Review of The Devil's Rejects (2005) by Thequietgamer — 17 Feb 2021

This is kind of a disappointing sequel to House of 1000 Corpses. Following a violent confrontation with the police the surviving members of the "Firefly" family go on the run. There's not much of a plot beyond that. The whole thing just revolves around watching them torment anyone unlucky enough to be in their path and putting up with Rob Zombie's patented vulgarity, which I guess was intended to be amusing, but just ended up being annoying more often than not.

I was never really bothered by any of this until things started to get rapey. So the real problem is that none of the violence or filth feels like anything we haven't seen before. Plus, what helped make this movie's predecessor so enjoyable were its twisted sights and visual flair. Here things are a lot more aesthetically flat. Environments were certainly grimy enough to make me feel like I needed a tetanus shot after watching, but where's the color or the industrial horror monsters that made for some of the first film's most memorable moments? Rejects' only really creative aspect outside of the wild soundtrack is that these psychopaths are being chased by a sheriff who's just as unhinged and sadistic as they are. This leads to a nice role reversal that sees the people who are usually the predators becoming the prey and getting a taste of the same type of cruelty they have dished out in the past. However, this too exposes a fundamental problem with the movie. When the bad guys are also the protagonists, who am I supposed to root for? Am I supposed to feel something when they get beaten and bloodied or are riding out in a blaze of deranged, bullet-laden glory despite their deplorable actions? I simply can't do that, and without characters to invest in I'm left with only the violence and stylistic choices to latch onto. Both of which fell short for me.