Following on from the events of Rejects, we learn that our three antagonists, Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie) and Otis Firefly (Bill Moseley) have survived the police shootout and are now being tried for their crimes. But Otis manages a breakout, with the help of his half-brother, Foxy (Richard Brake), and attempts to spring Baby so that they can continue their murderous ways...
I am quite fond of "House of 1000 Corpses". "The Devil's Rejects" took the characters in a slightly different direction, tried to make them more real and had a different style, and although I prefer the first film, it seemed like a fitting end to the villainous Firefly family. Especially that surprisingly elegant final scene. The concept of a third film seemed therefore a little odd, especially considering that it would undo the finality of its predecessor. Although I went in as open minded as I could be, I'm afraid for me this film did not hit the mark.
The overall feel of the film is similar in tone to Rejects with a grimy 70's aesthetic. The scenes with Baby in prison are interesting and lean heavily into the exploitation grindhouse film feel which I liked. However, the scenes felt overly long and in jumping from style to style the film feels a little rudderless with the expected hostage situation playing out like they're already bored. The banter between our murderous maniacs feels a bit tiresome and less fluid than it did in the previous films.
Baby's high-pitched maniacal flower-child act feels more wearing this time around without having so many other familiar characters for her to bounce off of. There's a few scenes where it's hinted at something sadder and more poignant but overall she feels more two dimensional than she could have been. Otis is still giving his speeches, showing no mercy and seems mostly unchanged, and for the short scene with Sid Haig we get a good level of nostalgia for Spaulding and it's easily one of the best scenes in the film.
Foxy can't help but feel tacked on as a character, and I wonder why they couldn't just rename the film. It's not Brake's doing and he does give a few needed elements of humour to punctuate between Baby's mania and Otis' self-righteousness, but the character can't help but feel a little jarring and out of the loop.
Overall, I found the film to be a little boring and felt it lunged from one scene to another in a disjointed manner. It relies a little too much on nostalgia but didn't, at least for me, feel like it was aimed at fans of the original two films and was a less fitting ending than the Firefly's deserved. A strange ride, but unlikely to be one I'd go on again.
[Image: Lionsgate]
Hani
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