The Devil's Rejects

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The Devil's Rejects
Theatrical poster
Directed byRob Zombie
Written byRob Zombie
Produced byRob Zombie
Mike Elliott
Michael Ohoven
StarringSid Haig
Bill Moseley
Sheri Moon
William Forsythe
CinematographyPhil Parmet
Edited byGlenn W. Garland
Music byTyler Bates
Terry Reid
Rob Zombie
Distributed byLions Gate Films
Maple Pictures
Release dates
July 22, 2005
Running time
109 min.
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5,000,000
Box office$19,390,029

The Devil's Rejects is a 2005 exploitation horror film written and directed by Rob Zombie. It is the sequel to his 2003 film House of 1000 Corpses. The movie is about the family of psychopathic killers from the previous film now on the run.

Plot

Six months after the events in House of 1000 Corpses, Texas Sheriff John Quincy Wydell and a large posse of State Troopers begin a full-scale attack against the murderous Firefly family residence for over 70 homicides and disappearances that they have caused over the previous several years. Tiny is missing, Rufus is killed and Mother Firefly is taken into custody. However, two of the most dangerous family members (Otis and Baby) escape.

The duo seek refuge at a run-down motel, where they torture and murder the five members of Banjo and Sullivan, a traveling country band. They then meet up with Baby's father, Captain Spaulding.

Meanwhile, Wydell slowly begins to lose his sanity, when during his attempt to interrogate Mother Firefly for the whereabouts of her kin, she reveals that she murdered his brother George (an event that occurred in the first film). Later, after having dreams of his brother urging him to avenge him, Wydell stabs Mother Firefly to death.

The surviving Fireflys gather at a whorehouse owned by Captain Spaulding's brother (by adoption), Charlie Altamont, where he offers them shelter from the police. After leaving the whorehouse to purchase some chickens, Charlie is threatened at gunpoint by Wydell to give up the Fireflys. With the help of a pair of amoral bounty hunters known as the "Unholy Two", the sheriff takes the family back to the Firefly house where he delights in torturing them in ways similar to the methods they used on their own victims. He nails Otis's hands to his chair and staples crime scene photographs to Otis' and Baby's stomach, beats and shocks Captain Spaulding with a cattleprod, as well as taunting Baby about the death of her mother.

He lights the house on fire and leaves Otis and Spaulding to burn while taking Baby outside to murder her. Charlie Altamont returns to save the Firefly family, but is brutally axed by Wydell. It is only the last minute intervention of Tiny that saves the Firefly family; the giant returns and snaps Wydell's neck. The Rejects are saved and share a brief tearful reunion. Tiny decides to go back into the burning house to die alone and Otis, Baby, and Spaulding escape in Charlie's car.

The film's final scene has the trio driving into the middle of a police barricade, with no sound heard except Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird. As the tempo of the last portion of the song increases, they grab their guns and go forward in a final blaze of glory, being shot to death by the police.

Cast

Actor Role
Sid Haig Captain Spaulding
Bill Moseley Otis B. Driftwood
Sheri Moon Zombie Baby Firefly
Tyler Mane Rufus
William Forsythe Sheriff John Quincey Wydell
Ken Foree Charlie Altamont
Matthew McGrory Tiny Firefly
Leslie Easterbrook Mother Firefly
Dave Sheridan Officer Ray Dobson
E. G. Daily Candy
Michael Berryman Clevon
Danny Trejo Rondo
Diamond Dallas Page Billy Ray Snapper
Brian Posehn Jimmy
Kate Norby Wendy Banjo
Priscilla Barnes Gloria Sullivan
Lew Temple Adam Banjo
Geoffrey Lewis Roy Sullivan
Tom Towles George Wydell
P. J. Soles Susan
Deborah Van Valkenburgh Casey
Ginger Lynn Allen Fanny
Chris Ellis Coggs
Mary Woronov Abbie
Daniel Roebuck Morris Green
Duane Whitaker Dr. Bankhead
Glenn Taranto Anchorman
Steve Railsback Sheriff Ken Dwyer (uncredited)

Production

Unused poster featuring Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon and Sid Haig.

When Rob Zombie wrote House of 1000 Corpses, he had a "vague idea for a story" about the brother of the sheriff that the Firefly clan killed coming back for revenge.[1] He did this in case the film was successful enough that there would be interest in another film. After Lions Gate Entertainment made back all of their money on the first day of Corpses theatrical release, they wanted Zombie to make another movie and he started to seriously think about a new story.[1] With Rejects, Zombie has said that he wanted to make it "more horrific" and the characters less cartoonish than in Corpses,[1] and that he wanted "to make something that was almost like a violent western. Sort of like a road movie."[2] He has also cited films like The Wild Bunch, Bonnie and Clyde and Badlands as influences on Rejects. When he approached William Forsythe about doing the film, he told the actor that the inspiration for how to portray his character came from actors like Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw.[2] Sheri Moon Zombie does not see the film as a sequel: "It's more like some of the characters from House of 1000 Corpses came on over, and now they're the Devil's Rejects."[3]

Zombie hired Phil Parmet, who had shot the legendary documentary Harlan County USA because he wanted to adopt a hand-held camera/documentary look.[2] Principal photography was emotionally draining for some of the actors. Sheri Moon Zombie remembers a scene she had to do with Forsythe that required her to cry. The scene took two to three hours to film and affected her so much that she did not come into work for two days afterward.[2]

Rejects went through the MPAA eight times earning an NC-17 rating every time until the last one.[4] According to Zombie, the censors had a problem with the overall tone of the film, specifically, they did not like the motel scene between Bill Moseley and Priscilla Barnes and so Zombie cut two minutes from it but restored them on the DVD version.[4]

Awards

Reception

The Devil's Rejects was financially successful, recouping its roughly $7 million budget during its opening weekend, and going on to earn over $16 million.[5]

Robert K. Elder, of the Chicago Tribune, disliked the movie, writing "[D]espite decades of soaking in bloody classics such as the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I Spit On Your Grave, Zombie didn't absorb any of the underlying social tension or heart in those films. He's no collage artist of influences, like Quentin Tarantino, crafting his movie from childhood influences. "Rejects" plays more like a junkyard of homages, strewn together and lost among inept cops, gaping plot holes and buzzard-ready dialog".[6]

Other reviewers, such as prominent critic Roger Ebert, enjoyed the film. Ebert gave the film three out of a possible four stars. He wrote, "There is actually some good writing and acting going on here, if you can step back from the material enough to see it."[7] Later, in his review for the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes Ebert referenced The Devil's Rejects, writing, "I received some appalled feedback when I praised Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects, but I admired two things about it: (1) It desired to entertain and not merely to sicken, and (2) its depraved killers were individuals with personalities, histories and motives."[8]

Horror movie website Dreadcentral.com gave the film a five out of five stars, saying, "As each frame passes by, it is apparent how much Rob Zombie has grown as a filmmaker even after just two films", and referred to the performances as "nothing short of amazing."[9]

Rotten Tomatoes garnered mixed reviews gaining a 54% rating. Top critics gave "The Devil's Rejects" a 50% approval rating.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Tobias, Scott (August 2, 2005). "Rob Zombie". The Onion A.V. Club. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d Lutman, Danny (July 15, 2004). "INT: Devil's Rejects". JoBlo.com. Retrieved 2007-08-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ "Meet the Rejects". Fangoria. August 2005. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ a b Ridley, Jim (July 21–25, 2005). "Sympathy for the Devils". Nasville Scene. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: date format (link) Cite error: The named reference "ridley" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ Box office/business page at the Internet Movie Database
  6. ^ Movie review: 'The Devil's Rejects' - Metromix Chicago Movies
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger; "The Devil's Rejects"; rogerebert.suntimes.com; July 22, 2005
  8. ^ Ebert, Roger; "The Hills Have Eyes"; rogerebert.suntimes.com; March 10, 2006.
  9. ^ Review of The Devil's Rejects at dreadcentral.com

External links and sources

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Devil's Rejects.
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