The Devil's Rejects

I finally watched The Devil's Rejects, the sequel to House of 1000 Corpses.

It wasn't horrible.  I was definitely entertained and wanted to finish the movie.  It wasn't like I was just waiting for the end credits to come.  But as most sequels tend to do, I was left a little disappointed.

First of all, nobody looks the same.  Now this movie was made only two years after the original and takes place around the same time, as the original takes place in October, 1977 and Devil’s Rejects in May, 1978.  However, Baby seems to have aged quite a bit in the face (Sheri Moon Zombie).  And not only does Mother Firefly have nearly perfect teeth in this one (in the first one they were nasty and rotted, like those Halloween Billy Bob teeth) but, she’s also a completely different person, which so often happens in sequels.  Also, Captain Spaulding hardly wears his make up at all, showing us just a regular guy with an major attitude problem.

None of the characters have the same level of, shall we say, crazy.  Otis (Bill Moseley), instead of coming across as the maniacal, sadistic narcissist that he portrayed in the first one, he comes off as a garden variety multiple murderer with what seems like some power reassurance rapist traits as well, just for good measure. 

Baby doesn’t have the same creepy child’s doll type voice, which was one of the best parts of House of 1000 Corpses.  Mother Firefly isn’t near as disgustingly flirty as she was in the first one.  I mean she made me cringe in 1000 Corpses but, I really just kinda rolled my eyes at her character in Devil’s Rejects.

Although the family dynamic is still solid and twisted, there’s definitely a level of terror and eeriness missing from the sequel.  There aren’t near as many grotesque images and scenes and there’s not near the violence in most of the killings.  Again, there’s much more of a sexual sadistic undertone in this sequel.

And after all the hoopla, the Firefly family ends up dead.  Mother Firefly is killed by the brother of Officer George Wydell, Sheriff John Wydell.  Baby, Otis and Captain Spaulding all go down in a hail of bullets in a gun battle with the police.  We are even led to believe Tiny dies in a burning house.

I will say again that I found this entertaining.  I just expected more gore and blood and violence.

RATING
3/5

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