Even though Zombie doubled the money that it cost to make House of 1000 Corpses, and the characters grew a huge underground fan club, sadly the critical and initial fan response to the film was not good to say the least. Many critics blasted it, failing to see where Zombie got his inspiration and where he was taking the characters. Fans came away either loving or hating the film. Oddly enough over the years, the film is considered now to be a cult classic. Regardless of either stance, this is a film I think deserves it's just dues as many more exploitation films followed in its footsteps and take generously from the blueprint Zombie left behind. There is a timeless feel from this film that would translate to any generation and Zombie carries that over into the sequel. In July 2005, The Devil's Rejects, the sequel to House of 1000 Corpses, hit the screens. Zombie himself stated that he wanted to make the film less cartoonish than the original and more horrific—more like a violent Western. With a budget that was about the same as the original, Zombie managed to not only make the film have a bigger feel and scope, he managed to bring more emotional depth to his characters and their plight. Zombie brought back Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley and Sid Haig to play their original roles and made a few small cast changes and additions, such as Leslie Easterbrook taking over the role of Mother Firefly (due to budgetary reasons), the additions of Danny Trejo and “Diamond” Dallas Page as the amoral bounty hunters Rondo and Billy Ray Snapper, and the highly underrated performance of William Forsythe as Sheriff Wydell. Another nice touch was the addition of genre acting veterans Steve Railsback, Tyler Mane, Kane Hodder, P.J. Soles, Mary Woronov, Michael Berryman and Ken Foree. With the expansion of the characters 56
and the locations, the film took on an even more dangerous air as the murdering trio are no longer confined to their home, but are now on the run and spreading the carnage across the state with no regard for anyone but themselves and their escape. While Otis, Baby and Spaulding are continuing their reign of terror and are trying to escape, they have moments on the road that we can all relate to. There is a certain jocularity when Baby wants to stop for ice cream and Otis is dead set against it, acting like the big brother that just wants to be a pain in the ass. You start to feel a certain empathy with the characters as they continue to evolve, and you lose whatever compassion you had for the law and justice as the police involved continue to cross the line and become worse than the criminals they are hunting down. The technical quality of the film is improved from the first, but I feel that is more of an advent of better technology and a different style of filming (and that is not a knock on Zombie's growth and development as a director. There is a quantum leap in terms of his knowledge of filmmaking from Corpses to Rejects.) Zombie brought in Phil Parmet because he wanted the film to have a more hand-held camera/documentary look. The soundtrack has a much more Southern rock quality to it, and after seeing the ending of the film, "Freebird" will never hold the same meaning for me again. The film has a bit more of a timeless look to it, but you can certainly tell it still takes place in the late '70s by the clothing and vehicles. Zombie certainly hit all of the marks you would expect from an exploitation/genre film, but if you went into the film expecting a straight horror film, you would be pleasantly surprised. Combining the elements of Western, horror and road movie, the vision of the film is coated in ultra-violence
and underlying emotional content that makes the film watcher question his own morality and how far one would go for family. The Devil's Rejects got praise from critics and fans alike, with even Roger Ebert enjoying the film and stating, “There is actually some good writing and acting going on here, if you can step back from the [violent] material enough to see it,” He also said, “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." While not every critic gave it such glowing reviews, those are certainly powerful statements about the film. By being the writer and director again, Zombie managed to complete the vision of his characters and give you an emotional send off as they speed to their deaths, guns blazing the whole way. How he managed to turn a group of psychotic killers into people that you actually care about at the end is simply amazing and a credit to his skills. But, what is the lasting impression these two films leave on the genre and say about Rob Zombie the filmmaker? In my opinion, these two films alone clearly show that Zombie has a passion and talent for storytelling, especially in the horror genre. The films themselves certainly possess a quality and a charisma that is very seldom seen from films of this generation, and take us back to a time when things were simpler and not as convoluted as they are now. I personally think that Universal dropped the ball on not picking up House of 1000 Corpses, and to a lesser degree, Lionsgate for not releasing the films as NC-17, which is something the genre sorely needs. Nonetheless, I am happy Lionsgate took a chance on films as innovative and groundbreaking as Zombie’s first two films. While many people very unfairly turn their noses up at anything Zombie does simply because it's Zombie doing it, he will always have huge fans in myself and this magazine. I can’t wait to see what you do next, Mr. Zombie! 57