Thousand Corpses because

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: it's the same setting, the same era, the same group of actors, the same type of story,

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: except the actors who played the killers in the other films are now for the most

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: part the victims and or survivors.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Which I don't mind a movie like this, I don't mind that it feels like the others,

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: it's just Zombie being Zombie doing the things that he seems to like the most which

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: is shock value and a lot of gore in a survival-esque sort of setting.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And both times that I've seen it, it's about at the same level would be on par

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: with most of his other films.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: It is in some ways refreshing to see a movie like this that considering it's not

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_00]: connected to the others, it's all on its own.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a very self-contained wild gorefest of a film that we don't really see that

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: often anymore, especially done to any sort of artistic quality or impact.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Because even people who might watch this and not like it, I feel like it would still

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: stick with you, it's hard to forget.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Getting into it though, the opening in black and white with that long monologue,

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't mind that, I think it looks good, I like how it's shot but the monologue

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: overall just goes on too long and I like that it's in your face and it makes you

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: uneasy, I just feel like it could have been condensed somewhat.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It has a lot of signature Rob Zombie character designs and production design,

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: for example probably the most iconic is the Nazi henchman guy,

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: that character design is insane.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: The look of Malcolm McDowell and his wife who are dressed up as these

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: almost like Marie Antoinette era style costumes with the powdered wigs and the

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: face makeup.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: There's the killer couple let's say, and in particular the female character or

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: the girlfriend who has an almost Harley Quinn look but it's different enough to

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: where it doesn't just feel like a blatant rip-off, it's its own design.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: One of I think the best scene in the whole movie because it is really Rob

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Zombie going full anger mode, sadistic, bloody, crazy is the scene the

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: survivors or the players let's call them are stuck in that room with the killer

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: clowns who all have the chainsaws and there's a point where they're

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_00]: essentially having a sword fight but with chainsaws and the chainsaws are

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: flying all over the screen, the blood is flying everywhere like it's really

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: unbelievable to watch and even though I'd seen it before I was just thinking

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: this is so demented but amazing at the same time.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: There's also one of or I'd say the grossest scene in the film is when the

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: main group of characters find the dinner table and they start eating and

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: they realize one of their lost friends is the table itself and they've been

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: eating right off of him and it's really like oh it's so disgusting but

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: it's very effective and that I remember when I first saw that blew me away in

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: terms of how grotesque it was but then when I saw it this time I had

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: forgotten about it and when it came I was like oh no I remember this now.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: The original ambush at night when the main group is captured and they

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: suddenly find themselves stuck in this hellhole.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: The character of Doomhead is quite something especially when you first

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: meet him where he's having sex with a girl that's seen as classic Rob Zombie

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: in my opinion and we do see him giving that monologue at the beginning

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: but you don't really know his place in the story at that point in time.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: A few small criticisms I do find that even though it's fairly short it's only

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: 90-ish minutes it does feel a little long by the end that third act drags

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: somewhat and it's not as visually interesting to me and I feel like

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a point where I'm ready for it to be over.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Since we have seen most of this kind of thing before from Rob Zombie and just

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: the overall story beats of the movie become somewhat repetitive.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: There's only so much gore and craziness that we can take before it just

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: all runs together and it's not impacting anything anymore.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Also was not crazy about the freeze framing which he does for some

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: do that throughout a lot of those movies but I feel like in this one it's the most

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: prominently used or the most consistently used.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It didn't really add much and after a while it just became distracting

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and it could have lost all those freeze frames and would not have

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: hurt the narrative or the style or just overall quality in any way.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: So in the end this is one that I can always go back to and throw on

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00]: if I'm just in the mood for some quick in your face Rob Zombie

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and I don't have to worry about watching the whole trilogy or breaking things up.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_00]: This is just in its own little crazy world which is cool.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I doubt it will be the one to win over non-Rob Zombie fans or new audiences

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I would say this is not the one to start with in my opinion unless you're already a

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_00]: big big horror fan. So that one is a heavy 3.5

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: out of 5.