First off, let me get one thing out of the way. I enjoyed the hell out of House of 1000 Corpses. I know there are several people out there who hated it, but I don't care. I thought the movie was grand, sick entertainment. Sure, it has a rather sizeable amount of nonsensical occurrences, but I appreciate and admire Rob Zombie's love of the genre. House of 1000 Corpses is full of freaky imagery plucked from the bowels of 70's horror, and I really got a kick out of it's perverse sense of humor.

Many readers out there are probably well aware of this film's lengthy trek to distribution. After being virtually abandoned by a major studio, House of 1000 Corpses finally found it's way into the loving arms of Lions Gate who nurtured and cared for the picture, and while "House" wasn't a huge box office hit, it did find an audience, particularly on DVD. The fine folks at Lions Gate decided to greenlight a follow-up to House of 1000 Corpses, so Zombie wasted absolutely no time conjuring up a truly sick and twisted sequel in which the villains are the heroes, the cops are the bad guys, and the victims are...well...fucked.

The Devil's Rejects features William Forsythe as Sheriff Wydel, brother of the law man that was offed by Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) and his family of mass murderers in the last picture. With revenge boiling in his blood, Wydel sets out to find Spaulding, Otis (Bill Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), and Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook), and offer up a little blood soaked payback.When Spaulding and crew discover they're being hunted, they quickly flee their white trash surroundings and head out on a little road trip. This, of course, affords them the opportunity to take out more innocent unfortunates on their path to gory.

Sid Haig, William Forsythe, and Leslie Easterbrook in particular, give creepy, lively performances. Haig's Spaulding is an absolute riot. He is, perhaps the only man in the world who can intimidate the vicious Otis. Forsythe's Wydel is a vengeance seeking cop whose methods are ultimately as demented as those of his pitiless prey. Easterbrook (who replaces Karen Black from the original film) is hilariously freaky as the mother figure of the redneck sociopaths. There are also several noteworthy cameos to speak of including Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Geoffrey Lewis (Every Which Way But Loose), Priscilla Barnes (Three's Company, Mallrats), and P.J. Soles (Halloween).

Not surprisingly, The Devil's Rejects is audacious as all hell. Zombie is hell bent on disturbing the audience, and nothing, I mean absolutely nothing is sacred in his eyes. He'll do anything to shock you. But then, anyone going into this movie expecting otherwise, really shouldn't be there. It should also be noted though, that The Devil's Rejects is really funny. Sure, it's as perverse as it's predecessor, but my friends and I were howling with laughter throughout most of the picture.

The Devil's Rejects was inspired by the likes of The Last House on the Left, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I Spit on Your Grave, but it also offers up winks at higher profile fare including Star Wars. Not only is there a hilarious bit in which a whore decides that it might be more lucrative to dress like Princess Leia for her tricks, but in another twisted homage, Dawn of the Dead's Ken Foree plays a pimp who welcomes Spaulding and his family to his brothel Lando Calrissian style, in what could be best described as a bizarre ode to The Empire Strikes Back.

Rob Zombie is clearly having a fun time here. He provides this film with buckets of blood (this picture gives new meaning to the term road kill), extreme violence (Forsythe's torturing of a key character in the movie is gut wrenching), and laugh out loud hilarity (check out a scene in which Zombie goofs on mainstream movie critics like Gene Shalit), and this is what his fans want. Do I have any complaints? Well, I think the movie could have been tightened up a tad and there are many unanswered questions from the last picture (what is that Dr. Satan thing all about?), that I would have liked to see addressed. Overall though I had a great time with the Devil's Rejects - there's just something about having your funny bone tickled and severed by a hatchet at the same time that makes for a interesting time at the Bijou. The Devil's Rejects is disturbing, but it's laced with a most welcome sense of humor. A sick one to be sure, but humor nonetheless.