Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Jul 27, 2005 20:32:50 GMT -5
Plot:After the events which transpired in "Corpses", the police led by slain sheriff Wydells brother,raid the firefly house. After a massive shootout,Otis,Baby,and Captain Spaulding manage to escape rugsville,and go on the run.
Cast:
Sid Haig
Bill Moseley
Sheri Moon
William Forsythe
Ken Foree
Matthew McGrory
Leslie Easterbrook
Geoffrey Lewis
Michael Berryman
My thoughts:The villains have become the victims.
Review:Those of us who saw the first movie in this series entitled "House of 1000 Corpses",know that this family of crazies mercilessly tortured and eventually killed a group of lost teenagers who made the fatal mistake of trying to track down a local legend slasher/doctor named dr satan.Now comes the sequel,aptly titled "The Devils Rejects".But this film is more than a sequel, it's mainly the shot in the vein for those who saw the original film and wanted to see the Firefly family pay for their haneous and sick actions.The film starts off with showing Tiny dragging the corpse of a dead girl across the grass and quickly goes into a massive police raid on the Firefly home. This raid is led by sheriff Wydell, the brother of the slain sheriff in the first film. Those honors were done by mother Firefly (Karen Black). During the raid which includes a very cool shootout scene where the fireflies pull a few tricks on the lawmen, mother Firefly (played by Leslie Easterbrook in this film) is captured.But Otis,and Baby manage to escape. The film doesn't answer the many questions we were all left with about the Firefly family at the end of "HO1C",but it does answer two questions at the beginning. One pertains to Spauldings relationship to the family,and is a spoiler so I digress to reveal it, but the second answer everyone pretty much already knows.Captain Spaulding is in league with the firefly clan.and Thats revealed to us when Baby gives him a heads up about the police investigation.This movie is basically a 2 hour bloody road trip.An extremely mean-spirited one at that.Theres some really push the envelope type scenes early on in the movie.One scene in particular even shocked me immensely.Now to clear up some confusion,is this really a horror movie or not? Some people say it is others say it isn't. My diagnosis, it is. But not from the standpoint we are used to i.e. monsters,demons,ghosts,or guys in a mask. The first film had a strong horror feel and element to it. This film deals with the horror of the common human being.Rob Zombie really does a good job of making you fear the characters in this film. and Thats really where the horror part comes in. These 3 are a scary bunch,a group of people you would not want to run into in any given situation.Yea they're just on-screen characters,but they push the limit of sickness and psychoticness so far, you actually sometimes shake your head at how anyone could be so twisted.Compared to the first movie,where they were much more violent in their actions,in this movie they add a perverse tinge to it all.Haig,Moseley,and Moon really do a good job in making us believe these people are way past being nuts.Veteran genre actor Ken Foree makes a few appearances in the film as a pimp named Charlie. He plays his part really well and adds a bit of comedy to the film in a few scenes. His sidekick Clevon played by Michael Berryman does what he can with his limited role.Forees character also makes a key appearance late in the movie.William Forsythe is no slouch in this film either,as sheriff Wydell. He himself is a great character study. He starts off as a lawman just trying to stop these 3 before they do anymore damage. But slowly starts to toe the line between being a lawman and breaking the law in the name of vengeance.
This creates a nice mix of scenarios as the film nears the end because by this time,theres no clear good guy,thus forcing the audience to pick from an over-the-edge Wydell,or the Fireflys if they're going to root for anyone to come out of it all alive.For those of you who wanted to see the Fireflys pay for their crimes,you definitely won't be disappointed. They have their fun,but eventually get theres at some point in this movie. I won't give away what happens though.The ending is a fitting one which I had no complaints about.I should point out that this movie is for hardcore horror fans only. In the sense that it really pushes your *how much can you take of on-screen nastiness?* limit."TDR" isn't a great stand alone film,but in the context of continuing the story of the chaos that took place in "HO1C" and the story of characters involved,it does it's job there really well. Thereby making it a good continuation film.
Pros:Nice shoot out scene at the beginning,great performances by everyone involved,and a fitting end to all the madness which ensued for a whole hour and 40 minutes.I also liked the way they pushed the limit with the violence.Really living up to the films title.
Cons:I wish we had found out more about the families background,and Dr Satan being AWOL...Not cool.
Overall:A nasty sequel to a nasty first movie. It's as gritty,dirty,and twisted as the original.With a perverse tinge to it. It's scary from a human standpoint. But if you're looking for standard horror movie scares such as ghosts,zombies, or slashers, you won't find it here. and If you have a limit to how much on-screen nastiness you can take,avoid this movie at all costs.