The Devil’s Rejects : a Political/Social commentary or A 70’s inspired time-capsule escapism ?
By Barnaby Falck
Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects (Zombie, 2005) came out in a turbulent time for both Zombie himself, and the United States. As the United States found itself gripped in an atmosphere of neo-conservative paranoia following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York (Blake 2012, p.186), Zombie found himself stuck between two artistic mediums (Earl 2016, p.1). His unique brand of ‘horror-rock’ had already been incredibly popular in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, and this popularity only increased as America found itself in need of escapism (just look at the sky-rocketing success of Zombie’s second solo album, The Sinister Urge (Zombie, 2001)) (Earl 2016, p.1).
Personally though, Zombie wanted to move away from making music and instead wanted to make films, but his recently released (at the time) House of 1000 Corpses (Zombie, 2003) had not been well received by critics or the public alike, mostly due to it being a rather gruesome film (D’Onoffrio 2017, p.1). Where would Zombie go with his next film then? Would he attempt to please a mass audience with some sort of less confrontational escapism? Or would he go on to make another film that would challenge his audience? The answer is seemingly somewhere in the middle, as the critical consensus regarding The Devil’s Rejects (Zombie, 2005) was and has still been incredibly mixed when regarding this film, both on its value as a film and whether or not it is indeed a political commentary on then contemporary America, or whether or not it is merely a gore film and nothing but a gore film. This paper will argue this using a diverse range of viewpoints, ranging from Academic articles that claim the film is a deconstruction of post-9/11 America (as argues Linnie Blake), interviews with Zombie himself (including interviews from as recently as 2017) talking about his own ideas of the “Have’s and Have-not’s” (Earl 2016, p.1) of the world and contemporary reviews of the film that feel like the film is “more formula than plot” (Beradinelli 2005, p.1). With all this, we can argue whether or not this film is a piece of political and social commentary or if it, as Scott Tobias puts it, simply a piece of “70’s (inspired) time-capsule escapism”? (Tobias 2005, p.1)
Before delving into exploring The Devil’s Rejects (Zombie, 2005), it is important to understand the background of this film, as it will help inform us in our analysis, and give us insight into Zombie’s film-making mantra and the generally political climate of the United States at the time. Before launching into a film career, Rob Zombie had built himself as a “horror-musician”. Infusing a punk attitude with heavy music, Zombie set out to invoke images of classic horror. Zombie’s motivation behind all of this was to simultaneously make his music fun, but also make metal ‘scary’ again (Cogan & Philips 2009, p.269).
Personally though, Zombie wanted to move away from making music and instead wanted to make films, but his recently released (at the time) House of 1000 Corpses (Zombie, 2003) had not been well received by critics or the public alike, mostly due to it being a rather gruesome film (D’Onoffrio 2017, p.1). Where would Zombie go with his next film then? Would he attempt to please a mass audience with some sort of less confrontational escapism? Or would he go on to make another film that would challenge his audience? The answer is seemingly somewhere in the middle, as the critical consensus regarding The Devil’s Rejects (Zombie, 2005) was and has still been incredibly mixed when regarding this film, both on its value as a film and whether or not it is indeed a political commentary on then contemporary America, or whether or not it is merely a gore film and nothing but a gore film. This paper will argue this using a diverse range of viewpoints, ranging from Academic articles that claim the film is a deconstruction of post-9/11 America (as argues Linnie Blake), interviews with Zombie himself (including interviews from as recently as 2017) talking about his own ideas of the “Have’s and Have-not’s” (Earl 2016, p.1) of the world and contemporary reviews of the film that feel like the film is “more formula than plot” (Beradinelli 2005, p.1). With all this, we can argue whether or not this film is a piece of political and social commentary or if it, as Scott Tobias puts it, simply a piece of “70’s (inspired) time-capsule escapism”? (Tobias 2005, p.1)
Before delving into exploring The Devil’s Rejects (Zombie, 2005), it is important to understand the background of this film, as it will help inform us in our analysis, and give us insight into Zombie’s film-making mantra and the generally political climate of the United States at the time. Before launching into a film career, Rob Zombie had built himself as a “horror-musician”. Infusing a punk attitude with heavy music, Zombie set out to invoke images of classic horror. Zombie’s motivation behind all of this was to simultaneously make his music fun, but also make metal ‘scary’ again (Cogan & Philips 2009, p.269).
Example of Zombie’s horror inspired stage show, pictured, a Count Orlock mic stand. (Picture Credit, Vortex Music Magazine).
After having invoked horror imagery in his lyrics and producing/directing his own band’s (both White Zombie and his solo career) music videos for most of the 90’s, Zombie decided to make the jump into directing and producing feature length films (Traves 2005, p.1).
Rob Zombie’s music videos are very clearly influenced by films he loves, as can be seen by the two examples above. (Left, Living Dead Girl, inspired by The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari (1920) and Right, Never Gonna Stop (Red, Red Kroovy), inspired by A Clockwork Orange (1971). (Both images owned by Vevo.)
Zombie believes that the art of film-making had, in many ways, died in the 1970’s, that films where no longer “true, or made for the art”, the way that he believed films should be made, as opposed to being made for a simple profit (Tobias 2005, p.1). Therefor House of 1000 Corpses (Zombie, 2003) was always a passion project, a horror film that was a throwback to the films of Zombie’s youth that had so influenced his music (Tobias 2005, p.1). However, House of 1000 Corpses (Zombie, 2003) would find itself stuck in production hell once it started filming in 1999. Once the film was completed, Universal studios, the studio that had been producing it up until that point, had refused to release the film due to its intense and disgusting nature (D’Onoffrio 2017, p.1). This led to long negotiations between Zombie and the studio. Once Zombie was finally able to sell the rights of the film to Lionsgate for a 2003 release, the world had completely changed (Blake 2012, p.187). On September 11th 2001, the United States suffered the largest terrorist attack the country had ever experienced. The country, run by the Bush administration, in reaction to the attacks, declared war and invaded countries that where seen as harbouring or aiding those who had attacked “American sovereignty” (Afghanistan and Iraq) (Blake 2012, p.187). The country was gripped with a sense of paranoid patriotism, where many news corporations and film/TV companies imposed their own self-censorship on the products they put out (Blake 2012, p.188). In addition to this, the government passed the Patriot Act, which gave the government far greater powers in many aspects, particularly in monitoring people’s private lives, which many where vocally opposed to, including Zombie himself (Tobias 2005, p.1). After having such a bad time making his first feature length film, and partially due to the tough nature of making ‘extreme’ films in post 9/11 America, Zombie decided that The Devil’s Rejects (Zombie, 2005) had to be self-produced (D’Onofforio 2017, p.1), making the film entirely Zombie’s own vision, meaning almost certainly that any meaning we gather from the film can be directly linked back to him.
The Devil’s Rejects is a very hard film to watch in many ways. The characters we spend the most time with in the film, the ‘Firefly’ family, are brutal murderers and sadistic rapists. When we meet a group of seemingly normal people, the family band we meet roughly half way through the film, we get to see a glimpse of their normal mundane lives before they are all horrifically murdered. When one of them calls on God to save them, he receives a speech from Otis Firefly about the uselessness of God, who then claims that he is the devil, “I am the Devil, and I am here to do the Devil’s work”, before emasculating and then finishing him off. Zombie has stated that he believes that the world is split between those who are inherently good (the majority of the population in his eyes) and the evil in the world who are out to hurt the ‘good’, the “Have’s vs the Have-nots” (Earl 2016, p.1). Zombie is also an out-spoken atheist (Tobias 2005, p.1), and it is either a piece of brilliant planning or a happy accident that Otis Firely looks almost exactly like Zombie himself in this film, as the speech sounds like something directly out of a Rob Zombie concert.
The Devil’s Rejects is a very hard film to watch in many ways. The characters we spend the most time with in the film, the ‘Firefly’ family, are brutal murderers and sadistic rapists. When we meet a group of seemingly normal people, the family band we meet roughly half way through the film, we get to see a glimpse of their normal mundane lives before they are all horrifically murdered. When one of them calls on God to save them, he receives a speech from Otis Firefly about the uselessness of God, who then claims that he is the devil, “I am the Devil, and I am here to do the Devil’s work”, before emasculating and then finishing him off. Zombie has stated that he believes that the world is split between those who are inherently good (the majority of the population in his eyes) and the evil in the world who are out to hurt the ‘good’, the “Have’s vs the Have-nots” (Earl 2016, p.1). Zombie is also an out-spoken atheist (Tobias 2005, p.1), and it is either a piece of brilliant planning or a happy accident that Otis Firely looks almost exactly like Zombie himself in this film, as the speech sounds like something directly out of a Rob Zombie concert.
Otis Firefly delivering his speech, imagery that Zombie would use again for his 2010 Hellbilly Deluxe Album. (Images owned by Lionsgate and Roadrunner Records respectively)
Zombie also has a distrust of those in authority (Earl 2016, p.1), which can be seen in the films portrayal of law-enforcement. Sheriff Wydel starts off as a God-fearing, law abiding ‘law-maker’, who is then tempted by his position of power to get personal revenge against the so called ‘Rejects’ for the murder of his brother, reflecting the old saying, “power corrupts”. The film also accurately reflects Zombie’s own views of the media of post-9/11 America (Traves 2005, p.1). The news broadcasts in the film are exploitative and intrusive, showing and describing in gruesome detail the murders of the Firefly family, and interrupting other scheduled broadcasts to show off this gruesome imagery. While watching the film, the audience can’t get away from these broadcasts, as they, in a way, momentarily take over the film, not being restricted to ‘in-world’ media devices (radios, TV’s etc). The time period and the setting of the film could also not be more perfect to represent post-9/11 America. The film is set in the 1970’s, another similar period of patriotic paranoia for the United States, as it had just lost its war against the Communist North Vietnam, which had broken the US’s anti-Communist wall in Asia, and also the United States international self-image (Blake 2012, p.190). Returning soldiers found themselves in a country they no longer really recognised or felt welcome in due to the mass anti-war sentiment that had grown during the 60’s (Blake 2012, p.190). The setting of the film, which is rural Middle America, is the perfect setting for the American Hillbilly, which is what the ‘Rejects’ are mean to be, a call back to that ‘other’ American, the ‘outside-insider’ (Blake 2012, p.189). Zombie is no stranger to this ‘other’ American, as he used the image of the Hillbilly in his 1998 album, Hellbilly Deluxe (Zombie, 1998). This album is all about the strange and macabre, and while touring in support for this album, Zombie dressed himself and his touring band as stereotypical ‘wild’ Hillbillies, or as they are portrayed in Zombie’s body of work, the satanically influenced ‘Hellbilly’ (Zombie, 1998).
Zombie depicted as a satanic ‘Hillbilly’, or ‘Hellbilly’ on the cover of Hellbilly Deluxe. (Image owned by Geffen Records)
Strangely enough, despite their aggressive nature towards their ‘fellow’ Americans, the ‘Hillbilly’ ‘Devil’s Rejects’ are extremely close with one another, with the exact nature of their family bonds being unsure, they still accept and help each other out no matter what. The Rejects are also entirely accepting (as in they don’t murder) other societal rejects, such as their pimp friend and his sex workers. The Rejects in the film aren’t simple forces of destruction, they are “outcasts who reject society by destroying it”. (Beradinelli 2005, p.1)
All the elements of Zombie’s film that align with his own personal beliefs all seem, in many ways, coincidental. Many of the interviews were he expresses his own personal beliefs are written many years after the film was released, perhaps giving Zombie more time to think about many of the themes that sub-consciously appear in the film due to this total control of the film. However, the film being a film about societal ‘Rejects’ is a compelling one, one that reflects itself onto the audience the film has built up for itself. After the initial harsh criticism levelled against the film upon release, the film has received a sort of resurgence as a cult classic. The film is greatly enjoyed by those who love exploitation films and by fans of metal music (which in itself is an extreme genre of music), both pass times/interests that are generally viewed unfavourably and that is mostly rejected by society at large (Rolfe, 2009). Zombie himself is quite the ‘Reject’ in the film world, despite enjoying large amounts of success in the music ‘underground’ (Rolfe, 2009). Is this a film made by a ‘Reject’ for ‘Rejects’? A sort of escapism for both its auteur by taking him back to the films of his child-hood, and for his audience, who want to experience something extreme in their otherwise normal lives? The film is extremely effective on calling back to imagery we are familiar with, such as the ‘final girl’ surviving a horrific event and making a last desperate run, reminiscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974).
All the elements of Zombie’s film that align with his own personal beliefs all seem, in many ways, coincidental. Many of the interviews were he expresses his own personal beliefs are written many years after the film was released, perhaps giving Zombie more time to think about many of the themes that sub-consciously appear in the film due to this total control of the film. However, the film being a film about societal ‘Rejects’ is a compelling one, one that reflects itself onto the audience the film has built up for itself. After the initial harsh criticism levelled against the film upon release, the film has received a sort of resurgence as a cult classic. The film is greatly enjoyed by those who love exploitation films and by fans of metal music (which in itself is an extreme genre of music), both pass times/interests that are generally viewed unfavourably and that is mostly rejected by society at large (Rolfe, 2009). Zombie himself is quite the ‘Reject’ in the film world, despite enjoying large amounts of success in the music ‘underground’ (Rolfe, 2009). Is this a film made by a ‘Reject’ for ‘Rejects’? A sort of escapism for both its auteur by taking him back to the films of his child-hood, and for his audience, who want to experience something extreme in their otherwise normal lives? The film is extremely effective on calling back to imagery we are familiar with, such as the ‘final girl’ surviving a horrific event and making a last desperate run, reminiscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974).
(Pictured left) The last surviving member of the ‘family band’ runs for her life (The Devil’s Rejects, ((Zombie, 2005)). (Pictured right) The last surviving member of a group of friends runs for her life (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ((Hooper, 1974)).
However the film subverts these expectations by, as in our specific example, having that ‘final girl’ get hit by a semi-truck, instead of surviving.
(Pictured left) The ‘Final Girl’ after having hit by a semi-truck (The Devil’s Rejects ((Zombie, 2005)). (Pictured right) The ‘final girl’ just barely escapes the horrific events of the film (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ((Hooper, 1974)).
It is examples such as these that seem to point the film into a direction that is not meant to reflect the real world, but more to reflect the films that influenced it. Many of the negative criticisms levelled against the film mostly reflect what Robert K Elder said of the film in his review, that is it “a hollow emulation of (the) films that inspired it”. (Elder 2005, p.1)
In this author’s opinion, The Devil’s Rejects is a film that sub-consciously reflects the personal opinions, fears, loves, paranoia’s and influences of the auteur director who created it, but none of this (except the intentional call backs and use of Hillbilly’s) is necessarily intentional, due to the self-reflective nature of Zombie’s recent interviews.
In this author’s opinion, The Devil’s Rejects is a film that sub-consciously reflects the personal opinions, fears, loves, paranoia’s and influences of the auteur director who created it, but none of this (except the intentional call backs and use of Hillbilly’s) is necessarily intentional, due to the self-reflective nature of Zombie’s recent interviews.
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