A scary thing happened on the way to the Movie Forums - Horrorcrammers

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It's from 2014. 7 years AFTER he did what he did. One would assume he was trying to be funny but there doesn't appear to be any irony to his statement.
Ugh. I'd feel bad for John Carpenter, but he's probably too cool to care what the Chris Evert to his Martina Navratilova thinks.



The trick is not minding
That might have worked. I've only seen The Devil's Rejects, which I found dreadful and made me not want to see any of his other movies, but I at least liked some of the comic relief. He has a decent sense of humor, if anything.
I liked House of a 1000 corpses well enough, once you get past the hokey dialogue. I didn’t care much for Rejects and the Halloween remakes were awful, although I do give props for the first one trying to give some insight to Michaels upbringing.

I have not seen anything of his post Halloween



I thought The Devil's Rejects was pretty good, but I mainly like the second half and its terrific ending. Its first half didn't do much for me.
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Victim of The Night
I liked House of a 1000 corpses well enough, once you get past the hokey dialogue. I didn’t care much for Rejects and the Halloween remakes were awful, although I do give props for the first one trying to give some insight to Michaels upbringing.

I have not seen anything of his post Halloween
I liked Lords Of Salem (I thought it was quite plucky for the budget despite Sherri Moon maybe not being quite good enough to pull this off) and I enjoyed 31 too for what it was.

Edit: I also happen to be a huge fan of House Of 1,000 Corpses.



I've only seen The Devil's Rejects, which I found dreadful and made me not want to see any of his other movies
If you're at all inclined to give him another shot, I would also recommend Lords of Salem, as it bears very little resemblance to his "redneck" films. He's clearly going for a more art-house Argento thing here, and whether he's successful or not can be debated, but I'm just pointing out that not all of his films are about greasy hillbilly killers.
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If you're at all inclined to give him another shot, I would also recommend Lords of Salem, as it bears very little resemblance to his "redneck" films. He's clearly going for a more art-house Argento thing here, and whether he's successful or not can be debated, but I'm just pointing out that not all of his films are about greasy hillbilly killers.
Thanks, I actually took a chance with House of 1000 Corpses based on posts in this thread (and since it's free on Tubi). It's pretty good.

My main sticking point with The Devil's Rejects is its tastelessness. I don't object to movies depicting the kind of content that it does, but there's a point where it's best to not keep filming, such as the groping scene. Also, is it my imagination, or is the movie trying to make you root for the Firefly clan?



The trick is not minding
Thanks, I actually took a chance with House of 1000 Corpses based on posts in this thread (and since it's free on Tubi). It's pretty good.

My main sticking point with The Devil's Rejects is its tastelessness. I don't object to movies depicting the kind of content that it does, but there's a point where it's best to not keep filming, such as the groping scene. Also, is it my imagination, or is the movie trying to make you root for the Firefly clan?
It did try to sympathize with them, which was my main issue with it.



My main sticking point with The Devil's Rejects is its tastelessness. I don't object to movies depicting the kind of content that it does, but there's a point where it's best to not keep filming, such as the groping scene. Also, is it my imagination, or is the movie trying to make you root for the Firefly clan?
I mostly liked the film, but your complaints are the same things that keep me from fully embracing it, so I get what you mean.



The Devil’s Rejects is notable specifically because it subversively humanizes and empathizes with the Fireflies. It’s another area of dark humor and satirical irony in that Zombie shows them at their most abhorrent then shifts gears into being both about “family” and “justice,” in which he also subverts the usual humanity of a slasher Ahab in favor of hypocrisy and abuse of power through sexually tinged sadism.

It becomes something that challenges our cinematic bloodlust in a similar way to Funny Games but does so in a far less didactic, bop you on the nose with a rolled up paper way, as Zombie is also enjoying and reveling in the carnage along with us.

One of the great horrors of the 2000s. I wish Sid Haig’s sickness hadn’t derailed 3 From Hell. I still enjoyed it, in particular when it too switches gears and becomes a Peckinpah flick, but it’s clear he was flying by the seat of his pants trying to restructure and work around that issue being sprung on him. Plus, more Haig would’ve been greatly appreciated. He was a master.



Victim of The Night
If you're at all inclined to give him another shot, I would also recommend Lords of Salem, as it bears very little resemblance to his "redneck" films. He's clearly going for a more art-house Argento thing here, and whether he's successful or not can be debated, but I'm just pointing out that not all of his films are about greasy hillbilly killers.
I feel like he was pretty successful given the budget. It's a movie that's better with lower expectations as I was disappointed when I saw it in the theater because the trailer used all the best imagery from the movie but when I re-watched it (twice), I really respected what he did visually and I think the story is pretty good too.



Victim of The Night
The Devil’s Rejects is notable specifically because it subversively humanizes and empathizes with the Fireflies. It’s another area of dark humor and satirical irony in that Zombie shows them at their most abhorrent then shifts gears into being both about “family” and “justice,” in which he also subverts the usual humanity of a slasher Ahab in favor of hypocrisy and abuse of power through sexually tinged sadism.

It becomes something that challenges our cinematic bloodlust in a similar way to Funny Games but does so in a far less didactic, bop you on the nose with a rolled up paper way, as Zombie is also enjoying and reveling in the carnage along with us.

One of the great horrors of the 2000s. I wish Sid Haig’s sickness hadn’t derailed 3 From Hell. I still enjoyed it, in particular when it too switches gears and becomes a Peckinpah flick, but it’s clear he was flying by the seat of his pants trying to restructure and work around that issue being sprung on him. Plus, more Haig would’ve been greatly appreciated. He was a master.
I'm inclined to agree with you. I thought it was interesting that Ebert, who had a tendency not to like films with extreme violence like this, had some respect for it and Zombie for making it.



I'm pretty sure Rob Zombie will never make a legitimately great film, but he's the kind of artist where I think he has a decent amount of talent and a perspective that can be pretty interesting on a good day. I really didn't like what I saw of Corpses (but, in fairness, I was ****ed up and only saw about twenty minutes). And I thoroughly despised his original Halloween remake. But he's got a real love for junky transgressive cinema, sort of understands why it is interesting, and wants to pay homage to it in a way that is vastly more interesting than what someone like Eli Roth does.



His best movie is pretty much undoubtedly Devil's Rejects, but as many have already said, Lords of Salem offers something for those who don't want to side with a bunch of gropey rapist murderers. Personally, I found that little touch in DR as a really well articulated tasteless joke, and it makes the finale really resonate even if it is hard to defend if we take it literally as approving of the violence we've seen. But I also understand why people might not want to go there in their movie watching experiences. And in that case, give Lords of Salem a chance. It's fairly good. And doesn't have the immoral baggage.



The Devil’s Rejects is notable specifically because it subversively humanizes and empathizes with the Fireflies. It’s another area of dark humor and satirical irony in that Zombie shows them at their most abhorrent then shifts gears into being both about “family” and “justice,” in which he also subverts the usual humanity of a slasher Ahab in favor of hypocrisy and abuse of power through sexually tinged sadism.

It becomes something that challenges our cinematic bloodlust in a similar way to Funny Games but does so in a far less didactic, bop you on the nose with a rolled up paper way, as Zombie is also enjoying and reveling in the carnage along with us.
I haven't thought about it that way. Zombie may actually be doing the same thing in House of 1000 Corpses. Hardwick and Wilson's characters are the kind of horror nerds who would watch this movie and react to it the like they would to Spaulding's serial killer ride. In other words, the movie's making a distinction between horror being "cool," whether it's that ride, the Fireflys' little theatrical presentation before all Hell breaks loose, etc. and, well, the horror that is horror, and asking what could possibly draw people to stories about it. It would be a good double feature with Green Room.

As for Rejects, I wish I had seen Corpses first because it seems like a little more familiarity with the Firefly clan would have improved the experience. I'm not sure it would have made me like it more because I think the content that I found distasteful undercuts the subversive message.



I agree that the final act of The Devil's Rejects is essentially a tasteless joke, but it's one I found interesting for a couple reasons. First and foremost, it's the incongruity of a couple horror tropes which appear throughout it. Wydell restraining and torturing the Fireflies, Baby being pursued by Wydell, and Charlie trying to redeem himself were reminiscent of various horror scenes and clichés I've seen in other horror films, except the roles were reversed for this film, making my reaction to them quite oblique. I also liked the implication that, through their ordeal with Wydell, the Fireflies obtained a clearer understanding of what their victims went through (the final scene is a terrific culmination to this implication, in addition to being a terrific ending in and of itself).

Overall, I had a handful of reactions to the final act when I watched it last October. Some of them were positive and others were negative, but the execution of the aspects I listed up above have definitely stuck with me. Sometimes, a film's flaws can be more interesting and memorable than its strengths and I think this applies here.



I agree that the final act of The Devil's Rejects is essentially a tasteless joke, but it's one I found interesting for a couple reasons. First and foremost, it's the incongruity of a couple horror tropes which appear throughout it. Wydell restraining and torturing the Fireflies, Baby being pursued by Wydell, and Charlie trying to redeem himself were reminiscent of various horror scenes and clichés I've seen in other horror films, except the roles were reversed for this film, making my reaction to them quite oblique. I also liked the implication that, through their ordeal with Wydell, the Fireflies obtained a clearer understanding of what their victims went through (the final scene is a terrific culmination to this implication, in addition to being a terrific ending in and of itself).

Overall, I had a handful of reactions to the final act when I watched it last October. Some of them were positive and others were negative, but the execution of the aspects I listed up above have definitely stuck with me. Sometimes, a film's flaws can be more interesting and memorable than its strengths and I think this applies here.
Why are you interpreting these as flaws?



Why are you interpreting these as flaws?
I'm not necessarily interpreting the incongruity/implication stuff I mentioned as flaws. My post might have been vague. What I mean is that, while the final act is essentially a tasteless joke, I consider it to be a very interesting one for the reasons I mentioned up above and, while I think the tastelessness still exists in the final act, the thought put into it lingered with me for a while and that's what I find memorable about the final act. I consider the final act to be an interesting tasteless joke.



Big fan of The Devil's Rejects. Zombie captures both the meanness and texture of exploitation without mindlessly aping them. Also, "There is no ****ing ice cream in your ****ing future!"



The trick is not minding
Yeah, Devils Rejects is ok, although I was torn with Zombie’s attempt to humanize the psychopathic family. On one hand they’re very much like any family. Except serial killers.

Then they’re wrong ge Ed by the very police force that are supposed to follow the law, which came off a bit clumsy at times as I recall.
And that ending….

It’s been awhile, so I think I should rewatch it and see if my opinion has changed any, keeping in mind what had been written here about it.