Rob Zombie 3-Disc Collector's Set DVD Review

With the new release of Rob Zombie’s take on the Halloween saga, it is an ideal time to release his last two films in a set together. All of films he has made thus far, including Halloween, have a certain fascination with the seedier middle-America crazies. What is really interesting is how each of these films are very much focused on family, albeit dysfunction and untraditional families. House of 1000 Corpses is basically The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but Zombie seems to involve the audience more, making them complicit with the cruel acts. The also just seems to be an enjoyment and mean spirited fun which certainly can be found in Tobe Hooper’s Massacre in far more subtle ways. The Devil’s Rejects has a family of mass killers. This is essentially all The Devil’s Rejects is, containing many of the jarring editing techniques attributed to music videos, which was used even more predominately in 1000 Corpses. These aren’t necessarily good films, and I would never consider Zombie a good director, but I could most definitely see him continuing to gain status as a cult director. His style is unique, and for that I am very thankful.

House of 1000 Corpses With all of the hype and attention given to this film in regards to what it was going to be rated and released you would think that there would be an unrated version lying around somewhere. I distinctly remember hearing that the film would be rated NC-17 and that was the way Zombie wanted it. In the end it didn’t have much graphic violence and hardly anything past innuendo sexually. There is plenty of foul language and television’s Rainn Wilson of The Office (Dwight), being attacked by a house of inbred killers. The jarring editing juxtaposing random and pointless footage in the middle of scenes must have been to keep the slow film entertaining. Not much happens and once it does it isn’t nearly as shocking or graphic as one might imagine from the title. The DVD contains no unrated version of the film, but there are plenty of other special features including a commentary by Zombie. There is also plenty of behind-the-scenes footage with audition and rehearsal footage and a featurette. The trailers and photo galleries are just icing on the over-indulged cake.

The Devil’s Reject’s As much hype as there seemed to be for 1000 Corpses, there seemed to be just as much talk about The Devil’s Reject’s when it was released. When I finally got around to seeing it I felt that I was yet again watching a film that showed Zombie loves a lot of good movies and sometimes gets overzealous in recreating them. It also can’t be argued that he has his own style that he is determined to stick with for better or worse. Just the same Reject’s is a slightly better film, at least taking the absurd characters into more gruesome situations, and also allowing the opportunity for an unrated version. Zombie once again does a commentary track for the film but there is an added bonus track with the actors, including Zombie’s wife who happens to find a role in every film of his. There are deleted scenes as well as endless footage of seemingly useless footage and featurettes. The third disc in the set is The Making of The Devil’s Rejects, which is longer than either of the films. It is also probably easier to watch.