ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - July 22nd
"THE DEVIL'S REJECTS" released in 2005
Watch The Devil's Rejects trailer below!
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Soon after the events of House of 1000 Corpses, the Firefly ranch is raided by a posse of Texas State Troopers, led by Sheriff John Wydell (Forsythe), on a search and destroy mission on the Firelfy family for over 75 homicides and disappearances over the past several years. During the shoot-out, Rufus is killed and Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook) is taken into custody. Baby (Zombie) and Otis (Moseley) however escape and take a band called Banjo and Sullivan hostage in their motel room while waiting for the Firefly patriarch Captain Spaulding (Haig) to arrive. After killing two of the band members at a local cemetary (where Otis was picking up a stash of buried weapons), the three remaining Firefly family members kill all but one of the remaining hostages and seek refuge with Spaulding's old friend, Charlie Altamont (Ken Foree) at his brothel. Fuelled by visions of revenge from his deceased brother George (Tom Towles), Wydell enlists a team of bounty hunters known as the Unholy Two, Rondo and Billy Ray (Danny Trejo and Diamond Dallas Page) to track the remaining Firefly's and return them to the ranch, where Wydell plans to dispense his own vigilante justice on Baby, Otis and Spaulding.
Adam Banjo: Please, mister. This is insane.
Otis B. Driftwood: Boy, the next word that comes out of your mouth better be some brilliant fuckin' Mark Twain shit. 'Cause it's definitely getting chiseled on your tombstone.
Top: Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie) prepares to shoot it out with the
surrounding police; Above: Otis B Driftwood (Bill Moseley) takes the
Banjo and Sullivan band hostage
After Lions Gate Entertainment 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. When Rob Zombie wrote Corpses, he had a "vague idea for a story" about the brother of the sheriff that the Firefly clan killed coming back for revenge, and expanded on the idea for The Devil's Rejects. Inspired by films like The Wild Bunch, Bonnie and Clyde and Badlands, Zombie stated that he wanted "to make something that was almost like a violent western. Sort of like a road movie", set in the mid-70's. Most of the original cast from Corpses returned for the sequel except Karen Black, who demanded a higher salary to reprise her role as Mother Firefly. Zombie instead cast Leslie Easterbrook in the role. When Zombie 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 and Robert Shaw.
Captain J.T. Spaulding: What's the matter, kid? Don't ya like clowns?
Jamie: [shakes his head, crying] No...
Captain J.T. Spaulding: Why? Don't we make ya laugh? Aren't we fuckin' funny? You best come up with an answer, cos I'm gonna come back here and check on you and your Momma and if you ain't got a reason why you hate clowns, I'm gonna kill your whole fucking family.
Jamie: [continues crying] Please...
Top: Capain Spaulding (Sid Haig) "commandeers" a car;
Above: Otis executes one of the hostages
The house used as the Firefly farm in this film was recreated on the Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita. Before the filming began the house was located in the middle of the forest, and was standing there for a long time and was used many times in films throughout the 1990's. Filmed in only 30 days, principal photography was emotionally draining for some of the actors. Sheri 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. On the other hand, Bill Moseley loved playing the role of Otis Driftwood. In fact, Moseley went on acting like Otis towards his family, often not showering for days and shaved his head so his lace wig would fit properly.
Sheriff John Wydell: All right, Dobson. It's about time what we came here to do to what the good Lord says in the good book as "a cleansing of the wicked".
Officer Ray Dobson: Sir, you think we're gonna die here today?
Sheriff John Wydell: Dyin's not an option. Now, you stick that back in that gray matter of yours and you make that stick. 'Cause any other thought is gonna get you cold slab-ed, toe tag-ed, and mailed home to your Mamma in a plastic bag. Are we crystal?
Officer Ray Dobson: Crystal, Sir.
Sheriff John Wydell: Gentlemen, let's do what God made us to do!
Top: Charlie Altamont (Ken Foree) "welcomes" the Firefly's;
Above: On a mission to avenge his brother's death, Sheriff
John Wydell (William Forsythe)
Although Zombie intended to shoot Rejects using techniques that were only available in 1970's, time constraints necessitated the need for around one hundred digital effects shots appear in the film, mostly to create gore. The scenes involving objects coming into direct contact with skin (like throat slitting, people getting shot in the head or neck, or stabbings) were created digitally. The violence that didn't involve direct skin contact (like people getting shot in areas covered by clothing) were achieved practically. Zombie also hired Phil Parmet, who had shot the documentary Harlan County USA, to achieve more hand-held camera/documentary look.
Sheriff John Wydell: [walks into a room where the "rejects" are tied to the chairs] You know I got to thank you all... for helping me understand what my heritage is. You see the Wydells, they always been vigilante justice. Now my grand-daddy, he rode with the likes of Tom Horn killin' scum like you for a livin'. We've always been devil slayers
[kicks Otis]
Sheriff John Wydell: WAKE UP! See, I tried to walk the line but now I realize there is no line. Now we here, we are playin' on a level that most will never see. I know my brother George he didn't see it.
Captain J.T. Spaulding: Maybe he had a divine moment when his brains hit the floor.
Sheriff John Wydell: Yeah well, maybe you will too.
Top and Above: Wydell has the "Rejects" captive and is about to
dispense some vigilante justice!
On release, prominent critic Roger Ebert enjoyed the film and gave it three out of a possible four stars. He wrote, "There is actually some good writing and acting going on here, if you can step back from the [violent] material enough to see it." In his review for Rolling Stone, 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' 'Satan's Got to Get Along Without Me' to Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Free Bird', playing over the blood-soaked finale, which manages to wed The Wild Bunch to Thelma and Louise." Rejects also made marginally more than Corpses at the box office, earning almost $20 million in its theatrical run.
Above: Writer/Director Rob Zombie (left) with some of the
cast of The Devil's Rejects
With the demise of the entire Firefly family, The Devil's Rejects would be the last film to feature the murderous family, but Rob Zombie would continue to work with almost all his Corpses and Reject's actors in his follow up films, Halloween (2007), Halloween 2 (2009) and Lords of Salem (2013).
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 53%
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