“The Devil’s Rejects” got released this week to the movie theaters. If you’ve not seen or heard of it yet, it is a sequel to his previous “House of 1000 Corpses.” It is savage, brutal, sadistic, amoral … well, calling it a piece of trash as a lot of reviewers have would be praise. To paraphrase one reviewer, if you see a scene where two rednecks are buying a chicken and your immediate recation is to ask if they wany to eat it or fuck it, this movie is probably for you.
If someone wants to make a movie like this, God bless them. Free speech and all that. What pisses me off is the comments Zombie reportedly made about it (reported on it’s IMDb entry.) In response to a comment that the movie was " the worst, most violent depraved movie I have ever seen. It glorifies violence" Zombie replies, “this movies does not glorify the violence, it shows how ugly and nasty it is… I don’t want people to cheer the bad guys.”
Sorry, bad guy … why don’t you grow a set. I’m calling bullshit.
You made a geek show for people who like geek shows. Do you really seriously think, after 9/11 and the London bombings and everything we’ve been through in the past 10 years that people are suddenly going to see this movie and realize “Oooo … violence is bad!” No, I think you knowingly made a movie to see how depraved and sick you could get on the screen and then tried to defend it by pretending to have a moralistic, educational overtone.
Bullshit again … grow some balls, Mr. Zombie. Your whole career has been about pushing the limits of gore, violence and depravity. At least have the guts to stand behind your work for what it is. There’s nothing moralistic, nothing enlightening, nothing which would inspire people to a higher frame of mind here. It’s a horror show, pure and simple, and you wanted to see how sick and depraved you could make it. Stand up for your work, but don’t pretend that people with more than half a brain can’t see what it’s really all about.
I saw the movie. I didn’t feel like Zombie was cheering for the bad guys. I felt like he sympathized with the victims and wanted the bad guys punished.
The movie has been very well reviewed, by the way. Even Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up.
And I thought the chicken fucking exchange was hilarious.
I disagree. He’s had two movies to get the bad guys punished now … hasn’t happened. Have you followed his career or seen his website? He delights in over the top violence and gore. I truly believe that he didn’t make this movie because he wanted us to be repulsed by the violence for some sort of moralistic reason … I think he did it because he thought it was cool.
I don’t have to see sadistic and brutal torture, rape and murder to know that it’s “bad” and not something I want to submit myself to. I’m not judging the movie; I’m judging Zombie’s stated motives in making the movie.
A person who’s actually seen the flick states seems to think it was pretty clear Zombie did not want people to cheer for the murderers. See the movie to make your own judgement, but until then your opinion is pretty damn worthless.
The bad guys are first tortured by a vindictive sheriff, and then, after escaping briefly, they are blown away by the police in a hail of gunfire, Bonnie and Clyde style…in slow motion. That doesn’t count as punishment?
But that’s my point! I don’t need the see the movie to be able to know that what is depicts is bad! And given the arc of his career, I find it very difficult to believe that he wasn’t out to glorify violence.
I just get tired of filmmakers making geek shows like this and then hiding behind the veneer of trying to make some sort of serious statement when they’re called on it. I would have much better admired Zombie if he had replied to the line about “the worst, most violent depraved movie I have ever seen” saying “yes, that’s what we were going for. We succeeded.”
So you admit you haven’t seen the movie, you’ve made at least two inaccurate statements about what happens in it, and you still feel qualified to judge the director’s intentions?
What serious statement? The one from your OP? “this movies does not glorify the violence, it shows how ugly and nasty it is… I don’t want people to cheer the bad guys.”
Dio, who’s seen the flick, says this is accurate. You have not, and disagree.
Disclaimer: I haven’t seen either movie and don’t really intend to as I don’t have any interest in gory horror movies…but…
This sounds like a quote from the fundie Christians who say “I don’t have to READ the Harry Potter books to know they’re full of witchcraft and Satan worshipping!”
FWIW, here’s a quote from an article I read in this morning’s Detroit Free Press:
