Last night was a movie night for Monica and I. Being that it's summer and I don't go out for movies too often, there were a lot of choices. We weren't in the
mood for a crowd, and that alone narrowed it down to one choice: The
Devil's Rejects. We knew the theatre would be near empty (it was) and that
people would walk out before it ended (some did). If you're intrigued after reading this, call a babysitter (maybe one of
your easily offended friends who wouldn't want to join you) because this ain't for kids.
For the haters and nonbelievers: The masses will never buy into
this genre. They can hardly bare Tarantino films, and Rob zombie has even more fun
with dark pain and death. It can be argued that the world already has an overabundance—in and outside of film—of torture and violence. It's an argument to which I subscribe, but I still see the value and place for films
like this. Besides, it's too unpopular to be a problem.
My $0.02: It's a loose sequel to House of
1000 Corpses. They're both excellent homages to classic, 1970's, campy, gory, B flicks, yet they still manage to bring currency and uniqueness.
I also have a predisposition towards any horror movie that can pull off scare and
gore in daylight scenes. Even a bad movie that does this has me at least partially hooked. Night and darkness can be too much of a crutch.
There's something fun about rooting for the bad buy. It's partly why gangster
movies are so popular. Squeezing the funny and ridiculous in between the grotesque, displaying horrible acts of abuse to the tune of happy, feel-good music, and
giving these monsters family all help the audience root for the villains.
Disclaimer: This
film isn't for the faint of heart. The gore is extreme and is almost always achieved
through sadistic torture. If you're able to take it for what it is, know how
to laugh at it, and be ok being disturbed every few minutes for almost two hours,
you'll have a great time.
...I just realized that it's been a while since I last posted about my fondness for the grotesque.
