Rob Zombie Interview for 'The Lords of Salem' Part Two: 'The Devil's Rejects'

This is a continuation of my series on Rob Zombie‘s feature films as a director leading up to the Friday release of his latest effort, The Lords of Salem (Read the first entry HERE). I had the opportunity to speak with him at length about all five of his films and am exploring them in chronological order with snippets of my interview interspersed throughout. Today, we move on to his sophomore effort, The Devil’s Rejects.

The Devil’s Rejects

Zombie followed up House of 1000 Corpses with The Devil’s Rejects, a stylistic departure from its predecessor in every conceivable way. Shifting away from the cool blues and psychedelic super-8 motif of House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects is a sun burnt road film straight out of the ’70s. A drive-in exploitation picture released in the politically volatile summer of 2005, The Devil’s Rejects found the Firefly clan on the run from the lawman brother of one of their victims from the first film.

It’s a relentlessly cruel movie with reprehensible mass murderers serving as its protagonists. Yet it seems to be the most well received picture in his filmography. I can only guess this is because it boasts an inspired uniformity of vision, making for a more palatable and comfortably structured viewing experience than House of 1000 Corpses was. Zombie was ahead of the curve yet again with the scummy milieu of Rejects pre-configuring the Grindhouse revival of the late aught’s.

Zombie employed a classic rock soundtrack full of recognizable radio hits, but focused most successfully on the haunted soulfulness of lesser known musician Terry Reed. He uses one of his songs during a montage at the conclusion of the second act, but I find the layering of “Seed of Memory” over the end credits to be particularly evocative (Watch it HERE). The film also features a magnificently audacious denouement in which Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird” is played in its entirety.

I’m not a huge fan of classic rock by any stretch of the imagination, but the chosen cuts suit the film brilliantly, giving it its authentic edge. In a piece I wrote (Read it HERE) concerning the film’s curious air of wistful fatalism, I referred to its effect on the viewer as making one feel nostalgic for a life they never lived in a time that never existed. Zombie’s expert skills in constructing musical montage and superlative song selection are what give it that magical power.

Why the switch in style and tone between House and Rejects? Did you want to challenge yourself with another genre, or did you feel the story you were compelled to tell required a totally different aesthetic and approach to the characters?

Rob Zombie (RZ): I heard so many stories of people making their first film, then there’s these people coming to them saying, “Here’s the money to make a sequel”. And they reply saying, “Oh, I don’t want to make a sequel, I’m going to hold out until I get another film.” Sometimes, the hold out process goes on forever and they never get another film. Because it’s very hard to get films made, it’s very hard to get films funded. If someone’s willing to put up that money and make your film happen, you really can’t look that gift horse in the mouth. With that being said, I didn’t want to make House of 1000 Corpses Part 2. I didn’t want that title, even though that’s what it was supposed to be, and I didn’t want to make another movie that looked like that. So I thought, what I’ll do is take the characters that I really like and eliminate some of the others and continue the story on as a different movie more in the style of what I want to do.

I didn’t want to make House of 1000 Corpses Part 2.

I didn’t want that title,

even though that’s what it was supposed to be.

William Forsythe portrays Sheriff Wydell as a barreling instrument of righteous revenge, hell bent on bringing the demented Firefly clan to justice no matter the cost. Without ever seeming overt, the film tied in brilliantly with the then hot button issue of America’s, perhaps excessive, approach to hunting down terrorists and extracting intelligence from them.

Coming hot on the heels of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal and the disastrous response to the insurgency that sprouted up in the power vacuum after we toppled Saddam Hussein, The Devil’s Rejects plays as a disturbing portrait of how accomplishing vengeance for a horrible act can warp those seeking it.

Film critic Scott Tobias wrote an excellent article for the AV Club (read the article HERE) about how he perceived The Devil’s Rejects to contain post 9/11 and Iraq war subtext. He saw Wydell serving as a surrogate for overzealous authority being psychologically corrupted by the war on terror and pursuing justice through less than legal channels. Have you read this piece and do you feel that the tenor of the times influenced your story?

RZ: I haven’t read the piece, but I think the times influence you at all times. The world we live in at the moment you’re making something is going to influence you. But it wasn’t a conscious effort where I felt the world was this way and I needed to express my feeling toward it with this movie, not at all.

So much of what goes on in film making is subconscious because you’re so involved in it, 24/7 for years sometimes. You’re so deep in the movie that you can’t see your way out of it. Sometimes I’ll go back and see pieces of the making of documentary and that’s the only thing that gives me any clue as to what was going on or what I was thinking. It just becomes a blur, it’s very strange.

The film is also notable for its preponderance of cult actors from every corner of the genre being given center stage and allowed to really let loose. Sid Haig made the deranged clown Captain Spaulding an indelible horror icon in this and House of 1000 Corpses, but is well known for his work in films dating back to Spider Baby in 1968 and Coffy in 1973. His background in cult and blaxploitation films is what led Quentin Tarantino to cast him in small roles in both Jackie Brown and Kill Bill Vol. 2.

Additionally featured are horror mainstays Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) and Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), but it’s genre journeyman Bill Moseley who turns in his best work to date. He eclipses his iconic role of Choptop in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 by evolving Otis into a nuanced, believable monster. He’s despicable, yet strangely charismatic in a subdued performance that anchors the film with steely resolve.

The Devil’s Rejects is a fascinating film for many reasons. Through it, Zombie managed to cleverly subvert his fans expectations of a straight forward sequel while also slyly sidestepping the stranglehold of unimaginative producers. It is an absolute artistic triumph, jam-packed with unforgettable imagery and masterfully executed set pieces. The performances are brazen and bigger than life, but always grounded in the reality of the film.

It has lively characters spewing colorful dialog against a backdrop of eroded morality. The message is that there is indeed evil in the world, but be careful how you oppose it lest you become as wicked as those you pursue. It concludes with a literal and figurative blaze of glory, but provides no easy answers as to with which characters your allegiances should lie.

Tomorrow, the week of Zombie continues with a look at his most financially successful and controversial film, 2007’s Halloween remake!