Will Devil's Rejects Help or Hurt Modern horror movies? (1 Viewer)

[Blu]

Spoilers Below:

I saw this Saturday. I liked parts of it, I loved Wydell and really was rooting for him to get his vengence while he was beating up on the Rejects. I liked Bill Mosely a lot and Sid Haig's character. I loved the fact that they were more developed as characters. I loved Geoffrey Lewis's character and really thought he deserved a bit more screen time.

Is it a horror movie? No. No way could it be classified as horror, no more than Natural Born Killers could be classified as horror.

What I didn't like really didn't have much to do with the story. I didn't like all of the closeups, I really wished Zombie would have learned what a medium shot was and maybe used it a little bit. The music video ending was really unnecessary and lasted forever!

Was it scary? No, not in the least. Were there some disturbing parts? Sure. There were a few too many funny parts. With the movie critic, the ice cream bit, the star wars bit, and a few others.

Is it what horror needs? I still don't know. I was hoping for something scary and got a road/crime/revenge movie.

 

[Ruz-El]

Wow! I hadn't paid too much attention to this as I felt let down by H1KC, which I found to be trying to hard to be over the top. After reading the local papers review (1 star, deemed it reprehensible, sadistic trash) I knew that Zombie was onto something good. the next day in the paper, they had an add with a tag line from "Fangoria", now I knew this is something to see. After reading your guys thoughts, I'm sure this is the film I've been waiting for! My main complaint of the current crop of horror is that they didn't go far enough in showing horror. This picture looks to be a step in the right direction.

I'm going to try to see this this week!

 

[Dennis Castro]

Exactly!!!! That's the one thing that I came away with! Am I twisted for thinking like that????

 

[Ryan L. Bisasky]

at the showing i went to, a few walked out during the end "freebird" scene, thinking it was over boy did they miss out

 

[NolanJ]

I walked out during the end, could you tell me what happened?

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Man, do I hate when people do that! They're in such a damn rush to get out, and then sometimes they realize on their way down the aisle that hey made a mistake, so they stand in the aisle trying to look all cool and as if they don't mind that they left too soon, and prefer to watch the screen while standing on the side for a couple more minutes. Drives me nuts.

 

[NolanJ]

Not sure why you hate that... most movies, when the credits start rolling, are over.

I can only think of one or two movies where there is a scene shown when them movie credits are over.

 

[Anthony*B]

was there something after the credits started rolling?!?! if there was grrr.... someone let us know....as far as our little group knows, the end of the movie was "freebird"....is that incorrect???

 

[Ryan L. Bisasky]

right during the solo of the song the characters get shot by the cops in slow motion, and then all you hear are gun shots, and fade to black

 

[Anthony*B]

oh yeah, we saw that...i thought there was something after the actual credits had rolled, like the Dawn of the Dead remake or Napoleon Dynamite

 

[JayMacey]

I loved this review of the film:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/j...71&view=public

I think it sums it up

 

[Nathan Gillmore]

Saw it. Loved it. If this doesn't resurrect your belief that good horror movies can still be made, nothing will. Justin's assessment above (as well as the Rotten Tomatoes review linked above) pretty much says everything I could say about it. I liked Ho1kC's, but this was way, way better.

Someone explain to me how this is not a horror film? Websters defines horror as something that inspires dread, dismay, repugnance, or aversion. If this movie doesn't fit that category, then neither does "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Not only is Rejects a horror movie, but it's one of the best examples of one done right. Sorry to call you out on this people, but I'm tired of the ol' bullshit that so-and-so movie isn't horror just because it isn't like "Scream" or "Friday the 13th". Does Rejects have any "boo!" moments? No, because Rob Z. didn't have to resort to that to get his point across.

Nate

 

[Ryan L. Bisasky]

no problem, the people actually left as soon as the song started.

speaking of dawn, when i saw it opening night, as soon as the credits started to roll, people started heading for the door, and then a girl flashes her t*ts, and everybody either said "holy shit" and sat back down, or went and stood in the isles.

 

[ChrisBEA]

Loved Rejects.

I was wondering, did anyone else notice some structural similarities to Empire Strikes Back?

 

[Doug Miller]

Wow, I thought this movie was really below average.

Wasn't scared, wasn't frightened, and wasn't disturbed. You can tell that Zombie wants to really pay tribute to the movies that he loves, but just comes off as a guy trying to make movies like they were, instead of worrying about making them good.

Devil's Rejects for me was a combination of Last House on the Left and Hills Have Eyes. The Rejects focussing on the family both in terms of degradation and violence paled to the originals. I felt dirty watching Last House on the Left (good movie though). Hills Have Eyes was grindhouse. Rejects didn't do either for me.

In terms of straight out grindhouse horror, Tarantino says that he and Rodriguez want to make a series of them. I would be all over it. Tarantino and Rodriguez are able to capture the feel of the time (which Zombie did OK with), and make the movie damn entertaining at the same time. Here, my idea of entertainment would be outright brutality and gore, and I think they could pull it off.

Doug

 

[Charles J P]

Yes, I submitted it to the trivia section of IMDB, I hope its gets posted.


SPOILERS#########################################


When the reject go to the whorehouse they essentially act out the Lando/Han scene from star wars, specifically the fake being pissed that they showed up as well as betraying them to the authorities.

This is the review I posted over at HTT...

Saw this last night and while I am not a hardened horror fan (in fact its one of my least favorite genres) I liked it a lot. Probably 8.5-9/10 weighted for the genre since I dont like many films from this genre. Probably a 7 overall. However, I’m going to be very cautious recommending this film to ANYONE because I'm not taking responsibility. There is some horrible shit that goes on in this film. Also, it isn’t anything like what someone MY age would think of as a horror film any way as there aren’t the stupid jump cuts synched with loud music queues etc. Its more of a Silence of the Lambs/Natural Born Killers etc. mixed with lots of pulp. Its neither an homage to nor a rip-off of Tarentino, but there are elements that definitely make you recall his movies. In general the directing was top notch and a big surprise to me. One reviewer that gave it an F said it was an amateurish, pop-culture collage, and I disagree 1000%. Unless you are one of the people that ends up agreeing with that reviewer, I’d say there is a good chance you’d enjoy the direction of the film. There are also other pop-culture references like a direct dialog dealing with Star Wars but also a scene that IMO pays homage to one of the movies as well. There are probably fans of the genre that can give you better comparisons, but my knowledge in the genre is limited so my comparisons will be flawed.

The movie definitely has some grim and intense moments but the big shocker was that it is enough over the top that we laughed pretty consistently throughout the film and some of them were BIG laughs, but you have to have a sick sense of humor.

Outside of the movie’s themes and plots, the other thing that struck me was the use of music. I was not aware during the movie that it had any original score (though it may have), it was all "pop" music, especially southern rock from the era it was set in. It was absolutely fantastic; sometimes totally fitting, and sometimes painfully contrasting to the point of being non sequitur in a sense. It was incredible use of music to at times lend to the scene, at times remind the audience that it’s a movie, and at times, make us laugh.

The final piece of the puzzle for me was the acting. The actors actually felt like these psychotic mass murderers. I suppose that’s one of the advantages of using (relatively) unknowns in a movie, they don’t bring in character baggage.

If you have a sick sense of humor and can stomach the content, I think you’ll like this film. Its not horror in the cheesy or overly gory slasher sense nor in the newly popular psychological thrillers like The Ring. It may very well fit in with many of the genres better films from the 70s but I’m not aware of what those films are so I cant say for sure.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Doug,
I'm not sure what you'd expect from them that would turn out so differently. I respect both of them as filmmakers, but minor choices aside, I don't think their take on it would be substantially different. The very early sequences that paint Seth's brother as a rapist murderer in From Dusk Till Dawn are the closest approximation to grindhouse horror and what I would expect. The rest of that film, both before and after that sequence, are the typical ironic humor/horror that both resort to in moments of brutality in their films. If they were to make an entire movie like that sequence, how different from The Devil's Rejects would it really be?

Grindhouse, for me, is the kind of exploitive material that is solidly captured in Zombie's movie. While I won't begrudge anyone who didn't like what they saw, I'd have to question anyone who would say he didn't make the kind of movie he wanted. In my opinion it's one of the most successfully realized movies I've seen in several years in the sense of accomplishing its goals. Now, as to whether that would be 'entertaining' to anyone is a different question. Just like I think Dahl made a fantastic noir film in The Last Seduction, I have a friend who says, "Yeah yeah, Femme Fatale and all that, but I didn't enjoy it at all". When it became clear as I was watching it that it was not about special effects squibs and gore stunts (which I was thinking it might be based on early comments) and more about the kind of exploitive stuff the horror films it is based on deliver, I really began to appreciate how well realized the whole thing is. Someone who makes a film that recalls I Spit on Your Grave is not likely to get a slamming Rotten Tomatoes score regardless of well they do it because it's as far from current horror/suspense films as you can get and few would enjoy it.

All I suppose I'm saying is, when you're watching Tarantino/Rodriguez's results, you may want to ask if you're seeing a grindhouse horror tribute or something altogether different but more 'enjoyable' (which is likely, based on their track record for me). Personally, as I enjoy all kinds of films including brutal horror films, I'd love to see the both of them make something akin to The Devil's Rejects as opposed to something in the vein of From Dusk Till Dawn.

 

[Shawn_KE]

Saw it last night and thought it was a MUCH better flick than Corpses was. Wasn't as shocking to me as some say it is, but I was surprised at the amount of gore they got away with. I liked the how the Sheriff turned into a vigilante and began to torture the Rejects in the same way they did to their victims.
Also, Rob sure likes to shoot the camera at his wife's ass.

Probably a movie I won't revisit unless it's on cable, but I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

 

[Adam Portrais]

Saw this last Friday and I have to say I really liked it. Now I haven't seen HO1000C but decided that this looked like it would be pretty good so I gave it a shot. A lot of people are comparing this to Last House on the Left. While TDR has elements of Last House on the Left the latter is a far (differently) better movie (and I don't give two sweet damns, I think TCM rips-off LHOTL totally). The soundtrack was unexpected and really fun. I like others though didn't think the gore was too...I guess, over the top. Maybe I have become hardened by so many horror flicks that things just don't seem to bother me so much anymore. Overall I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie and (even though many say it's not as good) I want to see HO1000C if nothing else to make a comparison (and to find out the whole deal with that big burned dude).

:star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Matt Stone]

Finally got around to seeing this one. Wow. Coming from someone who absolutely hated Ho1KC after a couple of viewings, I loved this film. It bled 70s horror, without gratuitously ripping off of other films like House. Editing was light-years ahead of the first, as was the general narrative. A damn fine horror film. I'll post some more thoughts after I get a chance to absorb the film.