''The Devil's Rejects'' is a 2005 American
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
written, produced and directed by
Rob Zombie
Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...
. It is the second film in the ''Firefly'' film series, serving as a
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to Zombie's 2003 film ''
House of 1000 Corpses
''House of 1000 Corpses'' is a 2003 American black comedy horror film written, co-scored, and directed by Rob Zombie in his directorial debut, and the first film in the ''Firefly'' film series. It stars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon, Ka ...
'', and followed by its own sequel in 2019, ''
3 From Hell
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...
''. The film is centered on the three
fugitive
A fugitive or runaway is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
members of the psychopathic antagonist family from the previous film, acting as the film's
villain
A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...
ous protagonists, with
Sid Haig
Sidney Eddie Mosesian (July 14, 1939 – September 21, 2019), known professionally as Sid Haig, was an American actor. He was known for his appearances in horror films, most notably his role as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie films '' House ...
,
Bill Moseley
William Moseley (born November 11, 1951) is an American actor, primarily known for his performances in horror films. His best-known roles include Chop Top in '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'' (1986), Otis B. Driftwood in Rob Zombie's ''Firefly ...
, and Zombie's wife
Sheri Moon Zombie reprising their roles, and
Leslie Easterbrook
Leslie Easterbrook is an American actress and producer. She played Sgt./Lt./Capt. Debbie Callahan in the '' Police Academy'' films and Rhonda Lee on the television series ''Laverne & Shirley''.
Early life
Easterbrook was adopted when she was nin ...
replacing
Karen Black
Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portr ...
as the matriarch.
''The Devil's Rejects'' was released on July 22, 2005, to minor commercial success, and mixed reviews, although it was generally considered an improvement over its predecessor. It was the final film to feature
Matthew McGrory before his death the same year, although he did have a posthumous cameo in 2017's ''
The Evil Within
''The Evil Within'' is a 2014 survival horror, survival horror game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was directed by ''Resident Evil'' series creator Shinji Mikami. The game centers on protagonist Sebastian Ca ...
'', which had been filmed in 2002, and the film's DVD release was dedicated to his "loving memory".
Plot
On May 18, 1978,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
Sheriff John Quincey Wydell and a large posse of
state troopers issue a
search and destroy
Seek and destroy (also known as search and destroy, or S&D) is a military strategy which consists of inserting infantry forces into hostile territory and directing them to search and then attack enemy targets before immediately withdrawing. Fi ...
mission on the Firefly family, who are responsible for over 75
homicide
Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
s and disappearances over the past several years. The family arm themselves and fire on the officers. Rufus is killed, and Mother Firefly is taken into custody while Otis and Baby escape. They steal a car, kill the driver, and go to Kahiki Palms, a run-down motel.
At the motel, Otis and Baby take a musical group called Banjo and Sullivan hostage in their room, and Otis shoots the roadie when he returns. Meanwhile, Baby's father,
Captain Spaulding
Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding is a fictional character in the Broadway musical '' Animal Crackers'' and the film of the same name. He was originally played by actor Groucho Marx, one of the Marx Brothers, in both productions. Despite his middle ...
, decides to rendezvous with Baby and Otis. His truck runs out of gas on the way, and he frightens a boy and assaults the boy's mother before stealing her car. Back at the motel, Otis rapes Roy Sullivan's wife, Gloria, and demands Adam Banjo and Roy come with him on an errand. Otis drives his two prisoners to a place where he buried weapons. While walking to the location, the two prisoners attack Otis, but Otis bludgeons Roy and cuts off Adam's face.
At the motel, Adam's wife, Wendy, tries to escape through the bathroom window. When Gloria attempts to rebel, Baby kills her. Wendy runs out of the motel but is caught by Captain Spaulding, who knocks her unconscious. Otis returns, and all three leave the motel together in the band's van. The motel maid comes to clean the room and discovers the murder scene. The maid enters the bathroom, where she sees "The Devil's Rejects" written on the wall in blood; she is startled by Wendy, who is accidentally killed when she runs out to the highway to seek help while she is in shock.
Wydell calls a pair of amoral bounty hunters—the "Unholy Two"—Rondo and Billy Ray, to help him find the Fireflys. While investigating, they discover an associate of Spaulding's named Charlie Altamont. Wydell begins to lose his sanity when Mother Firefly reveals that she murdered his brother. After having a dream in which his brother commands him to avenge his death, Wydell stabs Mother Firefly to death. The surviving Fireflys gather at a brothel owned by Charlie, where he offers them shelter from the police.
After he leaves the brothel, Wydell threatens Charlie to give up the Fireflys. With the help of the "Unholy Two", the sheriff takes the family back to the Firefly house, where Wydell tortures them, using similar methods they used on their victims. He nails Otis' hands to his chair and staples crime-scene photographs to Otis's and Baby's stomachs, then he beats and shocks Captain Spaulding and Otis with a
cattle prod
A cattle prod, also called a stock prod or a hot stick, is a handheld device commonly used to make cattle or other livestock move by striking or poking them. An electric cattle prod is a stick with electrodes on the end which is used to make catt ...
and taunts Baby about the death of her mother.
Wydell sets the house on fire and leaves Otis and Spaulding to burn, but he lets Baby loose outside so he can hunt her for sport. Charlie returns to save the Firefly family, but Wydell kills him. Baby gets shot in the calf of her left leg, brutally horse-whipped, and then strangled by Wydell. Tiny suddenly arrives and intervenes, breaking Wydell's neck and saving the Firefly family. Otis, Baby, and Spaulding escape in Charlie's 1972
Cadillac Eldorado
The Cadillac Eldorado is a luxury car manufactured and marketed by the Cadillac Motor Car Division of General Motors from 1952 until 2002, over twelve generations.
The Eldorado was at or near the top of the Cadillac product line. The original ...
and leave behind Tiny, who walks back into the burning house. The trio drives, badly injured. As Otis drives down the road with Baby and Spaulding asleep in the back seat, he notices a police barricade ahead of them. Realizing that they will not make it out alive, he wakes Baby and Spaulding and hands them each a gun. They speed toward the barricade, guns blazing as the police return fire, fading to black.
Cast
*
Sid Haig
Sidney Eddie Mosesian (July 14, 1939 – September 21, 2019), known professionally as Sid Haig, was an American actor. He was known for his appearances in horror films, most notably his role as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie films '' House ...
as
Captain Spaulding
Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding is a fictional character in the Broadway musical '' Animal Crackers'' and the film of the same name. He was originally played by actor Groucho Marx, one of the Marx Brothers, in both productions. Despite his middle ...
/ "Cutter"
*
Bill Moseley
William Moseley (born November 11, 1951) is an American actor, primarily known for his performances in horror films. His best-known roles include Chop Top in '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'' (1986), Otis B. Driftwood in Rob Zombie's ''Firefly ...
as Otis Driftwood
*
Sheri Moon Zombie as Vera-Ellen "Baby" Firefly
*
William Forsythe as Sheriff John Quincey Wydell
*
Ken Foree
Ken Foree (born February 29, 1948) is an American actor, best known as the protagonist Peter from the horror film '' Dawn of the Dead'' (1978) and as Roger Rockmore on the Nickelodeon television sitcom '' Kenan & Kel'' (1996–2000).
Early life
...
as Charlie Altamont
*
Matthew McGrory as Tiny Firefly
*
Leslie Easterbrook
Leslie Easterbrook is an American actress and producer. She played Sgt./Lt./Capt. Debbie Callahan in the '' Police Academy'' films and Rhonda Lee on the television series ''Laverne & Shirley''.
Early life
Easterbrook was adopted when she was nin ...
as Mother Firefly
*
Dave Sheridan as Officer Ray Dobson
*
E. G. Daily
Elizabeth Ann Guttman (born September 11, 1961), known professionally as E. G. Daily or Elizabeth Daily, is an American actress and singer.
Daily is best known for her animation voice roles as Tommy Pickles on ''Rugrats'' and its spin-off ...
as Candy
*
Geoffrey Lewis as Roy Sullivan
*
Priscilla Barnes
Priscilla Barnes (born ) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Terri Alden in the ABC sitcom'' Three's Company'' between 1981 and 1984. Barnes also has appeared in films, including '' A Vacation in Hell'' (1979), ''Licence to ...
as Gloria Sullivan
*
Kate Norby as Wendy Banjo
*
Lew Temple
Lew Temple (born October 2, 1967) is an American actor known for roles in ''Domino'' and ''Waitress'', and for playing Axel in the third season of '' The Walking Dead''.
Early life
Temple was raised in Texas. He was the 1982 Baseball MVP at Ro ...
as Adam Banjo
*
Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo (, ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. Known for his Danny Trejo filmography, large body of work as a character actor, films in which he has appeared in have grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide.
A native of Los Angeles, Tr ...
as Rondo
*
Diamond Dallas Page
}
Dallas Page (born Page Joseph Falkinburg Jr., April 5, 1956), is an American fitness instructor, actor, and retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract, under the ring name Di ...
as Billy Ray Snapper
*
Brian Posehn
Brian Posehn (; born July 6, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, and writer. After numerous appearances as a television guest star, Posehn acquired his first major recurring role in HBO's '' Mr. Show with Bob a ...
as Jimmy
*
Ginger Lynn Allen as Fanny
*
Tom Towles
Tom Towles (March 20, 1950 – April 2, 2015) was an American character actor of film, theatre, and television, known for his portraying villains and intimidating supporting characters. His breakthrough role as Otis in '' Henry: Portrait of a Se ...
as George Wydell
*
Michael Berryman as Clevon
*
P. J. Soles
Pamela Jayne Soles (née Hardon; born July 17, 1950) is a retired American actress. She made her film debut in 1976 as Norma Watson in Brian De Palma's ''Carrie (1976 film), Carrie'' (1976) before portraying List of Halloween (franchise) charact ...
as Susan
*
Deborah Van Valkenburgh as Casey
*
Jossara Jinaro
Jossara Jinaro (25 May 1973 – 27 April 2022) was a Brazilian–American actress.
Early life
Jossara Jinaro was born in Rio de Janeiro, on 25 May 1973, the daughter of two Maoist parents. At an early age, she was raised in Colombia after her mo ...
as Maria
*
Chris Ellis as Coggs
*
Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov (born December 8, 1943) is an American actress, writer, and Figurative art, figurative painter. She is primarily known as a cult film star because of her work with Andy Warhol and her roles in Roger Corman's cult films. Woronov has ...
as Abbie
*
Daniel Roebuck
Daniel James Roebuck (born March 4, 1963) is an American actor and writer. In film, he is known for his roles as Deputy Marshal Robert Biggs in ''The Fugitive'' (1993) and its spin-off ''U.S. Marshals'' (1998), as well as Mr. Banks in '' Agent ...
as Morris Green
*
Duane Whitaker
Nathan Duane Whitaker Jr. (born June 23, 1959) is an American character actor.
Early life
Whitaker was born in Abilene, Texas, the oldest child of Nathan Duane Whitaker Sr. and Barbara Ella Hudson, a nurse. He has two younger sisters, both bor ...
as Dr. Bankhead
*
Tyler Mane
Daryl Karolat (born December 8, 1966) is a Canadian actor and retired professional wrestler, better known by the name Tyler Mane. He is known for playing supervillain Sabretooth in ''X-Men'' (2000), and '' X-Men: The Official Game'' (2006), Ajax ...
as Rufus "R.J." Firefly Jr.
* Jordan Orr as Jamie
*
Robert Trebor as Marty Walker
*
Kane Hodder
Kane Warren Hodder (born April 8, 1955)According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905–1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com is an Americ ...
as Gasmask Officer
*
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama '' Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include '' He Got Game'' (1998), '' Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in B ...
as Nurse (deleted scene)
Production
When
Rob Zombie
Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...
wrote ''
House of 1000 Corpses
''House of 1000 Corpses'' is a 2003 American black comedy horror film written, co-scored, and directed by Rob Zombie in his directorial debut, and the first film in the ''Firefly'' film series. It stars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon, Ka ...
'' (2003), he had a "vague idea for a story" about the brother of the sheriff that the Firefly clan killed coming back for revenge.
After
Lions Gate Entertainment
Starz Entertainment Corp, formerly known officially as Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation and commonly as Lions Gate and/or Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment industry, entertainment company currently headquartered in Santa Monica ...
made back all of their money on the first day of ''Corpses theatrical release, they wanted Zombie to make another film and he started to seriously think about a new story.
With ''Rejects'', Zombie has said that he wanted to make it "more horrific" and the characters less cartoonish than in ''Corpses'',
and that he wanted "to make something that was almost like a violent western. Sort of like a road movie."
He has also cited films like ''
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut "Champion" Barrow (March 24, 1909May 23, 1934) were American outlaws who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, committing a ser ...
'' (1967), ''
The Wild Bunch
''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang ...
'' (1969), ''
Badlands
Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, ...
'' (1973) and ''
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' is a 1974 American independent horror film produced, co-composed, and directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote it with Kim Henkel. The film stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, ...
'' (1974) as influences on ''Rejects''.
When he approached
William Forsythe about doing the film, he told the actor that the inspiration for how to portray his character came from actors like
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and prematurely white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Although initially typecast as th ...
and
Robert Shaw.
Sheri Moon Zombie does not see the film as a sequel: "It's more like some of the characters from ''House of 1000 Corpses'' came on over, and now they're the Devil's Rejects."
Zombie hired
Phil Parmet, who had shot the documentary ''
Harlan County, USA'' (1976), because he wanted to adopt a hand-held camera/documentary look.
Principal photography was emotionally draining for some of the actors. Moon Zombie remembers a scene she had to do with Forsythe that required her to cry. The scene took two to three hours to film and affected her so much that she did not come into work for two days afterward.
The film went through the
MPAA
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, the mini-major Amazon MGM Studios, as well as the video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. F ...
eight times earning an
NC-17
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion picture ...
rating every time until the last one.
According to Zombie, the censors had a problem with the overall tone of the film. Specifically, censors did not like the motel scene between
Bill Moseley
William Moseley (born November 11, 1951) is an American actor, primarily known for his performances in horror films. His best-known roles include Chop Top in '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'' (1986), Otis B. Driftwood in Rob Zombie's ''Firefly ...
and
Priscilla Barnes
Priscilla Barnes (born ) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Terri Alden in the ABC sitcom'' Three's Company'' between 1981 and 1984. Barnes also has appeared in films, including '' A Vacation in Hell'' (1979), ''Licence to ...
, forcing Zombie to cut two minutes of it for the theatrical release. However, this footage was restored in the unrated DVD release.
Soundtrack
Zombie, who is also a musician, decided to go with more southern rock to create the mood of the film. The
film's soundtrack itself was notable as being one of the first to be released on
DualDisc
The DualDisc is a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including MJJ Productions Inc., EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group ...
, with the DVD side featuring a making-of featurette for the film and a photo gallery.
In 2019, Zombie announced that
Waxwork Records
Waxwork Records is an American independent record label. It has released film scores and movie soundtracks on vinyl as well as comics.
History
Waxwork Records was founded in 2013 by Kevin Bergeron and Sue Ellen Soto. By 2015, it had re-re ...
would release the soundtrack on vinyl along with the two other Zombie films in the trilogy, ''House of 1,000 Corpses'' and ''
3 from Hell
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...
'' (2019). The record included an essay written by director Rob Zombie and a 12x12" booklet that contained behind the scenes photographs.
Reception
Box office
''The Devil's Rejects'' was released by
Lions Gate Films on July 22, 2005, in 1,757 theaters and grossed
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
$7.1 million on its opening weekend, recouping its roughly $7 million budget. It grossed $17 million in North America and $2.3 million internationally for a total of $19.4 million.
Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has an approval rating of 54% rating based on 135 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's consensus reads: "Zombie has improved as a filmmaker since ''House of 1000 Corpses'' and will please fans of the genre, but beware—the horror is nasty, relentless and sadistic." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 53 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Critic
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
enjoyed the film and gave it three out of four stars. He wrote, "There is actually some good writing and acting going on here, if you can step back from the
iolentmaterial enough to see it."
Later, in his 2006 review for the horror film ''
The Hills Have Eyes'', Ebert referenced ''The Devil's Rejects'', writing, "I received some appalled feedback when I praised Rob Zombie's ''The Devil's Rejects'', but I admired two things about it
hat were absent from ''The Hills Have Eyes'' (1) It desired to entertain and not merely to sicken, and (2) its depraved killers were individuals with personalities, histories and motives."
In his review for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', Peter Travers gave ''The Devil's Rejects'' three out of four stars and wrote, "Let's hear it for the Southern-fried soundtrack, from
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the frontman for The Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' country music chart. He pioneered what came ...
' 'Satan's Got to Get Along Without Me' to
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...
's '
Free Bird
"Free Bird", also spelled "Freebird", is a song by American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, written by guitarist Allen Collins and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant. The song was released on their 1973 debut studio album. Released as a single in Novembe ...
', playing over the blood-soaked finale, which manages to wed ''The Wild Bunch'' to ''
Thelma & Louise
''Thelma & Louise'' is a 1991 American crime drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. The film stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as Louise and Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unforese ...
''."
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...
gave the film "thumbs up" for being successful at its goal to be the "sickest, the most twisted, the most deranged movie" at that point of the year (2005).
In her review for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'',
Dana Stevens wrote that the film "is a ''
trompe-l'œil
; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...
'' experiment in deliberately retro film-making. It looks sensational, but there is a curious emptiness at its core."
''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' gave the film a "C+" rating and wrote, "Zombie's characters are, to put it mildly, undeveloped."
Robert K. Elder, of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', disliked the film, writing "
spite decades of soaking in bloody classics such as the original ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' and ''
I Spit on Your Grave'', Zombie didn't absorb any of the underlying social tension or heart in those films. He's no collage artist of influences, like
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
, crafting his movie from childhood influences. ''Rejects'' plays more like a junkyard of homages, strewn together and lost among inept cops, gaping plot holes and buzzard-ready dialog."
Horror author
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
rated ''The Devil's Rejects'' the 9th best film of 2005 and wrote, "No redeeming social merit, perfect '70s C-grade picture cheesy glow; this must be what Quentin Tarantino meant when he did those silly ''
Kill Bill
''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a group of assassins ( Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and Michael ...
'' pictures."
James Berardinelli was very negative giving ''The Devil's Rejects'' half a star (out of a possible four stars) and called it a "vile, reprehensible movie", saying the action was "more formula than plot". He described the dialogue as "a pastiche (at least I think that's the intention) of the kind of bloodthirsty, overripe lines found" in a genre of films from the 1970s about "outcasts who defy society by destroying it". He was extremely critical of the acting, directing, and the production values, with an ending that was "a cataclysmic misfire", and overall was not "engaging cinema".
In 2015, Taste of Cinema ranked the film 23rd among the "30 Great
Psychopath
Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality Construct (psychology), construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with boldness, bold, disinhibited, and egocentrism, egocentric traits. These traits are often ma ...
Movies That Are Worth Your Time".
Awards
Sequel
In January 2018, it was rumored that a sequel, ''
3 from Hell
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...
'', was in production. Rob Zombie confirmed this via Instagram in March 2018, sharing a photo from the director's seat.
A teaser trailer for ''3 from Hell'' was released in June 2019, and the film opened on September 16, 2019.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Rejects, The
2005 black comedy films
2005 comedy horror films
2005 films
2000s American films
2000s German films
2000s road movies
2000s serial killer films
2000s Spanish-language films
American black comedy films
American independent films
American road movies
American sequel films
American serial killer films
American splatter films
English-language German films
German black comedy films
German horror films
German independent films
German road movies
German sequel films
German serial killer films
German splatter films
Films directed by Rob Zombie
Films produced by Rob Zombie
Films scored by Tyler Bates
Films set in 1978
Films set in Texas
Films set in motels
Films shot in California
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films with screenplays by Rob Zombie
Firefly (film series)
Lionsgate films
Rating controversies in film
Films about psychopaths and sociopaths