3 from Hell

Even before the film begins, you are immediately told by the director himself Rob Zombie that there was no intention to create a third film in the series. His masterpiece had come and gone 15 years ago and yet the too often need to relish in past greatness came back to haunt him. The film is nothing like its predecessor's. Its pacing is slow and even annoying at times. Worse the film becomes derivative as it goes on taking useless over amassed tropes to new heights. He could have done so much better and I know that in my heart. But two hours later, like me you'll know why this was only a "3 Day Event".

I thoroughly enjoyed House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, Rob Zombie's first two outings for his murderous Firefly clan, but this third chapter is further proof that the rock star turned director has nothing new up his sleeve, and, worse still, seems to have lost all idea of what made his first couple of films so enjoyable in the first place.

3 From Hell is, as expected, violent, trashy and exploitative, but it is also unfocused, badly written, poorly acted, and not in the least bit shocking, everyone trying far too hard this time around, with Zombie's wife Sheri Moon being the worst offender: putting in a grating performance that is about as subtle and nuanced as a lump-hammer to the skull, she gurns and grimaces wildly throughout, her over-the-top 'acting' (for want of a better word) making this supposedly brutal bloodbath far too comical for its own good. Even with a better script, 3 From Hell was always going to fail so long as Rob insisted in putting his wife front and centre.

The plot - for what it's worth - sees the Fireflies sent to death row, having miraculously survived the shootout at the end of The Devil's Rejects. Captain Spaulding is executed by lethal injection (a shame, as he is far and away the best of Zombie's characters), but Otis (Bill Moseley) escapes, teaming up with Winslow Foxworth Coltrane (Richard Brake) to try and break Baby (Sheri Moon) out of jail. After successfully freeing Baby (don't ask how - it's dumb), the trio of killers head for Mexico (somehow avoiding capture at the border) where they are hunted by a team of luchador assassins led by Aquarius (Emilio Rivera), vengeful son of criminal Rondo (Danny Trejo), who was killed during Otis's escape.

In typical Zombie style, there's lots of cussing, plenty of nudity, and an excess of spurting, bloody wounds, with an overuse of slow motion accompanied by cool rock music, some occasional trippy imagery (including a head-scratching dancing cat scene), and a consistently grimy white-trash aesthetic (there's even a three-legged dog; it doesn't get more white-trash than that!). But more importantly, there's no heart, no originality, no sense of excitement, and no character progression.

As for disturbing... well, Clint Howard playing a clown is surely the stuff or nightmares, but everything else is just too contrived and cartoonish to be taken seriously.

I guess you just can't go back and re-capture that magic and honesty of House of 1,000 Corpses and the superior The Devil's Rejects. I give kudos to Rob for giving it a go but this movie just plain fell flat. All the ingredients were there...Gore, blood, guts, filth, profanity, humor, revenge. I just was not able to get excited scared or involved with the film. It wasn't slow, it was just meh. Granted, I have never been a fan of Sheri Moon and I think she has taken every movie down a notch or two that Rob insists on including her in. Verily, her scenes are like some sort of music video with her prancing around all "evil" and cutesy in slow motion. She's clearly the centerpiece here and that's a shame because Bill Moseley is the king of horror and although he does his best with the material at hand, he can't salvage the script and the overall "story". New guy, Richard Brake the "brother in law" does a decent job filling the gap left by Sid Haig (who does have a brief appearance in the film), but it all feels very forced and lacks overall conviction. It's just "meh" and I really wanted it to be Rejects part 2.

I realize we aren't dissecting the works of Shakespeare here. It's a Rob Zombie horror film. Those that love everything he does, will love it. I personally think he got it right with House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, but ever since then...he's been trying to recapture that glory and has failed to do so.

If you are like me, you probably thought that the ending to The Devils Rejects was incredible, almost majestic. TDR was one of the best horror movies at the time and was a great equal. With that said, 3 From Hell was not. If you are someone that just watched House of 1000 Corpses and The Devils Rejects for the first time recently, you might enjoy 3 From Hell. If you have been waiting the 14 years for this movie, it will be a let down. Zombie ended TDR on an incredible note, so having those 14 years to plan out another return of the Firefly family, you would think it would be something unique and unexpected. It wasn't. Your explanation to it was 'odds of their survival are 1,000,000 to 1. They survived'. That's it. I'll put that aside for now. The movie also felt like it was missing a solid plot, but maybe that is what Zombie was going for. The last thing that kind of annoyed me about this movie was 2 scenes. I won't spoil them, but it has almost exactly the same feel as the Hotel scene and the strip club scene in TDR. Overall, it had so much potential and could have been a great movie, but it just failed to hit that level. Worth the 2 hours and $15, but The Devils Rejects will still be Zombies best work in my opinion.

I was lukewarm on House of 1,000 Corpses, but The Devil's Rejects remains one of the most interesting horror films of the past 15/20 years, so I was eagerly awaiting to see what Rob Zombie would do to bring his Firefly clan back. Pretty soon into the film, I realized that, sometimes, it's better to end on a high note than to drag things out past their expiration dates.

After their 70's killing spree, the Firefly clan have been sent to prison. They quickly write out Captain Spaulding (due to Sid Haig's poor health) and bring in a character we've never even seen or heard of before that's supposed to be some sort of half-brother of Otis and Baby (played by Richard Brake). He helps them escape and pretty soon they're back on the run, murdering and causing havoc wherever they go.

Structurally, 3 From Hell is more Devil's Rejects than House of 1,000 Corpses, but the problem is they copy that structure to a T. Once the gang's back, there's a siege upon two couples that's very much like the siege upon the country band in The Devil's Rejects. After that, they all get in a van and end up in Mexico which feels just like the scenes in Ken Foree's ranch in that same film. There's also a character who wants to avenge a family member who died at the hands of the Firefly family like in that film. It feels like Rob Zombie took the structure of that film and just barely changed a few details to make it seem different enough to greenlight.

3 From Hell feels like one of those great TV shows that's managed to overstretch itself out into 2 or 3 more mediocre and unnecessary seasons where the actors and writers we used to love are mostly going through the motions. It feels oddly passionless and pedestrian throughout as if everyone was just trying to play it safe enough until they could get their paycheck. There are a few highs here and there, but it's far from a return to form or a necessary addition to the series.