The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

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Peter-H
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:02 pm

The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#1 Post by Peter-H » Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:54 pm

I was wondering what people thought of this film; I was greatly disturbed by it for reasons that I don't think the director intended. I'm fine with disturbing content (my favorite director is David Lynch, and I like many of Lars Von Trier's films and Irreversible) but the problem I had with this movie is that it was desperately trying to get me to root for the bad guys and to see them as cool anti-heroes, and I don't understand how you could. I mean there's a 30 minute sequence that entirely consists of them psychologically and physically torturing two married couples as they sob and beg for their lives. One woman is verbally humiliated and raped with a gun in front of her husband (as well as the other couple) and is then forced to give Otis a blowjob through her tears as she sobs. This sequence isn't presented in a typical campy slasher movie way; the actors that play the victims are giving great performances and I believed every second of it. Yet on some level we're supposed to root for and sympathize with the bad guys because they supposedly care about each other and make lame jokes about Tootie Fruity ice cream. At the end they go out in a triumphant blaze of glory set to free bird. And I don't really understand how this movie is "fun" as some people have said. For instance you know exactly where the aforementioned 30 minute motel scene is going; there's no tension or suspense -- it's just watching the killers rape and torture their helpless victims for over a quarter of the run time. Did anyone else root for the killers or think this movie was fun?
Last edited by Peter-H on Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: The Devil's Rejects (Zombie, 2005)

#2 Post by knives » Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:15 pm

My memory is out of wack so I don't recall if that particular line of argumentation was used, but it sounds a lot more compelling an issue than the more common icky violence one. I suppose if I can be charitable (haven't seen this in years, but loved it then) Zombie is working off of two strains in horror cinema from the '70s and '80s with that. The first is shifting the view to the monsters since that is who is interesting anyway (it is perhaps telling that the first film did the more traditional through the eyes of the victim thing and was a far lower quality) and also the sympathetic villain thing where he doesn't compromise on the violence yet still gives the villains all of the positive traits. Whether that works or not I'd have to rewatch the movie to say, but at the very least that complication seems a part of the film's intent.

Peter-H
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:02 pm

Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#3 Post by Peter-H » Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:34 pm

I wouldn't say it's trying to humanize the killers; it's not like there's any insight into their psychology or why they are the way they are -- it's just trying to get you to think they're "badass" for torturing and raping people. It certainly doesn't seem like the movie is trying to humanize the killers when at the end of the movie Otis is talking about how he cut out the tongue of a cheerleader and tied her to his bed for a month to rape her. Also it's possible to make a movie that follows the monster which never asks you to see them as a badass anti-hero -- The House That Jack Built and American Psycho come to mind. (even though Patrick Bateman is funny and even entertaining in a way, you still always know that he's representative of the things the movie is critiquing -- you're never asked to admire him on any level).

flyonthewall2983
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Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#4 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:48 pm

I've not really had any desire to see this again, but I remember coming away admirable of certain elements. I've heard that Zombie was influenced by westerns, particularly Leone and Peckinpah. You can definitely the sense of the latter's influence on this, obviously in the violence but in how the killers are shown when they aren't in their element, riding around eating junk food and listening to Steely Dan's "Reelin' In the Years". I tend towards films that can meld two genres or sub-genres no matter how disparate together and this kind of pulled it off despite my hesitance in watching again.

I remember some specific performances as well, especially William Forsythe as the revenge-seeking cop, and Danny Trejo and Diamond Dallas Page as bounty hunters.

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knives
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Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#5 Post by knives » Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:51 pm

I agree Peter-H. I didn't use humanize and would instead say he uses charisma for them in terms of the argument I just posted. In a sort of way the films thesis, to frame it by your words, is that people will enjoy characters that do monstrous things as long as their charismatic. While Zombie does this without irony a better comparison than von Trier would probably be Verhoeven who likewise regularly makes people root for literal Nazis as an exercise.

Peter-H
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Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#6 Post by Peter-H » Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:00 am

As you say Zombie did this without irony. This movie has a sizable cult fanbase and they do root for the villains, so even if there was some intended message about how people view violence then it was poorly conveyed because it was lost on everyone, and so it's still not a good piece of art imo.
Last edited by Peter-H on Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:09 am, edited 4 times in total.

flyonthewall2983
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Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#7 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:01 am

I really would have liked to have seen the movie about the 70's Philadelphia Flyers Zombie talked up doing awhile back, but he seems content to just stay in his lane.

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bainbridgezu
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Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#8 Post by bainbridgezu » Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:20 am

flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:01 am
I really would have liked to have seen the movie about the 70's Philadelphia Flyers Zombie talked up doing awhile back, but he seems content to just stay in his lane.
Unfortunately, Zombie's output (like that of many directors) is dictated principally by financial concerns. The Flyers movie (like his Groucho Marx biopic and Tyrannosaurus Rex, a boxing-based action film) have all fallen by the wayside because no producer will give him the money to make anything but on-brand horror pictures. Even his proposed remake of The Blob was considered too much of a departure to be commercially viable. This is especially strange as his more recent films have presented diminishing returns at the box office, making it somewhat baffling that investors are willing to back him doing more of the same, but not try something different, and perhaps more profitable. As someone who generally admires Zombie's films, I hope the frustration doesn't burn him out on directing, as he's occasionally said that while he loves horror movies, he's getting sick of having to make them exclusively if he wants to keep working in that arena.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#9 Post by Rayon Vert » Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:28 am

I remember finding the movie gruesome, but terribly effective and disturbing in a way few horror films are for me. I don't remember sympathizing at all with the killers, but yes being made to stay, for the most part, in their points of view. I haven't liked any of Zombie's other films though.

Peter-H
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Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#10 Post by Peter-H » Tue Jan 01, 2019 5:25 am

What I find baffling is that the sexual degradation in this movie is easily as disturbing as anything in Funny Games and maybe even Von Trier, yet people seem much more shocked and appalled by those movies while many people call this movie fun. For instance I think the scene where that woman is sobbing as she's forced to gag on Otis' penis while her husband watches is more disturbing than the scene where the wife strips in Funny Games.
Last edited by Peter-H on Tue Jan 01, 2019 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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knives
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Re: The Devil's Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

#11 Post by knives » Tue Jan 01, 2019 1:56 pm

I think that may be because of how the aesthetic treats expectations. Haneke wants you to be tense while Zombie doesn't which again is a very Verhoeven approach.

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