Day 17 and 18: All In The Family

Day 17 of the 31 Days of Halloween countdown


The Devil's Rejects (2005)

To me, Rob Zombie is a bit of a directorial genius. His flicks are tasteless, tactless, politically incorrect, gory, trashy, schlocky, and just plain terrific.

The Devil's Rejects is by far his best work. A sequel to House of 1000 Corpses, but it stands on its own so you don't need to see H1000C unless you are really into trashy flicks.

The story follows a family of disgusting criminals who engage in murder, torture, and necrophilia all seemingly for kicks. Sound sick? Well, it is, but somehow in the midst of all the terrible things this f'ed up family does, there are times when you find yourself rooting for them. And you even get to see a glimpse of a true loving family in there.

The cast is amazing. It stars, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, and Zombie's super hot wife, Sheri. Add to that a bunch of mid level actors that will have you saying, Hey that's that guy from...ummmm....something...

The flick isn't scary in the slasher movie sort of way. It is incredibly unsettling and gross and should come with a bar of soap. And I loved every minute of it. You looking for some sadistic stylings? Then this is the movie for you.


Day 18:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: (1974)


LEATHERFACE!! TCM is the story about the original dysfuncitonal family. A family that looks out for one another...especially their disfigured son. How do they do that? Well, they let him kill people, remove their flesh, and make masks out of it to cover his hideous face with. If that isn't love, I don't know what is...

TCM is one of the first films that is shot from the perspective of the killers. Many of the scenes and concepts from this movie were used in Zombie's flicks (above). TCM is bizzare and radically different from most other horror movies.

Loosely based on the killings perptrated by Ed Gein, TCM was shot using a 16mm camera providing it with a grainy and unsettling presentation that was common in the 70's.

I will say this. TCM is a movie for true horror originalists. It was not cut from the same cloth as horror movies today and does not follow the formula familiar to most. If you are looking for the familiar, then go with the 2003 remake, which was also a very good flick.