It took a few false starts for Rob Zombie to secure his footing in Hollywood. First, he endlessly revised a script he wrote for one of the installments of "The Crow" before he was unceremoniously removed from the project. Then, after contracts were signed for the funding and distribution for his film debut, "House of 1000 Corpses," Universal Pictures turned gunshy and refused to release the movie, forcing Zombie to find a new home for the project at horror haven Lionsgate.
But throughout all the adversity, Zombie refused to compromise, kiss ass or give up on his lifelong dream of becoming a serious movie director. Now, with two successful films under his belt -- "House of 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects" -- and a reinterpretation of John Carpenter's horror film classic "Halloween" coming in the weeks ahead, Zombie has proven that he is as gifted behind a camera as he is behind the mike. And he shows no sign of slowing down. Since releasing "The Devil's Rejects,"he has recorded and put out a new studio album, Educated Horses, toured exhaustively, worked on "Halloween" and wrote and served as executive producer for "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto," which awaits a release date.
To celebrate Zombie's villainous accomplishments thusfar, Lionsgate has released the "Rob Zombie Three Disc Collector's Set" (Lionsgate), which features the director's edits of "House of 1000 Corpses," "The Devil's Rejects" and "30 Days In Hell," a documentary about the making of "The Devil's Rejects," which includes revealing footage of preproduction, script read throughs, filming, editing and more.
If you've already got both Zombie movies, there's nothing really new here, but for the uninitiated, the package chronicles Zombie's development as a scriptwriter and director -- even without the documentary. Both full-length movies are gripping, modern horror stories. The former is bizarre, brutal and somewhat cartoonish -- filled with surreal camera work and more comic relief, perhaps, than Zombie intended. The latter is grittier and even more unsettling, drying the humor, holding off on the fancy camera work and displaying more character development. The end result is a fierce, ugly movie that makes you care about the characters before they're disposed of. In both movies, cinematic references abound to films such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Last House on the Left," even "Bonnie and Clyde," but Zombie is able to pay homage without plagiarizing or appearing at all pretentious. Even legendary filmmakers rarely get off to such a blazing start. The future looks menacing, indeed.
Puzzlehead (Lifesize Ent) -- In a unique twist on the timeless man vs. machine conflict, James Bai's "Puzzlehead" tells the story of an android that identifies too much with his human creator and a lonely scientist who wishes he was as precise and perfect as his creation. The trouble begins when the doctor programs the android -- who looks exactly like him -- with his own memories, talents and desires. When the robot wins over a woman that the doc had been admiring from afar, the not so suave scientist opts to effectively lobotomize the android and move in on the girl. Unfortunately for loverboy, the clever machine finds a way out of his quandary, and seeks revenge, and in the end, the lines between humanity and mechanical cruelty become irrevocably blurred. Blending classic monster movie pathos and cyber tech sci-fi, into a story that owes equally to William Gibson, Philip K. Dick and Mary Shelley, Bai has created a film that's both engaging and thought provoking.
Carved (Tartan) -- This Japanese ghost story discards the spectral long-haired apparitions and convoluted plots of recent J-horror in order to create a Western-style scarefest that's both brutal and beautiful. The plot revolves around a ancient urban legend about a disfigured female ghost who wears a surgical mask and kidnaps and kills children, but the story is more directly a contemporary legend of abuse, sadism and redemption. When a masked women is seen abducting students, teachers and parents begin a frantic search, as does a man convinced that the perp is his abusive, deceased mother. Terse, graphic and otherwordly, "Carved" is eerie enough to satisfy fans of eerie ghost stories, yet vicious enough to appeal to those who like their horror a bit less forgiving.
Beneath (Paramount) -- There's a clear moral to this story of murder and insanity: If your underage sister begs you to let her drive your car on a windy country road, just say no. The young protagonist in this film would have benefited from such an object lesson. Instead, she crashed the car, went flying out of the window and watched as her older sister and the vehicle went up in flames. After the accident, the little daredevil becomes convinced her sister was buried alive. At the funeral, she storms the casket then goes crazy, leaves town and is hospitalized. Years later, she seems to have conquered her illness (with the exception of a few hallucinations and panic attacks). But when a figure from her past dies, she returns to her hometown for the funeral and the madness begins anew. There are some nice plot twists and jarring moments in this dark, moody flick which frequently leaves the viewer as bamboozled as the main character.
Savage Harvest 2: October Blood (Elite) -- This splattery flick by Jason Christ is the sequel to a 1994 "Evil Dead"-style cult film by Eric Stanze ("Scrapbook," "Deadwood Park"), but unlike many sequels it draws from the original without aping it. Not only is Stanze the executive producer of "Savage Harvest 2," he also plays a starring role in the movie, a morbid tale about two messed up people who, years earlier, lost family members in a bizarre small-town tragedy. Determined to solve the mystery, they discover a brutal world where superstition becomes reality and ancient Indian ritual is both the key to a zombie-infested boodbath and the only hope for survival. While the plot is kind of silly and the acting is less than top rate, the cinematography, editing, pacing and impressive gore effects (considering the movie's low budget) are enough to suck the viewer into the story and keep him there for all the merriment and dismemberment.
Comments