Where to begin? Well Im going to begin with the fact that this a sequel to 1k Corpses that goes in a completely different direction and thus is hardly even comparable to its predecessor. Corpses was first and foremost a freak show set around a very generic plot line (2 couples get stuck in the middle of nowhere....horror occurs). Dialogue was non-existent and actual visual imagery of torture was in my opinion normally only displaying the conclusions (i.e. rather than seeing someone get impaled on a wall, you'd see the person impaled on the wall and covered in blood and dirt). In my opinion, Zombie had a good vision with 1000 Corpses but lacked the directorship and screenplay to make it work.
Thus, moving to Devil's Rejects we have a much improved director with a script that removes much of the Gothic/circus like feel of its predecessor and replaces it with a cool cinematographic feel (namely the deep south, creepy backwoods whorehouses and motels). Additionally, Zombie uses color in this movie. Many shots take in the Texas blue sky or barren landscape, it shows he is a director more confident in his ability to fill the screen whereas 1000 corpses was shot in proverbial rain or indoors.
I haven't even gotten to the plot or the acting. Sid Haig and Bill Moseley shine. The characters are given a personal dimension. And ultimately, I think what pisses off so many people about this movie is that you either have to root for the serial killers, or walk out of the movie, and that to me is completely awesome. Additionally, what pisses off people is that this is not a straight up psycho/Gothic/devil worshiping gore fest. And again I think that is the beauty of the film. You don't have monsters terrifying people, you have a script that both hoists the family (devil's rejects) up as a true-blue American family, father, mother, sister, brother, love, in-fighting, jokes, partying....Zombie doesn't force home the disturbed underlying nature of the family. Instead he tries as hard as possible to humanize people who are at the deepest level completely morbid.
And the certain levels of morbid interplay between the rejects and their victims is far more compelling in my opinion than any type of monster-like cannibalism/torture/insert standard horror gore. For instance when Otis is driving the two band members out to help him fetch guns, there is some dialog between him and his soon to be victims where he outright tells him whats going to happen -- they get the guns, he kills them. This provides a great bit of interplay where the band members are not really able to grasp their impending deaths...this is far more interesting to me than if Otis were to just go out into the desert and slowly torture people, which I think is what some fans of Zombie wanted to see. And of course the violence is there, its just preceded by forced human interaction which almost embodies an anti-social mythos. See, Baby forcing the girls to hit each other, see Otis using weaponry to sexually assault. And of course so much of the movie isn't about the cause but the effects of the rejects. See the police chief's devolution, see the girl running into the highway. I mean the world Zombie creates is not as simple as I think many wish it were. Violence and disturbing human behavior emanate throughout, but its not all obvious, things happen that you don't see coming, and its not all directly related to the Reject's ---and to me that is very cool.
Lastly, there is the way Zombie shot many of the scenes in a slow-motion feel. In the DVD interview he pays homage to the old Bonnie and Clyde film as inspiration for the ending to this flick. I think it was fantastic. He tries to offer a new look at gun battles and does so by slowing it all down. And you also have the interesting themes of the movie which I think can be stated as the "exploration/need to employ evil to fight evil" Of course the police chief is the vehicle for all of this, but again Zombie does not resort to the standard protagonist/ antagonist roles so often used to support the horror genre. There is no real good/bad in this movie because the supposed good guys end up devolving into equally morbid people.
All in all, I think anyone who sees this movie will be shocked, albeit for very different ways. I don't agree with any of the negative reviews on this page. I think most people were either
a) disgusted because the general aura surrounding the reject's family is extremely depraved and can turn many viewers away; b) disappointed because they expected a true-blue horror movie which to many is sadly the same old regurgitated violence/lack of character development/and lack of plot.
I for one was overjoyed to have finally watched a movie that makes you squirm, makes you cheer for the killers, and does so with a great soundtrack, and decent cinematographer, this is the horror genre after all. And for all the haters, I will throw you a bone, Sheri-moon zombie, although playfully dumb and thus kinda fitting her role like Keenu Reeves fits so many of his roles, is still out-acted at almost every turn. SEE THIS MOVIE PEOPLE!!!!!!
Thus, moving to Devil's Rejects we have a much improved director with a script that removes much of the Gothic/circus like feel of its predecessor and replaces it with a cool cinematographic feel (namely the deep south, creepy backwoods whorehouses and motels). Additionally, Zombie uses color in this movie. Many shots take in the Texas blue sky or barren landscape, it shows he is a director more confident in his ability to fill the screen whereas 1000 corpses was shot in proverbial rain or indoors.
I haven't even gotten to the plot or the acting. Sid Haig and Bill Moseley shine. The characters are given a personal dimension. And ultimately, I think what pisses off so many people about this movie is that you either have to root for the serial killers, or walk out of the movie, and that to me is completely awesome. Additionally, what pisses off people is that this is not a straight up psycho/Gothic/devil worshiping gore fest. And again I think that is the beauty of the film. You don't have monsters terrifying people, you have a script that both hoists the family (devil's rejects) up as a true-blue American family, father, mother, sister, brother, love, in-fighting, jokes, partying....Zombie doesn't force home the disturbed underlying nature of the family. Instead he tries as hard as possible to humanize people who are at the deepest level completely morbid.
And the certain levels of morbid interplay between the rejects and their victims is far more compelling in my opinion than any type of monster-like cannibalism/torture/insert standard horror gore. For instance when Otis is driving the two band members out to help him fetch guns, there is some dialog between him and his soon to be victims where he outright tells him whats going to happen -- they get the guns, he kills them. This provides a great bit of interplay where the band members are not really able to grasp their impending deaths...this is far more interesting to me than if Otis were to just go out into the desert and slowly torture people, which I think is what some fans of Zombie wanted to see. And of course the violence is there, its just preceded by forced human interaction which almost embodies an anti-social mythos. See, Baby forcing the girls to hit each other, see Otis using weaponry to sexually assault. And of course so much of the movie isn't about the cause but the effects of the rejects. See the police chief's devolution, see the girl running into the highway. I mean the world Zombie creates is not as simple as I think many wish it were. Violence and disturbing human behavior emanate throughout, but its not all obvious, things happen that you don't see coming, and its not all directly related to the Reject's ---and to me that is very cool.
Lastly, there is the way Zombie shot many of the scenes in a slow-motion feel. In the DVD interview he pays homage to the old Bonnie and Clyde film as inspiration for the ending to this flick. I think it was fantastic. He tries to offer a new look at gun battles and does so by slowing it all down. And you also have the interesting themes of the movie which I think can be stated as the "exploration/need to employ evil to fight evil" Of course the police chief is the vehicle for all of this, but again Zombie does not resort to the standard protagonist/ antagonist roles so often used to support the horror genre. There is no real good/bad in this movie because the supposed good guys end up devolving into equally morbid people.
All in all, I think anyone who sees this movie will be shocked, albeit for very different ways. I don't agree with any of the negative reviews on this page. I think most people were either
a) disgusted because the general aura surrounding the reject's family is extremely depraved and can turn many viewers away; b) disappointed because they expected a true-blue horror movie which to many is sadly the same old regurgitated violence/lack of character development/and lack of plot.
I for one was overjoyed to have finally watched a movie that makes you squirm, makes you cheer for the killers, and does so with a great soundtrack, and decent cinematographer, this is the horror genre after all. And for all the haters, I will throw you a bone, Sheri-moon zombie, although playfully dumb and thus kinda fitting her role like Keenu Reeves fits so many of his roles, is still out-acted at almost every turn. SEE THIS MOVIE PEOPLE!!!!!!