The Devil’s Rejects (Blu-ray)
Picture: B Sound: B Extras: C Film: D
How bad
is Rob Zombie’s 2005 murderfest The
Devil’s Rejects is? Well, you have
to go back to how and how long it took for him to get House Of 1,000 Corpses (unreviewed) issued. Originally, Universal Pictures picked it up
and wanted to have it as part of their Horror legacy. It kept getting more and more delayed until
the studio took a later look at it and dropped it. What would have spelled disaster was soon
forgotten when it found new distribution and was a surprise moderate hit. It was not that good either, but lucked out
by riding a mostly unrecognized cycle of Horror films that are like Snuff films
where people watch to see the torture and killing without any ironic distance
as given characters are tortured and killed.
Part of
the influence is a screwy misinterpretation of what Tobe Hooper achieved in his
1974 classic The Texas Chain Saw
Massacre, one of the most imitated films now ever made. Sure, it had influences too, but the
low-budget classic just stuck with people and has been rediscovered by new
generations of filmmakers since, including musician Zombie. One of the greatest mistakes in the Texas Chain Saw sequels have been that
they were shot in 35mm film instead of the original 16mm, making them less
realistic. When the classic was remake,
original cinematographer Daniel Pearl used 35mm, but insisted on a new approach
that made that version a moderate hit and curio.
Here,
Zombie makes all the same pedestrian mistakes the remakes and rip-offs have
since 1975, thinking he is being effectively retro when he is just doing the
same thing that literally hundreds of others have been doing all this
time. Ripping off and recycling Texas Chain Saw without admitting it
does not make you cleverer than obviously ripping off George Romero’s original Night Of The Living Dead in endless
homage. First, the set up.
Instead
of a cannibal family, we get a family of killers taking on the local
authorities ruthlessly, beginning with a very obvious sequence (so much so that
what will happen is telegraphed by the freeze-frames used in the 1970s mode
more as cliché than clever homage or application) as Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon
Zombie) pretends to be injured on the road to attack an innocent person who is
instantly stabbed in the back to death. This
is a sequel to House Of 1,000 Corpses,
but you don’t need to see the original to see why this is so lame.
Then,
they go on their rampage, killing many of the local sheriff’s men and not stopping
until he gets as crazy and murderous for the obvious, lame showdown. Even in the uncut version, the gore has no
context. Also, when this was more
original in the 1970s (including a few good knock-offs to be reviewed later) it
was supposed to play on the fears of the counterculture, Vietnam, Watergate,
Kent State, Rock Music (when it was still considered dangerous, something
Zombie’s career has not begun to reinfuse the genre with and probably never
will with More Human Than Human being
licensed to the point of idiocy) and political assassinations is missing, so
all the murders and signature 1970s shots & editing happen for no good
reason, with no context and no good point.
It is
actually embarrassing how this and the purposely degraded look is done to
overkill, pun intended. If it is
supposed to offer some kind of great showdown, it fails miserably because of
lack of form, suspense and a sort of death worship obsession that happens to
the point of being a stupid sick joke.
The result is what I have to say is to date, the dumbest Texas Chain Saw Massacre rip-off ever
made by a longshot.
It is an
extremely watered down version of the 1974 Hooper film for people who could not
handle the original or similar films like Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971) and you know
you are in big trouble when you get this kind of film with extremely grandiose
self-congratulatory statements and quotes.
The back of the case describes the climax (if we can call it that after the
all the blood as masturbation that has happened up until then) calls it “”one
of the most depraved and terrifying showdowns in cinematic history” as if it
were cinematic enough to qualify.
By
comparison, writer/director David DeFalco’s own recent cheap knock–off of Texas Chain Saw based on a 1970s serial
killer called Chaos (2005, reviewed
elsewhere on this site) did the same thing and actually ripped off the opening
text idea. It was really bad, but still
actually better than this mess despite its constant incompetence and equally
grandiose boastings. Haig and company
offer mixed performances since Zombie does not know how much they should act or
“act natural” as it were. Instead, it is
like some kind of grunt-fest like pro-wrestlers suddenly skipping the gym,
skipping baths and taking crystal meth or the like.
How
beyond obvious can you get? Very. And all the blood, gore and smugness will
never cover it up.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot on 35mm film by cinematographer
Phil Parmet, who has done far better work in films like American Gun is in a no-win situation here. The high quality of this format shows how good
aspects of the film stock was before being worn down, very much so, trying to
look like older film. Though it is
supposed to be taking place now, the usage of a quasi-1970s style is more about
being part of the genre world than any real one and it fails miserably.
The Dolby
Digital 5.1 EX and DTS HD 5.1 ES mixes have the kind of Rock-genre punch you
would expect from Zombie and Tyler Bates joins him for the instrumental parts,
while Terry Reid writes and actually performs some of them. It is nothing memorable in either case and
the DTS HD mix is better, though more of a gimmicky mix than one that is remarkable
in any way. It will not sound any better
than this. Extras include deleted scenes
that would have made no difference and two audio commentaries: one with Zombie and other with a group of the
film’s main actors Sid Haig, Bill Moseley and Sheri Moon Zombie.
For more
on Zombie, try these links:
House Of 1,000 Corpses (Blu-ray)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5950/House+Of+1,000+Corpses+(Blu-ray)
Halloween
(2007/Theatrical Film Review)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5906/Halloween+(2007/Theatrical+Film
- Nicholas Sheffo
