Chad

Undeadcow

I want to comment on House of 1000 Corpses but feel like I'll just end up going on about how much I dislike it; it's obnoxious trash. I first say it in theaters on release and this was my third time revisiting it. I do think that the scene where they kill the police officers is probably the strongest one with the upbeat song, absence of dialoge, and dramatic pauses. I like the Doctor Satan character despite the cringeworthy corniness of his name, he seems cheesy and original enough as a good example of a cartoonish villain but nothing really happens with him. Some of the ambient subtle soundtrack works really well - there are often slow stray notes throughout the film. Otherwise Rob Zombie could not write dialog to save his life and just shoves so much into this that it feels like random non-plot. There are a lot of scenes that seem un-necessary and of little addition - like grandpa's standup routine or them going to the liquor store that feel more like Rob lost a dare and was forced to include a scene with a character named Goober or featuring incest oral sex. It's too derative of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1-2 and other films. I feel like House of 1000 Corpses is suppose to be a comedy but it's just not funny or I don't get it. I will probably subject myself to Devil's Rejects and 3 From Hell just to get them revisited/seen. It's not until Lords of Salem that Mr Zombie has a more reasonable film in my opinion.

I would like to better understand what people like about House of 1000 Corpses.

Edit: Didn't make it to watching Devil's Rejects or 3 From Hell in October; too little time and too many other options.

jacob_b

I love Grandpa's stand up act. I like it cause we get a good mix of horror legends as well as up and comers who started out in this film. We also got some great music and cool characters. I also love some of the one liners in this film from both Captain Spaulding and Grandpa.The whole Dr Satan thing in the 3rd act kind of goes away from the other parts of the film and I do wish, since he had him in this film, he would have kept going with the character as it does seem like a throwaway now.

MysterioMan007

It's been my assertion that Rob Zombie is a good director, but a bad writer. I think the guy could produce something great if he had someone else's script to work from...He needs a dictionary, thesaurus, and the ability to craft sympathetic characters. That said, I didn't hate this as much as I did the first time I watched it, but I didn't really enjoy it, either. Sid Haig was the only one that seemed like a real person and I enjoyed his performance. Everyone else was a cartoon character, a Harley Quinn-esque nutcase who either screamed their lines or laughed uncontrollably for no reason the entire movie. Like Undeadcow, I did enjoy the scene where the cops got killed, if only because I felt for the father. That little shot of his family as he fell made all of the difference, because for a brief second, I actually felt sad that his life was over. The victims were sympathetic towards the beginning, but after getting captured, barely even speak anymore and are reduced to running, screaming, and/or lying around unconscious so that the annoying Firefly family can jump around like clowns and prove how crazy they are. What a waste of Rainn Wilson... I remember liking The Devil's Rejects, which I will watch today only so I can finish off the trilogy with 3 From Hell, which I haven't seen yet. The fact that 3 From Hell only got a limited release tells me the studios are losing faith in Zombie. That. and his releases are getting further and further apart. Anyway, on to Devil's Rejects so that I may get this stuff done and then move on to more things compatible with my tastes...

clckworang

Just a note, here's another one with an expired link. It's no longer available through MAX GO. This has to be the year with the most expired subset links. I can't remember another year when we've had so many expire during or right before October.

Trevor

Yes, bad luck this year. Personally, I don’t think we should allow choices that aren’t streaming at a major provider.

Also, we should have a no- Rob Zombie rule.

davidh777

jacob_b

He's in the Kevin Smith spot. Only doing indy films for a limited release and doing things that he enjoys. Rather good or bad, both are in the same spot right now.

It's on Tubi which I watched it a few days ago. I mean if we ONLY allow choices that stream at a major provider, we will be watching a LOT of crap. Yes yes, you can say Zombie is crap, but there's a LOT worse on Netflix and Hulu. Choices aren't good especially since we cannot repeat.

And just for that, Halloween 2 theater cut Rob Zombie for you next year

davidh777

Trevor

I don’t know, I think there are still hundreds of good choices out there, and new ones every year. Of course by major I mean more than just Netflix and amazon. Lots of free services like Tubi and other free channels. There’s still gold to mine.

If you or someone does, I’ll be strongly tempted to use one of the three wildcards. It’ll be hard to skip my first ever subset film, but the more I try Zombie’s work the more I hate it.

clckworang

I will first describe the reaction I had the first time I watched this movie. It's the only film that has ever made me physically ill. And I'm not talking sick at my stomach because of something that was so extreme or graphic. I've definitely seen far more graphic films than this. It was the filmmaking. The awful jump cuts, many of which don't make any sense whatsoever. The change of film and filters for no reason. It just calls attention itself. Look at me! Look at me! I'm a filmmaker now! And the way it was done was so jarringly awful, I remember it made me pretty nauseous. Then you add in Baby's horribly forced and fake cackle that Sheri threw out with nearly every line. It cut through my ears like nails on a chalkboard, giving me a splitting headache. I don't think there have ever been characters that I have hated more than these.

So, today was the first time that I revisited the film since then. It did still make me a little nauseous. I do think it comes across very amateurish. It is sort of redeemed in fleeting moments by some of the performances from genre faves. Sid in particular does an admirable job, but Zombie just doesn't know how to direct actors. It's just all too much - the performances, the filmmaking "technique" on display. At times, I just had to find an excuse to pause the movie and walk away for a couple of minutes to get through it. At least I know not to watch it a third time.

Because of my initial viewing of this film, I think there's a part of me that still has sort of a Pavlovian response to Zombie films. Almost like I'm Alex after his treatment in Clockwork Orange. If I try to force myself to watch a Zombie film, it gives me a physically ill response. I definitely felt that when I watched Devil's Rejects. That movie made me hate the characters even more. I've watched The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. Mistake. Halloween was almost something but still made me angry. Also, a lot of questions of why was this even necessary? Again, too much. In this case, it was backstory. Halloween II ... let's just skip over that one and never speak of it again. Lords of Salem at least borrowed heavily from better movies. That helped. I've been sort of compelled to try to like his movies, but it hasn't happened yet. Still haven't seen 31 or Three From Hell.

This is off topic a bit, but I'm a huge Marx brothers fan. There's something that really irks me that when many people hear Rufus Firefly or Captain Spaulding that they think of these characters.

clckworang

In regards to the major streaming options, keep in mind that Shudder was one of the hosts that dropped a subset film this year. They were also the service that carried two exclusives that were picked this year.

wishbone

Each challenge I think about watching Rob Zombie's movies from my Halloween box set -- I've already heard not so great things about them and this movie now makes me even less inclined to watch. It's so odd that Rob Zombie references classic Universal horror but spits out this trash.

WillieMLF

Man, that mother, daughter combo sure is annoying. I'm pretty sure this is the only Zombie movie I had seen before this year. I've been meaning to watch Halloween, but just have never got around to it. I watched 31 this year, and felt it was Running Man with a bunch of rednecks.

I was going to bring up the Marx brothers.... It will be most peoples sole introduction to Spaulding and Rufus, but they came from a place that was infinitely better than this movie. I guess this is Zombie's homage, and that's a good thing?