Rob Zombie

[criterionmaster]

I guess we can use this thread to discuss everything Rob Zombie. I will start by posting my review for his newest film, The Devil's Rejects.

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After Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses I was looking forward to this film greatly, especially after it got so many positive reviews. With House of 1000 Corpses I saw that Rob Zombie knew what he was doing with the horror genre and he clearly loved doing it. I hadn’t seen someone pay that much respect to a genre in years. While it was a masterpiece it was still an entertaining film to watch, even more so for horror fans.

This film follows the characters Baby, Captain Spaulding, and Otis after the events in the fist film. They are still being chased by the cops for all the murders they have committed.

It is told in a way where it doesn’t take itself too seriously which is a relief seeing as how most new horror films try to be serious when they clearly shouldn’t be. It is just a blast to watch and after the first shootout I knew I was in for a treat. The family’s house is surrounded by cops, the family is swearing every other word and it just makes for an awesome opening to the film.

Like I said they way Zombie respects and loves what he is doing clearly shows. He casts a great face in every role. He has such horror icons as P.J. Soles, Ken Foree, and Michael Berryman come in to play a part. Zombie plays the “every part is important” role casting great people for every role.

The cast is just absolutely perfect; Sid Haig has never been better. Everyone plays an over-the-top role which just adds to the excitement and fun of the film.

I don’t want it to seem like the film has no scary parts, because it does. When they are in the house with the husband and wife locked up I haven’t seen a scene so claustrophobic in recent years, it is just bizarre and terrifying. It is a genuine terror, not all the blood and gore that most horror films rely on.



The soundtrack is one of the best in recent years, every single songs fit with the film. They all have a southern rock-y tone to them and work. Never will I be able to listen to “Free Bird” without thinking of this film. It is one of the best uses of song in film and works so perfectly.

The cinematography is all handheld which is a great look. Horror films should go back to this feel, makes it feel more real. Zombie says he tried not to use the same shot in a scene, because it would give it a “movie feel” if you saw the same shot. Having the camera moving gives it the effect you are there. The end with the helicopter shots are beautiful.

Definitely one of the best horror films to come out in years and probably the most fun I have had watching a new film in years. Everything about this film fits with my taste perfectly, it feels like my film.



Final Rating (on quality): 8/10 (based on how much I liked it) 10/10

[THE NIGHTTHING]

While Rob Zombie had always had a presence to horrorfans via his music and as a bit of an authority on horror movies, when announced as writer-director of a new terror-laden feature project which he boldly promised to harken back to the brutal films of the Sensational '70s, many observers noted his resume of (admittedly stunning) rock videos and assumed the worst: oh, no, another popstar vanity project - he'll probably cast himself as the craziest psycho on the block and fill the soundtrack with his particular brand of thumping metal.

When the film was completed, reports were that Zombie had made a thing so nasty that it could not possibly be unleashed upon an unsuspecting public. The studio (Universal, home of the American Horror Film!) locked it away in some dungeon, never again to see the light of a projector. While the rocker-turned-goremeister pleaded for clemency on the film's behalf, hardcore fans parried for its release, excited by the prospect of a horror movie so ghastly that the studio moneymen would willingly write-off the loss.

Zombie managed to wrangle the beast from its imprisonment and embarked on a journey to discover if anyone had the gory guts enough to distribute his bloody shocker. After other major and minor studios had played "hot potato" with the film, the director finally found a warm home for it: Lions Gate. The terrifically-titled HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES was now given a chance to turn-off and gross-out on its own terms.

Becoming a minor success after its two-year shelving, CORPSES lived up to the promises from Rob Zombie - it did have that intense '70s vibe - and killed off cynical comments attributed to various followers of the film's history. It wasn't a "vanity project", with Mr. Zombie only appearing in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him cameo, and while the shock-rocker co-wrote the score and performed several original songs for the soundtrack, other artists' songs from the period setting (circa mid-'70s) were employed to as great effect as in any Scorsese or Tarantino film.

Although HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES was scorched by the mainstream critics for the debased subject matter, and even sustaining only a mixed reaction from genre observers (due to its music-vid editing and the perceived muddled ending), debated among horror fiends as a love-it-or-loathe-it piece of maniac mayhem, the film was a comparable hit and the twisted characters (and, thus, the actors that portrayed the deviants) became the new icons of horror - Freddy's dead, Jason's gone to hell, and only Dr. Loomis and God might know whatever happened to Michael Myers*.

A sequel was beckoned, was announced (enticingly-titled THE DEVIL'S REJECTS) and was promptly delivered.

And it was well-received. Horrorfans embraced it; even the mainstreamers rated it highly.

What?! How did that happen?

In the intervening years between the initial greenlight of boogeyman Rob Zombie's (horror) film debut and its belated release, the dead genre - murdered by the Wes Craven-induced trend of the post-Deconstructuralist ironic teen slasher flick in the late-'90s - was being slowly resurrected with (appropriately!) the living dead leading the way (RESIDENT EVIL, 28 DAYS LATER**). By the time CORPSES was finally seen by filmgoers, including infamous showings at film festivals, and greeted as the ripple that could grow into a new-wave of grindhouse cinema, a remake of gore-classic THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE was being produced and '70s-stylist Tarantino had re-emerged to make a kung fu revenge picture.

With the cumulative success of the above-mentioned films (and others like WRONG TURN and the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD), when THE DEVILS REJECTS arrived in mid-'05, the wished-for grindhouse revival was underway, and Rob Zombie was highlighted as the ringleader.


(excerpt from the forth-coming book THE NIGHTTHING'S GUIDE TO CINEMA: THRILLERS, CHILLERS, SHOCKERS & SCHLOCKERS)


*Oh! That's right! Mr. Zombie is reviving him as we speak.

** Yes, I know the 28 DAYS threat isn't really (but they do resemble) the living dead.

[criterionmaster]

Very nice! When can we expect the book? Seems like it could be an awesome read, although what were your thoughts on the films? Sounds like you were mixed on 1000 Corpses, and liked Rejects, couldn't really tell though.

By the way, you forgot to log in.

[criterionmaster]

I recently watched Devil's Rejects w/Rob Zombie commentary and it was fantastic. Zombie goes into detail on many funny things that happened while making the film. I love listening to Zombie talk, I think he could record some commentaries on classic horror films and I would listen.

Also the doc on Devil's Rejects disc 2 is the way docs should be made. I loved everything about it and it had tons of great behind the scenes footage.

Check both out if you liked the film.