Astonishment and delight can both be found in the hardcore horror film The Devil’s Rejects. It is amazing that it succeeds in its stated objective of disturbing people by being as gruesome as possible. But it is questionable whether that objective is worthwhile and whether a film trying to elevate the sexually predatory Firefly family and serial killers to heroic status is worth your attention.
Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects, which began production months after the conclusion of House of 1000 Corpses in 2003, is a sort of sequel to that film. This time, the “Devil’s Rejects,” a group of violent criminals and undoubtedly useless family members from the last movie, are at the core of the fight.
Regardless of how you feel about the morals of the movie, it does contain some great action and talented performances. The director’s wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, does possess a gift that implies she would perform admirably in more deserving roles. Sid Haig, who plays the clown-faced murderer Captain Spaulding, is unsettling and impressionable. William Forsythe, who plays Sheriff Wydell, the Lord’s “holy blade of vengeance” who pursues the Fireflies, gives the best performance.
The inclusion of hilarious segments adds to the film’s overall appeal. The ice cream shop is lighthearted, and the scene with the fornicating chickens is amusing. You have a masterpiece when you combine terrific B-movie actors. Here are Lew Temple, Ken Foree, and Michael Berryman. Kane Hodder and PJ Soles make cameo appearances as well. It is a veritable who’s who of today’s horror industry.
This chiller has brutal murders, unnerving terror, scabrous violence, startling, nudism, and a lot of blood and gore. The grisly assassinations are exceedingly graphic and nauseatingly violent, with several shots depicting stabbings, punches, beheadings, and other heinous acts. The film’s greatest parts are the last visuals, in which a family in a car battles the cops while a beautiful song plays in the background. The picture has graphic horror, suspense, horrifying cries, tension, shocks, excessive gore, and a lot of blood and guts.
Hell Doesn’t Want Them, Hell Doesn’t Love Them, This World Rejects Them – The Devil’s Rejects (2005)
Quite possibly the most appalling movie, The Devil’s Reject’s [2005] is both repugnant and entertaining. Not everyone’s cup of tea but who can stomach it ,will discover a horror masterpiece. In May 1978, The video started with newspaper articles about missing persons and a narrative of how they were discovered. The Firefly house was searched by the police, they discovered parts of the body in the refrigerator as well as furnishings made out of human limbs. They also discovered enough evidence and bodies in the basement to estimate the Firefly death toll at 75, perhaps more. The media dubbed the family “The Devil’s Reject” for the rest of their lives.
Tiny is spotted lugging a nude, disfigured woman’s body through the woods early one morning. He’s on his way to the Firefly house when he notices a swarm of police cars approaching the house as well. Tiny raises his burlap sack, which covers his burned face, and peers at the swarm of cops approaching the home. He hides in the wilderness and he goes unnoticed.
The cops pull up at the front of the Firefly house and park their cars. Sheriff John Quincy Wydell, brother of Lieutenant George Wydell, who the Firefly family had assassinated, leads the police force. The cops put on their bullet-proof jackets and prepare their weapons. Officer Ray Dobson asks Sheriff Wydell if he believes his soldiers will die today. He draws his shotgun out and prepares to speak into a speaker box. Otis is resting next to a nude female corpse inside the home, Baby is sound asleep in her bedroom, and Mother Firefly is fast asleep in her chamber.
When Wydell instructs them to come out calmly since the police has surrounded their home. They are all awake now. Otis notices all the officers through a window. He changes into his shirt and jeans, grabs his revolver, and heads downstairs. Baby gets dressed, grabs her rifle, and follows Mother Firefly downstairs. Rufus Jr., wearing full metal body armour, has already arrived at the foot of the stairs and informs them that they are fully surrounded. Mother Firefly claims Tiny left yesterday night and hasn’t returned when the Firefly brood inquires about him. Otis and Rufus take up positions in the front of the home, while Mother Firefly and Baby take up positions in the back, near the kitchen.
During their investigation of the residence, the cops discovered multiple journals and photographs of all the individuals the Fireflys’ have ever slained. They find Captain Spaulding laughing and showing off his bloodied hands, in a bunch of the photos with various deceased persons. Wydell spots Spaulding and instructs his men to track him down.
Meanwhile, we find Spaulding engaging in wild, raunchy sexual activity with a prostitute. After they’ve finished, Spaulding refers to her as a whore. She pulls out a revolver and declares that she is not a whore, to which Spaulding responds that, he’s only kidding around with her, as she cocks the pistol to blow his guts out. She laughs and screams at him.
Back just at the police station, Wydell and other cops question Mother Firefly about the other family members’ location. She refuses to tell them about her own family, claiming that the cops are only interested in having sex with her. Wydell exhibits her notes and photographs of her victim, but she remains immovable.
Mother Firefly then pulls out some photos from a notepad and confesses that she has no idea where she put them. She gives Wydell the images, which turn out, to be of his deceased brother. She deduces that this Wydell is connected with the one she had killed, and she insults both of them. Wydell loses his cool and punches her in the face.
Meanwhile, we shift to a ranch named Charlie’s Frontier Fun Town, where Charlie Altamont runs a brothel Clevon, his helper, cleans the premises a lot. Charlie is counting money and is quite taken aback by how little he has. Candy claims that the only customer was a farmer looking for a manual labour job. According to Charlie, they need to develop fresh approaches to attract more clients. Candy has an idea: they can do a Star Wars theme, and she would dress up as Princess Leia.
Otis and Baby seek sanctuary at a run-down hotel, torturing and murdering four of the five members of the travelling country band Banjo and Sullivan. Captain Spaulding, Baby’s father, arrives at the hotel. Otis comes a few minutes later, and the three of them depart the motel in the band’s van together. When the band’s final member goes out to the roadway for help, she is killed inadvertently.
Meanwhile, Wydell’s sanity continues to deteriorate when Mother Firefly admits that she was the one who murdered his brother. Wydell tries to stab Mother Firefly after experiencing a vision that his brother pushes him to avenge his murder. The remaining Fireflies congregate at Captain Spaulding’s brother, Charlie Altamont’s brothel, who gives them refuge from the cops. After visiting the brothel to buy some chickens, Wydell threatens Charlie with a gun to hand over,the Fireflies. The sheriff returns the family to the Firefly home with the assistance of a couple of amoral hitmen dubbed as the “Unholy Two,” where he relishes in torturing them with the same tactics they employed on their victims.
He pins the murder scene images to Otis’ and Baby’s stomachs, beats and burns Captain Spaulding and Otis with a cattle prod, and taunts Baby over her mother’s death.
Wydell sets fire to their home, leaving Otis and Spaulding to perish while taking Baby outside to kill her. Charlie returns to help the Firefly family, but Wydell violently assassinates him. Tiny’s last-minute intervention only saves the Firefly family; Tiny reappears and snaps Wydell’s neck. As Tiny goes into the flaming house, the family experiences a brief sad reunion. Tiny is left behind while Otis, Baby, and Spaulding flee in Charlie’s automobile. The group drives into the middle of nowhere in the film’s last scene.
The trio drives into the heart of a police barrier in the film’s last shot, with just Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” playing in the background. As the song comes to a close, they take their firearms and charge forward, for a final flash of glory, only to be shot by the cops. The fatalities are Baby, Otis, and Spaulding in the sequence depicted in freeze-frames.
The Firefly Family A.k.a. The Devil’s Reject
Zombie does an excellent job with the topic, and I felt this film’s visual aesthetic was the greatest work of his career. He also understands how to incorporate some fantastic vintage rock tunes, notably the now-famous Free Bird, very apt for a conclusion. Another significant bonus is that all three leads are outstanding in their respective roles. Moseley and Haig, in particular, are eating up each scene and throwing it out as a gory mess. Forsythe is fantastic in everything he does, and he brings a lot of joy to this film. Then there’s Ken Foree, Michael Berryman, Geoffrey Lewis, Danny Trejo, Dallas Page, P.J. Soles, and Tom Towles, all are well-known genre performers.
Zombie does an excellent job with the topic, and I felt this film’s visual aesthetic, was a treat to the eyes. A myopic, teenage amorality undermines Zombie’s admiration of the wild Firefly family’s homicidal cross-country rampage: he sees them as icons of a rebellious, idealist American spirit.
Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, and Zombie’s wife, Sheri Moon, plays the brutalizing redneck, three clown-faced pater familias Captain Spaulding, son Otis, and daughter Baby. Only those three are superseded by veteran style of music favorites Geoffrey Lewis, Ken Foree and William Forsythe, last of whom tries to play a sheriff deranged by his lust for Old Testament-style vengeance. This is the type of mind-numbing extravaganza that will appeal to sickos who believe Charles Manson was indeed a misguided messiah rather than a depraved, manipulative monster.
This picture pushes the boundaries of psychological depravity to unprecedented heights. Rejects certainly went further in some respects than Last House. I was captivated by the TV, but I knew it was something I prayed I would never witness. It was a rude awakening. And the gore is incredible. There’s blood everywhere, and such “explosive” scenes you’ll never see in another film.
Why should you watch The Devil’s Rejects?
The Devil’s Reject, Rob Zombie’s latest film, is without a doubt his greatest. Perhaps it’s because the picture has such a horrible and robust tone to it -that it works. Zombie does an excellent job with the topic, and I felt this film’s visual aesthetic was awesome. In conclusion, he also understands how to incorporate some fantastic vintage rock tunes, notably the now-famous Free Bird. Another significant bonus is that all three leads are outstanding in their respective roles. Moseley and Haig, in particular, are chewing up each scene and spewing it out as a gory mess. Forsythe is excellent at everything he does, and he brings a lot to the table.
The fact that the “good guys” in the film are three cruel psychopaths is what I liked best about it. In most movies, officers are the good guys, but that isn’t the case here. The three terrible men are enjoyed and adored by Zombie, and we get to see everything from their perspective.
Although the picture is obviously a tribute to several horror films from the 1970s, Zombie manages to give it his own unique aesthetics and vibes.
The director definitely intended the villains to stand out, so making their portrayals so unforgettable. They’re free to be as nasty and wicked as they want, and you want to keep an eye on them. The film takes pleasure in seeing them roam around doing havoc, and we, the audience, get to soak it all in with twisted enjoyment.
The inclusion of hilarious segments adds to the film’s overall appeal. The ice cream shop is lighthearted, and the scene with the fornicating chickens is amusing. You have a classic when you combine terrific B-movie actors like Danny Trejo, EG Daily, and Priscilla Barnes. Here are Lew Temple, Ken Foree, and Michael Berryman. Kane Hodder and PJ Soles make cameo appearances as well. It was a veritable who’s who of today’s horror industry.
The approach and homage to Zombie’s vintage days of horror is considerably more subtle and well-handled. The editing, as well as the odd flashes of slightly extraneous film, has improved dramatically, and our director’s decision not to utilize his own loud metal soundtrack was a good one. Instead, he chose a fantastic soundtrack that included Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band. The primary tale is only interrupted to show images or brief flashbacks of the victims prior to their fateful meeting with the Fireflies, which adds to the harrowing atmosphere and the audience’s involvement. The brutality and terrible sights are all around you, and you’ll need a strong stomach to go through parts of the moments that are blatantly violent.
You’ll find yourself rooting for the evil guys at the end of the film. This might partly be due to an excellent soundtrack, which has 1970s songs tailored to the 1970s cinematography technique and positioned in ways that drive the film rather than simply sell CDs. And believe me when I say that whether you like them or not, the ending is quite fulfilling and the right way to conclude the chain of mayhem that this film enables us to witness.