Film Review: 3 From Hell

Rob Zombie is an interesting filmmaker to me. While his reference points, breadth of horror knowledge, love of character actors, and authentically trashy grindhouse sensibilities all speak to me, something usually ends up lost in translation once I actually see one of his movies. I haven’t enjoyed much of his work, yet I still feel a weird sense of obligation to see one because my curiosity always gets the better of me, perhaps hoping he could finally crack something. And what keeps me going to one of his movies is the fact that he did manage to do it once before.

His 2005 film, The Devil’s Rejects, is not only his best film in my eyes, it’s also one of the great horror films of the 2000s full stop. It combines all of his usual ticks into something that is a unique kick-in-the-teeth experience of lyrical, blood soaked mayhem and depravity. It’s so confidently made, the three leads own the screen so hard, they’re practically holding the film itself hostage, and nothing in Zombie’s filmography since then has quite been able to reach that same level. Not for a lack of trying, though. The one thing you can say about Zombie is that he doesn’t phone things in, even when doing something out of his usual style like The Lords Of Salem.

This brings us to his new film, 3 From Hell, which also happens to be a follow up to The Devil’s Rejects, capping off the trilogy that started back in 2003 with House of 1000 Corpses. The film is getting a three night release through Fathom Events (September 16-18) before its DVD/Blu-ray release on October 15th. Following a brief prologue that reveals Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), Otis (Bill Moseley), and Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) have survived the shooting at the end of Devil’s Rejects, and went on a trial that earned them great notoriety. Years later, Otis has escaped prison, and arranges for Baby to be freed, which leads them to continue their rampage with Foxy (Richard Brake).

Given my weird and complicated feelings about Zombie’s work, expectations were kept in check, which probably served the film greatly since I enjoyed the film a lot more than anticipated. However, that does come with a few caveats. For one, I don’t think the film does nearly enough justifying its own existence. Nothing about the story here seems like it was the kind of story one would feel urged to tell. A less forgiving viewer could easily see this simply as a lesser retread of Devil’s Rejects, which comes across more egregious because of how it undoes the ending of that film with an underwhelming explanation.

The film has moments that – of expanded upon – could have brought something new to the series. In the earlier scenes, presented like an old, grainy documentary, we see interviews with people who are supporting the three criminals we’ve been following, chanting things like “free the three.” But once we fast forward to the escape, we don’t see much else of this bizarre folk hero status at all. It’s also worth noting that there is a disappointing (if totally understandable) lack of Haig. He gets a couple scenes in the beginning, and then he is out of the picture.

Despite this, there is plenty of nasty fun to be had. It’s clear that Zombie really missed playing around with these deranged characters, so getting to see them cut loose is satisfying. It’s as ugly, horrifying, brutal, and darkly funny as you’d expect. The film mostly avoids the cheap look you usually see from long awaited low budget sequels, as it manages to maintain most of the aesthetic choices consistently from the previous film, including some killer needle drops. The only noticeable difference is the unfortunate overuse of closeups during some of the sequences of violence. In fact, there was an odd lack of wide shots for large chunks of the film. And while the film certainly pushes it with its two hour runtime, it sustains a good energy for most of it.

3 From Hell is definitely not up to par to something like The Devil’s Rejects, and anyone hoping for some kind of explosive return of these characters will likely come out slightly disappointed. It brings little new to the table, but as a chance to spend a little more time with these demented characters, it works fine, and Rob Zombie added some compelling and interesting touches to keep these characters worth spending time with, almost despite themselves. They are a fascinating bunch, and their presence is the best use of Zombie’s very, very specific cinematic voice. The cast continues to be great, and Brake fits right in with the group, almost enough to make up for the precious few moments we get of Haig. Dee Wallace, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Clint Howard, and Richard Edson make strong impressions in supporting roles. And when the gore gets going, it works wonders with an audience. It’s not a film interested in selling to anyone who hasn’t already been sold, which leads to some missed opportunities, but there is a lot to appreciate for fans of the series and the genre.