By J.D. Lafrance
With the exception of Eli Roth, no other filmmaker has divided horror movie fans more in recent years than hard rocker turned writer-director Rob Zombie. People either love or hate his brand of grungy, white trash nihilism cinema where he makes what would traditionally be the antagonists in other movies (serial killers), the protagonists in his, be it the Firefly clan in House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil’s Rejects (2005) or Michael Myers in Halloween I & II. Along with Roth and Alexandre Aja, among others, Zombie was part of a wave of filmmakers that made what were dubbed “torture porn” horror movies that pushed the boundaries on-screen violence. Unlike his contemporaries, he refused to wallow in the gore and instead focused on the characters with distinctive personalities in his films and their relation towards each other in extreme situations. He hasn’t always been successful in achieving this but the one time he got the mix just right was The Devil’s Rejects, a gritty, balls-to-the-wall horror movie cum road picture. Imagine The Hills Have Eyes (1977) directed by Sam Peckinpah.
Not quite a sequel to Zombie’s first film, House of a 1000 Corpses, but rather the further adventures of a few of its characters – the notorious Firefly family. Early one morning, the police raid their farm. In the ensuing chaos, adopted brother Otis (Bill Moseley) and his sister Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) manage to escape with Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe) in hot pursuit and bent on revenge as they killed his brother. Otis and Baby take a country and western band Banjo & Sullivan hostage in a motel room and eventually hook up with Baby’s father, Captain Spaudling (Sid Haig). They take refuge at a whorehouse owned by Spaudling’s brother, Charlie Altamont (Ken Foree) and get ready for the inevitable confrontation with Wydell.
Zombie populated his cast with an impressive collection of B-horror character actors: Sid Haig (Spider Baby), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), P.J. Soles (Halloween), and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes). They are not cast for kitsch or novelty value but because they have the acting chops to pull off these meaty roles. Zombie cast actors with interesting faces that have character. Every line or glint in their eyes says so much and he captures them in close-ups a la Sergio Leone. No one personifies a fascinating face more than the late-great Sid Haig who plays Captain Spaulding as the scariest clown with evil make-up that includes black lips and horrible yellow teeth augmenting his already grizzled looks.
Genre veteran Bill Moseley brings a frightening intensity as the sadistic Otis who, in one moment his vicious stabbing someone to death and in another scene delivering hilarious sarcastic retorts to his fellow family members. He’s a fearless performer who is not afraid to go there as evident in the infamous motel scene where Otis and Baby torment the members of Banjo & Sullivan. He brings an unpredictable energy that is exciting to watch. Sheri Moon Zombie takes a lot of flak for being cast in her husband’s films but she complements Moseley perfectly as the child-like yet incredibly lethal Baby. There is always a mischievous glint in her eye whether it is flirting with a member from Banjo & Sullivan or taunting Wydell. It’s a scene-stealing role that is tailor-made for her strengths and weaknesses as a performer.
After starring in numerous forgettable direct-to-video efforts, William Forsythe finally gets a substantial role. Every once in a while, he pops up in a mainstream film, like Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995) and The Rock (1996), usually playing some generic bad guy role. He harkens back to a bygone era of tough guys, like Lee Marvin or Robert Shaw, who naturally exuded a ferocious intensity that is exciting to watch. With his deep, gravelly voice Forsythe plays an unstoppable force of nature that is just as ruthless in his methods as the Firefly clan.
The dialogue crackles and pops with its own profane rhythm. The tough guy-speak works because it is believable and the actors deliver it with conviction. For example, just before he dispatches a hapless victim, Otis tells him, “Boy, the next word that comes out of your mouth better be some brilliant fuckin’ Mark Twain shit, ’cause it’s definitely gettin’ chiseled on your tombstone.” Zombie breaks it up with some very funny bits and truly laugh-out-loud moments of black humor. For example, the Firefly clan uses aliases of names of Groucho Marx characters. To crack this code, Wydell brings in movie critic Marty Walker (Robert Trebor) and they end up getting into an argument about the merits of Elvis Presley movies that is hilarious and helps relieve some of the unrelenting tension that this film generates.
When Zombie wrote House of 1000 Corpses, he had a “vague idea” for a story about the brother of the sheriff that the Firefly clan killed coming back for revenge. He did this just in case the film did well enough at the box office and created interest in another film. After Lions Gate made back their money on the first day of Corpses‘ theatrical release, the studio wanted Zombie to make another film and he started to seriously think about a new story. With Rejects, he wanted to make it more horrific and the characters less cartoonish than in Corpses. He was interested in making “something that was almost like a violent western” and has cited films like The Wild Bunch (1969), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and Badlands (1973) as influences.
Zombie hired Phil Parmet, who had shot the legendary documentary Harlan County USA (1976), as he wanted to adopt a hand-held camera/documentary look but the cinematographer told him that he didn’t want the footage to look shaky. To prepare for the film, Parmet watched many horror films but when he and Zombie started talking about the approach they wanted to take on Rejects, they actually connected on revisionist westerns like Hang ‘Em High (1968), Monte Walsh (1970), and El Topo (1970). They also looked to films like The French Connection (1971), In Cold Blood (1967) and Fat City (1972) for inspiration. During pre-production, they decided to shoot the film on 16mm and Zombie cited films like Amores Perros (2000) and 21 Grams (2003) as jumping off points for how he wanted to shoot his own film. Zombie told Parmet that he wanted to use two cameras at all time and for certain scenes, like the chaotic gunfight at the Firefly house at the beginning of the film, to have as many as six cameras running simultaneously.
The Devil’s Rejects has a coarse aesthetic that looks like it was shot in the ‘70s. It is a good-looking film that features a lush glow of reds, greens and blues during the night scenes and then Zombie cuts to one with a minimalist single light source with nothing in the background so that we focus on the two actors in the scene and what they are saying. In contrast, the day scenes have a warm, saturated sunburnt look. The darkest scene in terms of tonality actually takes place at high noon and this makes it even more sinister as there is nowhere to hide.
Zombie references all kinds of films and not just from the horror genre that other filmmakers quote. That being said, he does worship at the altar of 1970s cinema, in particular, taking his cue from Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) with its raw look and unrelenting tension. The Devil’s Rejects is a down ‘n’ dirty celebration of outlaw cinema complete with a fantastic score by Tyler Bates that is punctuated throughout with southern rock classics from the likes of the Allman Brothers Band, Joe Walsh and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In the case of the last band, the way their anthem “Free Bird” is used at the film’s climactic moment is incredible. What could have been a clichéd scene is transformed into a poignant and iconic moment, befitting the song itself. Not all the songs featured on the soundtrack are of that ilk, however, with Zombie using three low-key yet soulful songs by Terry Reid. According to the filmmaker, “I wanted basically every song I remember being played on the radio in ’78, and songs that fit that vibe. I needed something that was quiet and kind of depressing, but not corny, and Terry’s songs were just great.”
The Devil’s Rejects was made by a horror film fan for horror film fans. Zombie has created a truly disturbing horror movie with no real redeemable characters, that is refreshingly unpredictable and this is what makes it so scary, like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Both films are feverish nightmares except that in Massacre you felt sympathy for the female protagonist. The Devil’s Rejects does not even have that. You may find yourself rooting for the Firefly family early on but Zombie quickly rejects this notion by portraying them as truly irredeemable people. There is no sappy love story or cop-out ending and this remains true to many of the nihilistic cinema of the ‘70s. Horror film obsessives always brace themselves for the cop out ending — it is the downfall of so many horror films — Rejects does not make this mistake. With this film, Zombie showed real growth as a filmmaker, creating I daresay a modern horror masterpiece.
SOURCES
Lanham, Tom. “’Superlungs’ Terry Reid Experiences a Renaissance.” East Bay Times. September 14, 2005.
Lutman, Danny. “INT: Devil’s Rejects.” JoBlo.com. July 15, 2004.
“Meet the Rejects“. Fangoria. August 2005.
Ridley, Jim. “Sympathy for the Devils.” Nashville Scene. July 21–25, 2005.
Witmer, Jon. “All in the Family.” American Cinematographer. August 2005.