July 23, 2005
I can hardly think of a more inappropriate follow-up to a post extolling the virtues of Ingmar Bergman's final masterpiece than one celebrating a film directed by Rob Zombie, but such are the dichotomies of my taste. The Devils Rejects is not a necessary film; I'm not a better person for having seen it; I didn't need to see what it contained, and by all means, if you don't appreciate hardcore horror films, you should stay far, far away. All that being said, however, it was strangely satisfying, and I am grateful to Zombie for making it just about as perfect as a film of its type can be. As much as I love Kill Bill, I think this picture has, in many ways, a great deal more integrity (they're comparable because they're both graphically violent throwbacks to grindhouse cinema - but Tarantino's film is endearing faux-grindhouse, whereas Rejects is the real deal). Zombie's mostly excerable House Of 1000 Corpses has been made up for in full.
There's a small part in the movie played by cult actress Mary Woronov. She's in another movie hitting DVD shelves this coming Tuesday: the delightful camp extravaganza Prison-A-Go-Go, directed by your friend and mine, Barak Epstein. Barak told me that there's a quote on the back cover of the packaging, pulled from a review by none other than yours truly. I suppose that's a conflict of interest, seeing as how I'm a.) friends with the director and b.) one of the three 'musical geniuses,' alongside James M. Johnston and Curtis Heath, who wrote and performed the 'totally awesome' song that plays during the closing credits - but I ain't complaining.
Posted by David Lowery at July 23, 2005 2:54 AM