Rob Zombie is possibly the most controversial, off beat, and, in my opinion, interesting filmmaker working today. But after the trippy Halloween 2, the downright surreal Lords of Salem, and the haphazard 31, he is on shaky ground with his own fanbase. And I openly admit I enjoy all of his crazy, wild, over the top movies to varying degrees. But I get why people didn't love his last three movies. So maybe it was logical he would go back to the well and bring back his most iconic characters for a direct follow up to his undisputed masterpiece, The Devil's Rejects.
As it turns out, Otis (Bill Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) all survived the bloody shootout at the climax of the previous movie. My buddies have a fan theory that it has something to do with Dr. Satan but he is not mentioned here. All three are in jail 10 years later and the film opens with an interview from Spaulding and Otis. Soon after, Otis stages a bloody prison break with his never-before-mentioned petty crook brother Winslow (Richard Brake who the played the great villain Doom Head in Zomvie's previous movie 31).
Otis, eager to solidify his name as "Public enemy No. 1", and WInslow, a goofy but dangerous sidekick along for the ride, decide their next move is to break Baby out of jail. In the meantime, Baby has gone absolutely NUTS during her time in jail and she babbles, rages, and attacks, making life miserable for the guard stuck watching her (an unrecognizable Dee Wallace).
The prison warden is a good old boy jerk played by Zombie regular Jeff Daniel Phillips. He and Otis have a Hannibal Lecter vs. Dr. Chilton style rivalry that we know will have to pay off. But there are plenty of others aware of the notorious Firefly cult.
I have to say two things about this movie. First, I loved the first half of this movie. It does everything I wanted out of a Devil's Rejects follow up. The cast is great, the violence is brutal, and the dark, vulgar humor Zombie enjoys so much mostly lands. It is fantastic seeing evil antihero Otis back to murdering and mayhem while it's fun seeing Baby back in action and literally nuttier than ever. I also love that Rob Zombie refuses to back off his fearless, grimy, and utterly un-PC style. This is a mean, nasty movie that makes no apologies and in an era of overly cautious, tame entertainment this is a great antidote to the safe spaces we are used to.
The down side is that the movie is a little on the plotless side. It feels like a prison break movie but the second half of the movie, which involves a trip to Mexico, feels almost like a totally new movie has suddenly started. At that point, 3 From Hell suddenly feels less like a psycho horror movie and more like a Sam Peckinpah movie on crack.
I also wish Sid Haig and Danny Trejo, who returns as one half of the bounty hunter duo the Unholy Two, had more than just cameos. I have to admit that I kind of enjoyed how totally amoral this movie is. Otis and his crew are the leads and this flick never pretends that the 3 from Hell are not its literal heroes. But others might take issue with that.
I liked this thing a lot and it is good time for fans of rough and brutal cinema. It's just a little under devloped. But Rob Zombie should win some fans back and I truly hope we get another evil adventure with the Firefly clan in the future.
Edit: Sid Haig's reduced role was apparently due to his failing health and not any kind of artistic decision on the part of Zombie. Rob Zombie apparently worked very hard to ensure Sid Haig was in this movie at all. And at least Sid Haig got that one last good movie before his death.
RIP Sid Haig, a clown that danced for us all for nearly 50 years.