“Death walks behind. Hell waits ahead.” Synopsis: The murderous, backwoods Firefly family take to the road to escape a vengeful police force which is not afraid of being as ruthless as their target.

Watch now on Amazon

Calamity Brains:

Rob Zombie‘s The Devil’s Rejects picks up sort of after House of 1000 Corpses, which is both good and bad. Good, because the first movie was practically begging for the consequences chapter this flick supplies, and bad because the audience knows going in that there’s only one way the story can really end.

After a shootout at their farm, the Firefly family (Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Leslie Easterbrook) scrambles to escape law enforcement and bounty hunters (including Danny Trejo). But despite what should be an obvious need to lay low, they live it up, continuing their tendencies towards torture, mayhem, and destruction. Like House of 1000 Corpses, this movie isn’t very sensible, nor does it involve much actual story – but thankfully, the music video stylings are less in play here, which at least makes the movie slightly more watchable.

There’s not much to say for The Devil’s Rejects. As in the first movie, the filmmaker’s focus is more on provoking a visceral reaction from the audience rather than telling a story. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the movie is how glamorized the family is throughout – it feels less like the filmmakers were trying to make them sympathetic, and more like they were trying to make them cool. To me, that was more horrifying than anything that actually happened in the movie.

Even for fans of violence for violence’s sake and Sheri Moon‘s ass, there’s still not much The Devil’s Rejects has to offer. I’d be quicker to recommend it than its predecessor… but that’s not saying much.

Calamity Brains’ Rating: C+
Watch now on Amazon