The mid-2000s were a wild time in horror. From originals like Wolf Creek, High Tension, and the dawn of Saw, to a litany of dark Platinum Dunes remakes. Audiences made it very clear that we wanted it nasty. Then we wanted it even nastier at home on an “unrated” DVD in the months that followed. It’s very apropos then that this is the era when Rob Zombie: Director was born. Following up 2003’s House of 1000 Corpses, the rock star turned director was ready to shock audiences with depravity once more. Only this time, he didn’t want you to laugh uncomfortably at his sick circus. He wanted to suck all the cartoon air out of the room and make you feel the horror as if you were there. To do so would require him to push his actors to the limits of their minds darkest places, piss off the MPAA multiple times, and even shave his beard. Okay, that last one was never going to happen. Up against a tight budget and a ticking clock, Zombie and crew were going to have to go to the extreme if they wanted to make their mark on the already mean spirited world of mid-2000s horror. And believe me, they would… Let’s all take a moment, be thankful Smell-O-Vision isn’t a thing and find out what happened to The Devil’s Rejects.
When House of 1000 Corpses made its entire budget back in its opening weekend, Lionsgate requested a sequel right away. Director Rob Zombie was quick to oblige and started thinking one up immediately. But was clear he had no interest in making the same movie twice. Zombie loathed the lack of risk-taking in modern horror and wanted to do something to strip his audience of their sense of safety. The same way Texas Chain Saw Massacre had done for him at the age of 18. He felt that the 70s were the last bastion of a time before corporate America strangled the life out of cinema and art. He described modern horror films as “wimpy” and bemoaned sequel culture. If he was going to make one himself, he wanted to make it disturbing. And he wanted to make it an Italian Western.
The main trio of House of 1000 Corpses would return to reprise their roles, including Bill Moseley as Otis, Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding, and of course Rob Zombie’s wife, Sheri Moon Zombie alongside copious amounts of her butt cheeks. Matthew McGrory would return for his final role as the extremely cool-looking gentle giant, “Tiny,” as well. Late actress Karen Black asked for more money to return and was instead replaced by Leslie Easterbrook (who played Callahan in Police Academy). Easterbrook took over the role of potty-mouthed matriarch of the Firefly family. To be fair, they are all potty-mouthed. It’s a Rob Zombie script. These folks are like a porta-potty at an outdoor Juggalo Convention in June, potty-mouthed.
This go-around, Zombie cast some of his buddies as well as a litany of known horror names in various roles. Dave Sheridan, who played Deputy Doofy in Scary Movie, once again plays an officer of the law. Horror royalty Ken Foree gets to do some great scenery chewing as pimp Charlie Altamont, and one of his ladies of the night is played by Elizabeth Daily (who is the voice of Tommy Pickles in Rugrats if you want to feel super confused about life).
Priscilla Barnes, who you may remember from various roles (specifically the three-nippled psychic from Mallrats), plays Rejects victim Gloria Sullivan, alongside her film husband, the talented Geoffrey Lewis as Roy Sullivan. Zombie then dug further into his toy chest and pulled out Danny Trejo, alongside wrestler and all-time good dude, “Diamond” Dallas Page, as the “Shake and Bake” of trailer park hitmen. Wrestler and Terrifier 2 actor Chris Jericho auditioned for the role of Rondo that went to Trejo but was told he was too pretty for the role. I’m just hoping Machete never heard that and had his feelings hurt. I hate imagining sad Danny Trejo. Copious amounts of horror cameos, both credited and uncredited, included PJ Soles, Kane Hodder, Tyler Mane, Michael Berryman, and Tom Towles.
Perhaps Rob’s best casting, though, is William Forsythe, as Sheriff Wydell. All it took was a two-hour phone call between Zombie and the Out for Justice actor to know they wanted to work together. Forsythe later praised the director’s ability to know what he wants and to let actors do their thing without interfering. He noted that the scene in which the Sheriff pumps himself up in the mirror was purely improvised in a moment where Zombie allowed him to experiment. It’s also interesting to note that when the character is trying to “walk the line” and solve the case honestly, he’s seen wearing his cowboy hat. When he’s done gone evil, the hat comes off. He’s just like Stallone in Over the Top!
Love him or hate him, it would appear that most actors who work with Zombie have good things to say after the fact. Actor Lew Temple was hesitant about working with Zombie at first, calling his friend Walton Goggins (who worked with Zombie on Corpses) and lamenting that he was a “good Christian boy from the South” and didn’t know if he should work with “a devil worshipper.” Goggins allegedly told him to “shut up” and do the movie anyway, and that afterwards, he would have a friend in Rob Zombie for life.
In the eyes of his actors, Rob Zombie might be a great guy. But the things he writes on paper are anything but. When they set out to film The Devil’s Rejects in May of 2004, the cast and crew didn’t just deal with the sometimes sweltering California heat. But the heaviness of the material as well. One scene in particular involving Otis and Baby assaulting and torturing the family in a motel room in a myriad of ways took its toll on actor Bill Moseley. The scene took place on a lot built for 1991’s Dennis Hopper starrer The Eye of the Storm. It was later used in Martin Lawrence and Tim Robbins’ comedy Nothing to Lose as well as Joe Dirt. The latter of which is hilariously fitting for a Rob Zombie picture. On this day, however, no one was laughing, as it’s a particularly upsetting moment to watch, much less have to believably act out if you’re not a sicko who should be on a list somewhere. Moseley came out of the room having a tough time, and Zombie told him to “buck it up” and get back in there. He added that he didn’t want him to try and “feel better” or to make jokes to the actress to break tension because he wanted her to feel like shit. Because it was going to get the best performance out of her.
Moseley did later mention that overall, he had fun playing the heavy in a role like this. He’d been worried when he showed up for House of 1000 Corpses that Zombie just wanted him to play Chop Top from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, but that Zombie instead led him to the character of Otis, which he so enjoyed playing. As well as enjoying the fact that women seemed to find the character sexy. Which is just… what the fuck, ladies?
One particular scene between Forsythe and Moon Zombie got so intense, it led to the actress needing to take two days off to recover mentally. Sid Haig even had some trouble playing Captain Spaulding in spots, noting that he loathed violence against women. Hilariously, though, it was Haig’s idea to leave his socks on during his sex scene, intentionally wanting to piss off women in the audience.
Sex socks and all, most of the scenes were filmed in various California locations (including the famous Sable Ranch) and were filmed on a tight budget and schedule. Despite the economic returns on Corpses, Zombie still had to work within a framework of $7 million on a shooting schedule of 29 days. To pull this off, he was going to have to really dig through the ditches and burn through the witches. Sorry. He noted that this required him to set up the lighting so that no one could leave the set because he didn’t have time to change it. It also left no room for any of the actors to mess up their lines.
Despite the time and lighting constraints, cinematographer Phil Parmet’s work on the film was impressive, bringing to life the exact aesthetic needed for this to feel all too real. Zombie hired the cinematographer after seeing his handheld work on the Harlan County, USA documentary. It was a choice that made all the difference to the look and feel of Rejects. Around 100 digital effects shots appear in the film, mostly to create gore. The scenes involving objects coming into direct contact with skin (like throat slitting, people getting shot in the head or neck, or stabbings) were created digitally. The violence that didn’t involve direct skin contact was mostly achieved practically. Zombie originally intended to create all of the special effects using only techniques available in the 1970s, but time constraints prevented this as well. Additionally, color grading was used. A 16mm negative was scanned at 2K and digitally corrected to create the gritty, desaturated look of the film. Parmet estimates that 98% of The Devil’s Rejects was shot handheld, with 2% Steadicam and a singular dolly shot.
For the sounds of Rejects, Zombie went out of his way to keep the soundtrack true to the period in which it took place. He refused to add his own songs to the soundtrack for this reason. Zombie also notes that the only reason he had his songs on Corpses was to put soundtrack money back into the film instead of having to paying other musicians for the rights. Despite Otis calling Roy an “unmentionable word in a cowboy hat” for listening to it, the soundtrack featured a litany of ’70s bangers. It features everyone from The Allman Brothers to Three Dog Night to Lynyrd Skynyrd. The score was composed by famed composer Tyler Bates, who would end up working on both Halloween and Halloween 2 with Zombie later in his career.
True to its name, The Devil’s Rejects was unsurprisingly rejected several times by the MPAA. It was submitted at least eight times and received an NC-17 rating on at least seven of those occasions. Zombie was annoyed at the MPAA just like the rest of us and explained that the censorship organization who ruined many a Friday the 13th kill never said directly what they wanted removed from the film and refused to explain themselves.
When The Devil’s Rejects unleashed its sweaty stank upon the world in 2005, it faced off against the July offerings of The Fantastic Four, Wedding Crashers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Michael Bay’s The Island. Aside from Johnny Depp scaring kids with his portrayal of Willy Wonka, there wasn’t much in the way of horror competition. This helped Zombie’s sophomore effort again make its $7 million budget back on opening weekend, gathering over $20 million filthy dollars worldwide. I just picture Captain Spaulding laughing while picking up dollar bills off the floor of a strip club stage while Michael Myers’ mother waits to perform next. Quite literally. Rob Zombie would next direct Sheri Moon Zombie as a stripper version of Myers’ mother in his next full-length feature, a remake of Halloween. Despite lamenting the growing trend of horror remakes during The Devil’s Rejects press run.
Then there’s the long legs Rejects had on home video. The unrated DVD cut featured an extended torture scene in the motel (as if anyone needed that), a raunchier moment between Spaulding and ex-porn star Ginger Lynn, and a fun DVD menu that Zombie went back and shot extra footage for. It features multiple deleted scenes, including one that features actress Rosario Dawson as a nurse caring for the Dr. Satan character from House of 1000 Corpses and promptly having her throat ripped out when she leans over to check on him. Zombie decided to pull Dr. Satan, and subsequently Dawson as well, when he realized very quickly that the scene didn’t fit the newfound serious tone of the sequel. According to Zombie, he clocked it immediately that the scene felt “stupid” and was not going to work for the film.
Critics overall were mixed on Rejects, as you would expect. What I didn’t have on my bingo card was famed critic Roger Ebert being its biggest champion. Some appreciated Zombie’s callback to some of the shocking exploitation horror of the 70s, while others criticized him for ripping them off. Audiences were more receptive. As it sits today, The Devil’s Rejects is Zombie’s highest-rated feature-length film on IMDb, sitting at a 6.7/10 and boasts a B- CinemaScore.
Though Zombie has openly criticized unnecessary sequels in the past, he unearthed the Firefly family again fourteen years later with 3 From Hell. But that’s a different story altogether. When it comes to The Devil’s Rejects, it’s considered by many to be not only Rob’s best film, but a challenging, frightening entry into the gnarly mid-2000s mean spirited horror boom alongside The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003, The Hills Have Eyes, and Hostel. And that is what happened to The Devil’s Rejects.
A couple of the previous episodes of this show can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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