The Devil's Rejects

After the horror that was House Of 1000 Corpses, I was a bit afraid to watch The Devil's Rejects. Not because House was such a frightening movie, but just the opposite! House Of 1000 Corpses, while having one of the best horror movie titles of all time, is also one of the least scary horror movies ever made. In fact, after seeing House in the theatre, I refused to see Rejects until it came to DVD, I just couldn't bear to waste another $10 on a bad movie, when I could waste a mere $3, and I almost wept openly when leaving the theatre after seeing House Of 1000 Corpses, after hearing the younger generation saying that this was the scariest thing they'd ever seen! "NO!!!!", I wanted to scream, "What kind of horror movies do you people watch nowadays?!" House Of 1000 Corpses is one of those movies that has all kinds of promise and then lives up to none of it. It was basically a music video dressed up with some horror movie elements, but scary, not even close to the neighborhood of scary!

So, you see my trepidation when approaching The Devil's Rejects. I expected more of the same. But, I'm not above saying that I was wrong. The Devil's Rejects is far superior to it's predecessor. It takes all the promise of the original and lives up to it. Now that being said, this is not your familiar horror movie, this is closer to an action/horror movie, but it's still worth your three dollars.

The Devil's Rejects picks up shortly after the original House Of 1000 Corpses. The brother of the sheriff killed in the original is our for revenge on the evil Firefly family, which turns the sequel into more of a revenge/chase movie than a horror movie. There are still elements of horror here, the Firefly's are just as insane as they were in the first, they just seem to have more direction. The basic story here is the Firefly's running from the law, and the law crossing the line to get to them until we're not sure who's the bad guys and who are the good guys. At first we sympathize with the sheriff looking to avenge his brother, then after a while, the sheriff seems darker and more menacing than the evil he's pursuing. It's a very well put together movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat, without resorting to the tired cliches of the first movie, and the first movie didn't really use those cliches all that well!

I give The Devil's Rejects a solid three and a half fully burning cigars for Rob Zombies ability to identify the weak parts of the original and get rid of them in the sequel. If you haven't seen them, these two movies would make great afternoon of 'lying on the couch' viewing. So, until the next time we meet when I'll be pulling teenagers off the street and showing them true horror movies, just as a teaching tool, remember that the best movies are bad movies!