THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (2005) (Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray Review)

THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (2005) 

Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: MA 15+
Duration: 111 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Surround 6.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.77:1) 
Director: Rob Zombie
Cast: Sheri Moon Zombie, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Ken Fore, Priscilla Barnes, Geoff Lewis, Leslie Easterbrook,  Danny Trejo, Diamond Dallas Page, William Forsythe,  

Synopsis: From the twisted mind of acclaimed musician and Director Rob Zombie, comes The Devil's Rejects - a nerve-shredding violent road trip through the weirdest parts of American and the darkest corners of your mind. This grisly tale of mayhem reunites the homicidal members of the Firefly Family as they go on a rampage of senseless slaughter, pursued by a pair of sadistic bounty hunters and an outlaw sheriff hell bent on revenge. When they finally meet, prepare yourself for one of the most depraved and terrifying showdowns you'll ever see. 

Following the events of House of a 1000 Corpses (2003) the sequel opens with Texas Sheriff John Quincey Wydell (William Forsythe, Raising Arizona) and a squad of heavily-armed officers descending on the ranch home of the Firefly family, he comes breathing fire and damnation, but the Firefly's are prepared, donning cast-iron armor and well-armed themselves. In the ensuing firefight Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook, Police Academy)is captured and Otis (Bill Mosley, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) and Baby (Shari Moon Zombie, Lords of Salem) escape through sewers tunnels, flagging down a passing car and killing the driver (Mary Woronov, Hell Hole) then hiting the road, eventually meeting up with the nightmare clown Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig, Foxy Brown), who take up refuge in a dirt bag hotel, kidnapping and terrorizing a family of travelling country musicians, headed-up by Roy (Geoffrey Lewis, Salem's Lot) and his wife Gloria (Priscilla Barnes, the three-nipped gypsy from Mallrats!) whom they humiliate, denigrate and straight-up kill after putting them through the wringer, peeling the face off one of the band members, before wearing his face, in scene lifted from TCM2. 

The film is a weird one, it corrals you into rooting for the demented firefly clan in a weird way, the twisted killers on the run from he lawman who becomes just a deranged as the trio of killers, Forsythe as Sheriff is haunted by the death of his brother George (Tom Towles, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), when he snaps he murders Mother Firefly in her jail cell, and to see Easterbrook at Mother Firefly is demented, she capably the shoes of Karen Black (Burn Offerings) who portrayed the matriarch in the first film! Unhinged and out for revenge Wydell hires a pair of underworld bounty hunters named Rondo (Danny Trejo, From Dusk Till Dawn) and Snapper (Diamond Dallas Page) to track down the trio of killers, leading up to a fiery inferno at the Firefly ranch. 

Along the way we have a cast of side characters including Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) as a whore mongering lowlife, Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), 80's porn star Ginger Lynn (New Wave Hookers) and Elizabeth Daily (Better Off Dead) as whores, and both are lunatics, plus P.J. Soles (Carrie) as a woman victimized by Captain Spaulding, who also lays a head trip on her terrified son! 

As where House of a 1000 Corpses was a surreal, nightmare-fueled version of Tobe Hooper's TCM2, The Devil's Rejects is more gritty and realistic, visually more stripped down and akin to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) in tone, I really dig the seedy aesthetic of it. The Firefly trio are great, Haig is fantastic as Spaulding, lots of great lines, and both Baby and Otis are toned down a bit from the previous film, there's a certain evil-gleefulness to their awfulness, played as a dark comedy with plenty of nerve-shredding exploitation and violence. 

Audio/Video: The Devil's Rejects (2005) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment framed in 1080p HD widescreen (1.77:1). The visuals are going for that 70's washed-out patina, the whites burn bright, and the overall image is gritty and dirty,  everything appears authentic to the original presentation without digital artifacts or other compression issues. The only audio option on the disc is a healthy sounding English DTS-HD MA Surround 6.1 track and it sounds great, the dialogue and effects are crisp and clean, well-balanced, and the 70's Southern rock soundtrack notably opening with Allman Brothers Band "Midnight Rider" and closing with Lynard Skynyrd's "Free Bird", with tasty selections from James Gang, Joe Walsh, Three Dog Night and a memorable rendition of "Satan's Got to Get Along Without Me" by Buck Owens and His Buckaroos. All the music sounds great, including a score by Tyler Bates (Guardians of the Galaxy). Optional English subtitles are provided, though they are not indicated on the box. 

Onto the extras we get all the extras from the 2-disc Director's Cut DVD except for the two audio commentaries and the 144-minute making of doc, which is a shame, as far as extras go that 2-disc DVD is still the definite edition, with the Lionsgate Blu-ray only carrying over the commentaries and deleted scenes, but this Blu-ray from is solid, I just wish we had a 2-disc Blu-ray release with both the theatrical and director's cut versions, the director and cast commentaries and the making of doc. 

The single-disc Blu-ray release comes housed in the usual over-sized 15mm spine Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring new artwork by Umbrella staff artist/designer Simon Sherry, the reverse side features a variant of the same artwork minus the rating label, the disc featuring an excerpt from the artwork, that when seated in the Blu-ray cases lines up perfectly with the reverse artwork on the b-side.  Not the biggest fan of the new illustration, I sort of wish we had the original artwork on the flip, not that the illustration is bad but for me it  doesn't capture the essence of the movie, and I am a huge fan of the original DVD release artwork. 

Special Features: 
- Bloody Stand-up (02:17)
- Matthew McGrory Tribute (01:59)
- Buck Owens: Satan's Got to Get Along Without Me (01:52)
- "Mary the Monkey Girl" Commercial  (1 min) 
- Captain Spaulding's Xmas Commercial (1 min) 
- Otis' Home Movies (1 min)
- Deleted Scenes (13 min) 
- Blooper Reel (6 min)
- Make-up Test (13 min)
- The Morris Green Show (13 min)

The Devils Rejects (20015) is a blood-soaked road movie, transforming the demented Firefly clan from the heinous over-the-top sicko clan of House of a 1000 Corpses to not just heinous killers, but anti-heroes of a sort, it's grim, gritty and not unfunny, playing and looking very much like a slice of vintage 70's exploitation. This is still my favorite Rob Zombie film to date, and it only gets better with age.   

DVD Review: GEORGE: A ZOMBIE INTERVENTION (2009)

GEORGE: A ZOMBIE INTERVENTION (2009)

LABEL: Vicious Circle Films
REGION CODE: 1 NTSC
RATING: Unrated
DURATION: 93mins
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital Stereo
VIDEO: 16:9 Anamorphic (1.78:1)
DIRECTOR: T.J. Seaton
CAST: Peterr Stickles, Michele Tomlinson, Lynn Lowry, Carlos Larkin, Shannon Hadson, Eric Dean

J.T. Seaton's debut feature film GEORGE: A ZOMBIE INTERVENTION is a quirky indie zombie comedy the likes of which I haven't quite seen before. The films sets up straight away that zombies are a fact of life, not all zombies are flesh-eating lunatics and some can actually be productive members of society. This conceit is set up through a fun and ingenious PSA styled advert at the top of the film.

We then meet the focus of the film, a zombie named George (Carlos Larkin) who's definitely not what you would call a productive member of society, dead or alive, he's a bit of a slacker zombie who lounges around his home in a bathrobe and a tie-dye t-shirt watching TV and occasionally gnawing on a human from time to time. It's this appetite for human flesh that has his best friend Ben (Pete Stickles, SHORTBUS), sister Frannie (Shannon Hodson), ex-girlfriend Sarah (Michelle Tomlinson, BRAIN DEAD) and her douche bag boyfriend Steve (Eric Dean, OFFICE OF THE DEAD) concerned. Fearing that George may be turning to the dark side of zombiedom they stage an intervention at his home with the charmingly inept interventionist Barbra (Lynn Lowry, THE CRAZIES) presiding over the event.

While George attempts to evade his well meaning friends and family his hunger for flesh human grows and when the group take a time out from the intervention people start turning up dead around the house including a couple of Mormon missionaries, some ditzy strippers and a door to door salesman who ends up a prisoner in the basement where the bodies keep piling up. The thing about a only half eaten corpse is that it tends to become a zombies themselves which proves problematic to the proceedings.

I gotta say I really enjoyed this flick, it's smartly written and capably acted. Carlos Larkin as the slacker zombie George is a ton of fun, such a likable guy even when he's sinking his teeth into a nice slab of stripper breast looking like Sylvester with a mouth full of Tweety when he's caught. It was a treat glimpsing Lynn Lowry of SHIVER, THE CRAZIES and SCORE as the interventionist and Troma impresario Lloyd Kaufman appears in one of his patented cameos. The group dynamic totally works, the dialogue really is quite funny while there are horror elements this is a straight up situational zom-com with loads of deadpan humor.

DVD: The screener from Vicious Circle Films presents the film in 16:9 widescreen (1.78:1) with English language Dolby Digital stereo, with no subtitles. It's a bare bones disc and did not include any of the special features which include director's commentary, featurette, alternate takes, deleted scenes and a short film.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Deleted/Alternate Scenes
- Cast and Crew Commentary
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage
- Zombie Rehab Center - Group Therapy
- Lloyd Kaufman Alternate Takes and Bloopers
- "Sunday on the Street with George" - Short Film

VERDICT: First time feature length director J.T. Seaton has crafted a fun, quirky zom-com that manages not to quirk itself right into the realm of annoying which is a rare feat. Zombie purist may scoff at this irreverent take on the tired zombie genre but if you enjoyed FIDO, AAAH! ZOMBIES or SHAUN OF THE DEAD this should prove entertaining, it's not rewriting the zom-com but it's a fun entry in the sub-genre. 3.5/5

DVD Review: Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM (2006)

“Ever Evil, Every Nightmare, Together in One Film”


RATED: Unrated
RUNNING TIME: 89 Min.
DIRECTOR: Michael Bohusz
CAST: Akkad, Lilyan Akkad, Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Rob Zombie, Sean S. Cunningham, Harry Manfredini, Gregory Nicotero, Betsy Palmer, Tom Savini, Stan Winston, Joseph Zito. Narrated by Ed Green

 

ANECDOTAL: Genre film documentaries at their best are like greatest hits collections of your favorite films, genre, or director. The few that I’ve seen completely enraptured me. I watch ‘em, notepad in hand, giddily scribbling down names of obscure giallo, grindhouse, and slasher films. The thrill of the hunt, something new that had previously eluded me, been forgotten, or lost to the VHS-era never to seen in the digital glory of DVD. The following is a list of documentaries I highly recommend. The vary in depth and quality, but each is entertaining and informative: MARIO BAVA: MAESTRO OF THE MACABRE (2000), MIDNIGHT MOVIES: FROM THE MARGIN TO THE MAINSTREAM (2005), DARIO ARGENTO: AN EYE FOR HORROR (2000), AMERICAN NIGHTMARE (2000), NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD (2009). Personally, I would love to see a documentary uncovering some classic VHS-era slashers that never made it to DVD. If you, dear reader, would like to suggest a title I may enjoy please do so.

SYNOPSIS: A documentary chronicling the history of the Slasher film from Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960) on through to Rob Zombie’s HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES (2003) and all points in between.

DVD: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio, Dolby 2.o sound. Special Features; Message from the Author, Bonus Interviews, Trivia Game, Trailer, Trailer Gallery

THE FILM: This is a documentary that originally aired on the Starz network in 2006; it is based on the book of the same title by author Adam Rockoff. Of course, as with most things awesome - I missed it! Not to worry, it’s available on DVD. This film features one of the greatest assemblies of horror directors and talking heads I’ve ever seen in any genre doc, it’s an 80’s slasher orgasm in here folks, seriously. I would say the majority of the films interviews center around John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and Tom Savini. The archival clips from the films are staggering, touching most, if not all, the prominent slasher films of the 70’s/80’s, and a few obscure ones as well, GRADUATION DAY (1980), PIECES (1982), and a personal favorite HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981). You don’t get a lot of deep, intellectual conversation about social commentary, though you do get Siskel & Ebert ranting about the misogyny of slasher films and how they’re a response to the empowerment of women. They really come across as a couple off hysterical ass clown, ugh! For more Siskel & Ebert douche baggery you need to see their original review of BLUE VELVET (1986), it appears as a special feature on the Blue Velvet: Special Edition DVD. If you are a hardcore horror geek you’ll notice a few omissions, but overall, this is slasher nirvana. As with the best of the genre it clocks in at less than 90 minutes, a brisk, yet informative, 88 minutes.

VERDICT: If you are a horror geek, a slasher enthusiast, or just enjoy the occasional scary film, GOING TO PIECES is a MUST SEE! ****1/2 (4.5 out of 5 stars)