An early morning raid on the run down Firefly home rudely awakens Mother, Tiny, Baby Firefly and Otis Driftwood. As the house of degenerates have slumbered, a police task force led by the brother of murdered police sheriff Wydell has arrived to bring down the wicked cabal. After escaping and having news of their atrocities opened to the world, the fleeing refugees are labeled “The Devil’s Rejects” by the media and local branches of law enforcement. With Wydell’s vengeance-crazed brother on their trail, the Rejects will have to make their last stand in Rob Zombie’s sequel to House of 1,000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects.

If this movie had been released in the era in which it was set, it would not have been a classic, it would have been legendary. The Devil’s Rejects is an unrelenting and unforgiving nod of respect to the classic and groundbreaking horror and exploitive films of the 1970’s and it holds nothing back!

This film is a gritty and extremely harsh departure from the first film and Zombie deserves a huge round of applause for this, his second. Gone are the references to Dr. Satan, trippy dream-like sequences and cultish aspects of the first. Instead Zombie went with vindictive, balls out, chaos and carnage and still holds true to the core trio of characters introduced in the original.

Baby, Captain Spaulding and Otis all return and are in perfect form. Haig plays the demented clown with a nearly unnerving ability, although he still provides the film’s lighter or humorous moments if any, Captain Spaulding shows a much darker and severely more sinister side to his character in this one.

Sheri Moon, now sporting a hyphened Zombie at the end of her name, returns as the cackling Baby Firefly. Not as immature or as over the top as she was in the first film, Baby has become a truly lethal and erotic creation.

And finally there is Bill Moseley as the now bearded, and even more dangerous, Otis Driftwood. Moseley’s Christ-like visage plays an incredible part to his character this time around as in two scenes Driftwood shares a few stigmatas of symbolism with the savior he so eerily resembles.

Leslie Easterbrooke steps into the role of Mother Firefly for the departing Karen Black and may even one up the original performance. Easterbrooke’s Mother is a truly vile vixen and during the interrogation scenes she is both sexy and serpentine-repulsive at the same time.

But it is William Forsythe’s performance that truly completes the impeccable casting in this movie. As The new sheriff, Forsythe is hell bent on avenging his slain brother, and in order to sate his wrath he will condemn his own soul to achieve his goals, and this is where Zombie truly creates some intense scenes and images.

In the first film, the Fireflys are more or less anti-heroes, yes they are depraved and demented, but you actually root for them at times. In this film Zombie is able to show you how truly evil they actually are. Gone are the silly antics and goofy rants and instead we‘re given simple evil.

Watching Otis and Baby terrorize a family that they play with while in a hotel is plain proof of that and as Otis dares one to pray to God as he beats him, you can see how Zombie’s story began to show you that he wanted the Fireflys to become. Not as heroic as they were in the first film, he shows the viewer that they are in fact, the bad guys.

At the same time Forsythe’s Wydell goes from cop on the edge to cop in the abyss as his need for retribution consumes him and it is beautiful to watch. When his character finally confronts Baby, Otis and Spaulding, it is harsh and there is no holding back, it was amazing watching the predators become the prey and one scene is just incredible, watching the tide being turned is sweetly disturbing.

Zombie also is able to add a virtual menagerie of past horror icons to this film as everyone from Ken Foree to Michael Berryman make appearances. Also the soundtrack really represents the time and tone of the film as it is laced with classic 70’s southern rock tracks and the Skynyrd ending is stellar.

The Devil’s Rejects is nearly flawless but it does have a couple that need to be mentioned. These are little nit picks perhaps instead of rally true flaws and I blame them more on this being only Zombie’s second film. One a few of the scenes went a little long or could have been tightened up, and two he used a little too much slow motion throughout the movie, cool yes, but a little much.

That being said The Devil’s Rejects is the best movie I’ve seen in the horror genre since Frailty, and the film is a definite kick in the face, that I think will please any fan. The Devil’s Rejects is one hell of a ride that doesn’t have the ending you will expect, it has the ending it simply has to have and that’s what I loved about this film. If Rob Zombie continues to make films, and I hope he does, this will be the one that the rest will be judged against.

9.5/10

This was a pretty good movie. Far from monumental, but a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon, as I just did.

This movie was very stylish (great soundtrack) but lacked in substance. The motel scene was very long and seemed to be in the movie just for shock value. I definitely felt a Last House on the Left vibe as one astute reviewer mentioned above.

The acting was great and I enjoyed the fact that I recognized damn near all the actors. The movie itself was shot well and looked great. The "burning house" scene was awesome to me for some reason.

I found myself cheering for different people at different times. There were a couple times when I was even wanting the victims to die. Several of them were annoying.

I thought the ending was good. I was surprised a little bit. Despite the Freebird cliche, I thought it worked. I give this movie 7 out of 10 "50/50 dreams".