The Devil's Rejects
| The Devil's Rejects | |
|---|---|
| File:Rejectsdvd.jpg | |
| Directed by | Rob Zombie |
| Written by | Rob Zombie |
| Produced by | Rob Zombie Mike Elliott Michael Ohoven |
| Starring | Sid Haig Bill Moseley Sheri Moon William Forsythe |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Films |
Release dates | July 22, 2005 |
Running time | 109 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$7,000,000 |
The Devil's Rejects is a 2005 horror film, directed by Rob Zombie. It is the sequel to the 2003 film, House of 1000 Corpses.
Tagline:
- Death walks behind. Hell waits ahead.
Plot
Template:Spoiler A few months after the events in House of 1000 Corpses, Texas Sheriff John Quincy Wydell and a large posse of State Troopers start making a full-scale attack against the murderous Firefly family residence for over seventy murders and disappearances that they have caused over the previous several years. Tiny is MIA, Rufus is killed and Mother Firefly is taken into custody. But two of the most dangerous family members (Otis B. Driftwood and Baby) escape.
The duo seek refuge at a run-down hotel, where they torture and murder Banjo and Sullivan, a traveling country band, before meeting up with Baby's father Captain Spaulding. In doing so, they evade a massive dragnet led by Sheriff John Quincey Wydell, whose brother was killed by Mother Firefly in the last movie. Wydell wants to avenge his brother's death, and the countless other victims of the Fireflys, but slowly loses his sanity continuing his chase against the killers.
The surviving Firefly clan gather at a whorehouse owned by Captain Spaulding's brother by adoption, Charlie Altamont, where he offers them shelter from the police.
Charlie is pressured by Wydell to give the Rejects up. With the help of two amoral bounty hunters called the Unholy Two, the sheriff takes the family back to the Firefly house where he proceeds to torture them in ways not unlike the ways they tortured their own victims; among them are nailing Otis's hands to his chair, and tormenting Baby over the death of her mother (whom Wydell killed earlier).
He lights the house on fire and leaves Otis and Spaulding to burn while taking Baby outside to murder her. Charlie Altamont returns to save his family, but is brutally axed by Wydell. It is only the last minute intervention of Tiny that saves the Firefly family; the giant returns and snaps Wydell's neck.
The Rejects are saved and share a brief tearful reunion. Tiny decides to go back into the burning house to die alone and Otis, Baby and Spaulding escape in Charlie's car.
The film's final scene has the trio driving into the middle of a police barricade, with no sound heard except Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird. As the tempo of the last portion of the song increases, they grab their guns and go forward in a final blaze of glory before being shot to death by the police.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Bill Moseley | Otis B. Driftwood |
| Sid Haig | Captain Spaulding |
| Sheri Moon Zombie | Baby Firefly |
| William Forsythe | Sheriff John Quincy Wydell |
| Ken Foree | Charlie Altamont |
| Matthew McGrory | Tiny Firefly |
| Leslie Easterbrook | Mother Firefly |
| Dave Sheridan | Officer Ray Dobson |
| E.G. Daily | Candy |
| Michael Berryman | Clevon |
| Danny Trejo | Rondo |
| Diamond Dallas Page | Billy Ray Snapper |
| Brian Posehn | Jimmy |
| Kate Norby | Wendy Banjo |
| Priscilla Barnes | Gloria Sullivan |
| Lew Temple | Adam Banjo |
| Geoffrey Lewis | Roy Sullivan |
Deleted Scenes / Uncredited Cast
Uncredited
- Richard Epcar as Documentary Narrator (voice)
- Tyler Mane as Rufus "R.J." Firefly Jr.
Deleted Scenes
- Rosario Dawson as Nurse Marcia
- Walter Phelan as Dr. Satan
Deaths
- Four Police Officers get killed during a shootout between the Firefly Family.
- Rufus 'R.J.' Jr. is shot to death by the police during the shootout between the Firefly family and the police.
- Woman In Opening Credits gets stabbed in the back by Otis while Baby held her down.
- Nurse Marcia (from deleted scene) gets her throat torn out by Dr. Satan.
- Dr. Satan possibly flatlines after killing Marcia.
- Jimmy Cracker gets shot in the head by Otis.
- Roy Sullivan gets his head bashed in with a log by Otis.
- Adam Banjo gets shot in the neck and his face cut off by Otis.
- Gloria Sullivan bleeds to death after Baby throws a knife at her chest.
- Wendy Banjo gets run over by a truck after running in the middle of the street wearing Adam's face.
- Mother Firefly gets stabbed to death by Sheriff Wydell.
- Casey gets her throat slit by Rondo.
- Candy gets shot in the head by Billy Ray Snapper.
- Charlie Altamont gets hacked to death with an axe by Sheriff Wydell.
- Sheriff John Quincy Wydell gets his neck snapped by Tiny.
- Tiny Firefly commits suicide by walking into a burning house.
- Baby Firefly is shot to death by the police.
- Otis B. Driftwood is shot to death by the police.
- Captain Spaulding is shot to death by the police.
Response
The Devil's Rejects was financially successful, recouping its roughly $7 million budget during its opening weekend, and going on to earn over $16 million. [1]
Some critics, such as James Berardinelli from Reelviews, disliked the movie. Berardinelli gave the film 1/2 a star out of four, and mentioned "When a movie is this bad, it's hard to adequately describe its awfulness in words." He even went as far as to insult the film's fanbase with "The temptation exists to write something along the lines of: 'Something this horrible has to be seen to be believed.' Of course, that kind of advice would lead to e-mail death threats and other assorted nasty comments from those who spend money on The Devil's Rejects." and "Aside from its poor production values, horrendous acting, and ignoble morality, The Devil's Rejects isn't engaging cinema. Even if the simple act of sitting in a movie theater watching people get hacked up for 90 minutes doesn't bother you, the dullness and repetition is likely to."
Other reviewers, such as prominent critic Roger Ebert enjoyed the film. Ebert gave the film three out of a possible four stars. He considered The Devil's Rejects an improvement over its predecessor, and wrote, "There is actually some good writing and acting going on here, if you can step back from the material enough to see it."[2] Later, in his review for the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes, he once again made reference to Rejects. "I received some appalled feedback when I praised Rob Zombie's 'The Devil's Rejects', but I admired two things about it: (1) It desired to entertain and not merely to sicken, and (2) its depraved killers were individuals with personalities, histories and motives."[3]
Many hardcore horror fans also gave the movie positive reviews. Dread-central.com wrote "As each frame passes by, it is apparent how much Rob Zombie has grown as a filmmaker even after just two films."[4]
Trivia
- There are a couple of references to the "Manson Family" in the film. Bill Moseley's character, Otis "I am here to do the Devil's work" is a paraphrase of the first words Charles "Tex" Watson, one of the "Family", said to Voytek Frykowski before murdering him and four others in 1969. Steve Railsback, who played Charles Manson in the movie Helter Skelter, has a cameo as police officer Ken Dwyer.
- Dr. Satan and Grandpa Hugo do not appear in the film. Dennis Fimple, the actor who portrayed Grandpa Hugo, died before Rejects was made and Rob omitted his role out of respect. Dr. Satan's scenes were removed because Rob deemed them too out of place but were present on the DVD's special features.
- Natasha Lyonne tried out for the role of Candy.
- Rob Zombie originally intended to create all of the special effects using only techniques available in the 1970s, but time constraints prevented this.
- Karen Black and Robert Mukes did not return to reprise their roles from the first film, so they were replaced by Leslie Easterbrook and Tyler Mane respectively.
- The Firefly House is different from the one from 1000 Corpses. Rob attempted to use it, but deemed it unworkable.
- In the first film, Otis was an albino. Rob Zombie felt that this was too cartoonish for the sequel's tone and had Otis be of regular pigmentation.
- Priscilla Barnes originally auditioned for the role of Mother Firefly and Spaulding's dream prostitute, and Leslie Easterbrook originally auditioned for the role of Gloria.
- The photo of Mary Knowles that Wydell staples onto Baby's chest is not Jennifer Jostyn, her actress from 1000 Corpses.
- In the first film, the sheriff of Ruggsville County is Drake Huston, not John Quincy Wydell. This is explained in the now defunct Ruggsville Police tie-in website to coincide with Rejects, in which it was stated that Huston retired.
External links and sources
- Official website
- The Devil's Rejects at IMDb
- Reviews for The Devil's Rejects movie, script, score & unrated DVD at Dread Central