The Devil's Rejects

This is apparently a sequel to Rob Zombie's 2003 directorial debut, House of 1000 Corpses which, by way of disclosure, I did not see.

Based on some local print reviews, I was expecting a badly made piece of crap. To my surprise, it turned out to be rather well made. It's still a piece of crap, but it's not a badly made one.

The plot in a nutshell is this: after a police raid on their home, which results in a big shoot-out, an adult brother and sister of a family of murderers escape and hit the road, planning on meeting up with their father, known to the world as a clown named Captain Spaulding.

When the local Bible-banging sheriff (William Forsythe) discovers some scrapbooks indicating that one of their victims was his brother he declares a holy war on the family in which the usual legal restraints will be thrown to the wind.

Along the way, they take hostages, murdering all but one after various degrees of taunting and torture.

That's about all I'll say, except to reiterate that this movie isn't for the squeamish who can't deal with cruelty and/or gore. It seems like almost the paradigm of a movie that didn't need to be made, serves no particular purpose, and really stretches the concept of art almost to the breaking point.

It'd be nice to see Mr. Zombie apply his obvious talents to something a bit less dreadful. He certainly could direct a major horror movie someday if he applied himself.