Devils Rejects on DVD & PSP Nov 8th

The Devils Rejects is coming out not only on DVD but also on PSP, so yes you may all enjoy Rob Zombies new film anywhere. The movie and psp will be available on the same date November 8th! This is the sequel to the horror film, House of 1000 Corpses, which was finally released in April, 2003 by Lions Gate Films after being kept on a shelf for quite some time by Universal Pictures, the film's original distributor. In sharp contrast, Lions Gate is looking to produce and release this movie within a year of the first film's release.

The original film started with a limited release, and ended up making $12.5 million in the U.S. Lions Gate is going to try a wide release right away this time, referring to the first film's $7,700+ per-screen-average for its first week, which if duplicated with a wide release of say, 2,500 theaters, could result in a weekend gross in the $20 million range. Lions Gate is hoping this second film will be successful enough for the "House of 1,000 Corpses" series to keep going with further sequels.

The unthinkable horror and chaos continues a few weeks after the events depicted in House of 1000 Corpses, as this film's focus shifts to a conflict between the various evil family members of the first movie and a new set of murderous loonies, in a blood-soaked road movie that leaves that 'House' with all its corpses. With two gangs of bloodthirsty bodily mutilation enthusiasts set loose at each other's necks, who will emerge victorious? The conflict starts when the 'house of 1000 corpses' is raided by a S.W.A.T. team, where the events of the first film are discovered in all of their shocking horror... As the maniacs the media dubs "The Devil's Rejects" flee the scene of the many, many crimes as their house burns down, they take off on a bloody road trip...

The first time I watched Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses it kind of shocked me. I thought it was too disturbing and gory, but at the same time it was terrific fun and innovating, at least for me who hadn't seen every horror movie ever made but would really like to. Captain Spaulding is a genius character, as are Baby and Otis, but the movie was not entirely about them, it was more about the killing these teenagers, which made the movie a really great and gory kind of slasher movie, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where we have these teens trying to survive a family of killer freaks. So when Rob announced The Devil's Rejects I got really excited, as it was going to be a movie focused on these awesome killer freaks, and it just made my top list of movies to see this summer. Having seen it, I have to say that the movie highly surpassed my expectations, as Rob has made huge improvements in his direction. But more on that later.

So instead being a movie about teens getting killed, we have a movie about the Rejects having to leave the House of 1000 Corpses, after the police, lead by the terrible Sheriff Wydell, raids the house and force them to escape. And so Capt. Spaulding, Otis and Baby go on a road trip, killing everybody on their way, trying to find a way to revenge the attack and capture of Mother Firefly.

Sid Haig is just perfect as Capt. Spaulding, looking scary and at the same time making jokes at any possible time. The beautiful Sheri Moon (Rob Zombie's wife) plays a very playful Baby and she's just a delight to watch. And then the most serious and horrifying of them is Otis played terrific by Bill Moseley. But the scene stealer is William Forsythe as sheriff Wydell. A great character perfectly played and he makes a great run for best horror movie sheriff against R. Lee Ermey's Sheriff Hoyt from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

But what makes this movie so great is Rob Zombie's work. The screenplay is excellent and it really makes you feel for these characters. The Rejects of course. And so when they get hurt or something happens to them you just want them to stand back up and kick the living shit out of the cops or whoever it is that hurt them. I wont spoil it of course, but I have to comment on it, because the ending is just perfect. And it's been done before a lot of times, but still, I just loved that it makes the movie end in such a poetic way. Just perfect.

There's also some very cool little scenes in the middle of the movie that have little to do with the story, but work to expand the Rejects universe, like a conversation between Sheriff Wydell and a movie critic about the names of the Rejects (taken after Groucho Marx characters) that then turns into a discussion about Elvis Presley. And while I hated House of 1000 Corpses' scene when the cop gets a shot in the head and the camera zooms out for like a minute, I do acknowledge that Rob got a cool original cinematic idea, that for me didn't work but for others probably did. There's nothing like that here, but there are a few other new techniques he uses, like having the motion pause in the middle of an action scene, the music starts playing really loud and then he cuts back where it was and the action continues.

The music plays a huge role in the movie, full of southern rock classic from Allman Brothers and Skynyrd to name a few. I've read that Rob calls the movie a Horror-Western, and it's just a perfect description, and the music contributes a lot in making it sound like a western road trip movie. This is really a soundtrack I'll own and listen all the time. If I had to complain about something, it would be about the horror factor. Rob changed the darkness of the first movie for comedy, which is a lot here, even in the most horrific scenes, but still plays great, as this is a very different movie.

So I loved the movie. Rob Zombie has made great improvements and he has a few impressive new techniques that I haven't seen done before, and they worked perfect here. The Devil's Rejects is a lot more than I was expecting, a disturbingly cool movie that is one of my favorites of the year.