Rob Zombie’s previous film, House of 1000 Corpses, was held by Universal for three years before Lion’s Gate Films managed to step up and distribute the film. During that three-year stretch, the hype grew to ridiculous proportions, with all sorts of gossip about why Universal chose not to distribute the film. Was it because of the violence? Was it the overall tone of the movie? Was it even done? I was among those sucked into the mystery, wondering if Universal’s reluctance to distribute the film was because it featured the host of MTV’s Singled Out in a major role.

After House made approximately $15-billion-million-bajongajillion, Lion’s Gate got a sequel underway. To everyone’s astonishment, the film was finished without a hitch and managed to worm its way into theaters in the summer of 2005, where it garnered a bit of actual critical acclaim. Corpses might not have reached far outside of the diehard horror fan base (and that group was still split on the film anyway), but The Devil’s Rejects impressed because it managed to be different from the first film, and absurdly so.

A mere few months after the events of House went down (judging from Otis’ beard growth, and the stock of cheerleaders in the basement), the Firefly family find themselves surrounded by the heavily-armed police, led by a very pissed off Sheriff Wydell, whose brother was ruthlessly executed by Mother Firefly. A shootout ensues and, since he was never a well-developed character in the first place, Rufus Firefly perishes in his mother’s arms. Mother Firefly is captured, but Otis and Baby manage to escape and alert their father, Captain Spaulding, who, when not working down at the gas station, spends his time in the company of portly women.

The kids find their way to a goofy theme hotel where they take hostage Banjo And Sullivan, a clan of traveling musicians which include that guy from Mr. Show and the chick with the three nipples from Mallrats. Since the Fireflys are sadistic killers, they naturally pass the time torturing their victims before meeting up with their father and moving on to Charlie’s Frontier Funland, a town of ill repute owned by Spaulding’s brother. Unbeknownst to the family, Sheriff Wydell has gone absolutely insane and faster than you can throw your fists in the air and shout “street justice,” he’s already dispatched Mother Firefly and he’s on his way with his own collection of sleazy goons to take care of the rest.

Although The Devil’s Rejects might not bring anything new to the table with its storyline or presentation, the film manages to present everything with enough cruelty and brutality to at the very least leave an impression. Most of the film’s success lies in the hands of the excellent cast, from the main players right down to the smallest bit parts.

While I do mean it when I say the film doesn’t manage to break any new ground with its storyline, one of the better aspects of the film comes with the torturing of the Firefly family. The hunter becoming the hunted is definitely not a new concept, but Zombie makes a successful decision with this scene in allowing the Fireflys to be human. Rather than having the characters egg Wydell on throughout the proceedings, by the first act of torture they’re left there, slumped over, crying. While ultimately it might not bring sympathy to the characters, it certainly brings a much harsher realism to them.

The good outweighs the bad, but the problems are fairly rough, specifically Zombie’s use of CGI. Falling back on CGI whenever someone gets shot or cut up might have helped with the shooting schedule, but it looks like absolute garbage. This leads up to my biggest complaint about the movie: the final scene relies extensively on CGI bullet hits, smoke, broken glass and blood. The whole thing is rendered almost incomprehensible due to the combination of bad CGI and digital slow motion.

The Devil’s Rejects trumps its predecessor in every way imaginable, but don’t go into it looking for a fun time.

Video Quality 
Shot on grainy, desaturated 16mm film stock, The Devil’s Rejects on DVD looks like a grainy, desaturated 16mm film. Since the movie was shot to look like a documentary, there are many scenes of intentional grain and soft, out-of-focus touches, but when the shot calls for the sharpest picture possible (meaning whenever Michael Berryman’s mug is onscreen), it delivers.

Audio Quality
The film is presented in both 5.1 Dolby EX Digital and DTS surround. Both tracks are constantly active and sound very nice. The DTS track pumps out the bass a little bit better (“better” meaning “louder”) than the Dolby EX, but you’re not missing too much if you don’t have a DTS-capable player. No complaints here.

Extras
So now we’re here with the Director’s Cut. The two-disc special edition. And thank God for the Director’s Cut DVD, right? In theory, it allows the director complete control over their project, allows them to present their vision in the most lucid form possible. In the case of The Devil’s Rejects, it gives the audience a chance to satiate their need to see a 66-year-old man’s testicles. That’s right – a few glimmering moments of Sid Haig’s beautiful, bronzed beanbag. I can only pray to whatever deity you hold dear in your heart that you are able to see withered, sweaty man-sac flopping about like polished figs on a high definition Widescreen television, in 6.1 DTS surround sound. Go ahead, pause it. Go frame by frame through the DVD event of the year. Study it like the Zapruder film – only the best for my (assumed) readers, I say!

The most interesting features on Disc 1 are the pair of audio commentaries, the first with director Rob Zombie, and the second with actors Sid Haig, Bill Moseley and Sherri Moon Zombie. Rob Zombie’s track is always informative, yet dry at times when he falls back on describing what’s happening onscreen, while the actor commentary is not as informative, yet much more lively. The tracks balance each other out, I guess.

The rest of Disc 1 is mostly fluff, but damn it, it’s entertaining fluff! First there’s a typical blooper reel (my favorite being Bill Moseley forgetting his line, which is “Fuck you.”), followed by the full version of The Morris Green Show – Ruggsville’s #1 Talk Show. While you might have only seen a few moments of the feature in the film itself, this is the full, goofy 13-minute segment. It features everyone’s favorite rapist from Pulp Fiction, Duane Whitaker! Also featured in the film and presented here is the live performance of “Satan’s Got to Get Along Without Me” by Buck Owens.

If you can’t get enough of Captain Spaulding, the full version of the Mary the Monkey Girl commercial is included, along with the Spaulding Christmas Commercial, which isn’t included in the film. Also on the meta-ish side of the extras is ”Cheerleader Missing” – The Otis Home Movie, a brief one-minute segment where Otis has his way with a cheerleader. I didn’t know home made snuff films had multiple camera angles and rapid-fire editing.

Thirteen minutes worth of deleted scenes are included. Mostly brief little moments, the only segments worth mentioning are Dr. Satan Attacks, which features Rosario Dawson in a role that must have been edited out due to the fact that she looks pretty and thus doesn’t belong in this movie, and Otis and Candy Make Funky Music, which will delight you if you ever wanted to hear Tommy Pickles from Rugrats talk about rubbing pancake batter all over her ass.

Makeup tests features 12 minutes of silent test footage that you’ll play in fast-forward once and never watch again, while the Matthew McGrory tribute consists of two minutes of behind-the-scenes footage set to sad music. Finishing up Disc 1 is your usual Still Gallery, theatrical trailer & TV spots and soundtrack plug.

Disc 2 is dedicated to the 144-minute documentary 30 Days in hell: The Making Of The Devil’s Rejects. As you can probably tell by the running time, this is a painfully comprehensive making-of, which covers the pre-production and every single day during the shoot. While the documentary features pretty much everything you’ve wanted to know about the production, the delivery gets fairly repetitive after awhile (how could it not? The damn thing’s almost two-and-a-half hours long), with a black screen that announces the shot list, shows the shots being filmed and then compares it to the finished product, up until the last day of filming.

There’s a lot of good to say about the documentary, though. When not concentrating on the behind-the-scenes footage, the documentary will break away to get interviews with the cast and crew, most interesting being the segments with Zombie himself, who seems quite disappointed with his work on House of 1000 Corpses and is determined not to make the same mistakes again. But really, two-and-a-half hours? Every day of shooting is covered?

The Bottom Line
The Devil’s Rejects is a definite leap in the right direction for Rob Zombie, who finds the right balance between keeping the action depraved yet simultaneously riveting. It might not appeal to a great number of people, but those who decide to check out the film shouldn’t be too disappointed in either the film or the DVD presentation.