When House of 1000 Corpses was done, it was put on hold by Universal due to fear of getting an NC-17 rating on it. While the time between it being finished and the film’s release a couple of years later, he devised a vague idea of a story telling of the brother of the Sheriff in House of 1000 Corpses seeking vengeance and he started making the film shortly after the first one’s release excepting wanting it to be more “Horrific†as well as being more like a Road Movie. Eventually, after getting an NC-17 Rating (…again) and changing it six different times, the Devil’s Rejects was released.
Set One Year after the events of House of 1000 Corpses, The Firefly Family is suddenly caught by a massive amount of Policemen on a Search and Destroy mission against them as the Sheriff tries to get vengeance for his brother. After a deathly firefight, Baby (Sherri Moon Zombie) and Otis (Bill Moseley) try to escape from the Police with aid from their Father, Captain Spaulding (Sig Haig) who tries to get help from his brother Charlie (Ken Foree) so they can hide out in his Brothel from the police.
Much like the first film, the film’s main focus is on the Firefly Family.
Unlike the first film though, this one takes a different turn and makes them the protagonists. The film also gives the Firefly Family some personalities and develops some backstories to them such as the relationship between Otis and Spaulding as well as a look at how they act together as a family.Plus some of the characters do get more screen time such as Mama Firefly who is taken in by Police and is used for interrogation. Rufus shows up too, but he doesn’t last long during the firefight. Plus Tiny appears in it but only for a couple of minutes. Basically, Grandpa is the only one who doesn’t show up, presumably because he died some during in between films. It was a nice change to see from the first film having them just kill people for fun and spout out some dialogue.
Aside from taking the ‘70s backwoods horror plot again, the film is a road movie with horror elements along the way. It mainly drew from inspirations from films of the same style like Bonnie and Clyde and Badlands especially with the “Criminals on the Run†plotline that all of these films share. The horror movie elements mostly occur during the first half of the film when Otis and Baby hide out in a Motel, waiting for Spaulding to arrive. So it’s a departure from the tone set in the first film, but it does work for the film.
Since the film tells of the sheriff’s brother get revenge, half of the time is spent with the Police. Their scenes are spent mostly interrogating Mama Firefly and investigating the other members of the family. Plus, as the film progresses, we get to see that the Sheriff is possibly just as crazy as the Firefly’s as he sees hallucinations of his Dead Brother and well as invisioning how he take down the family. So the film can also be a tale of insanity if you look at it differently.
Final Thoughts: Oddly enough, I ended up liking this movie. The movie has a lot more improvements over 1000 Corpses such as the family getting personalities, a more story driven plot, and a pretty good soundtrack (although that doesn’t say much.) So it definitely ended up the better of the two films surprisingly.
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