Harefooted Halloween: 3 from Hell

What I Liked: Rob Zombie still knows how to please the eye.  From the hellhole prison where Baby Firefly is kept to the luchador gangsters who wear white on black suits, the movie’s packed to the brim with the type of stylistic flourishes Zombie is known for.

Unfortunately Sid Haig was sick at the time of filming and was only able to make a cameo as Captain Spaulding, but his replacement is pretty good.  Winslow Foxworth Coltrane (Richard Brake (31)) is the half brother of Otis (Bill Moseley (Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!)) and more on the reserved side.  At first I wasn’t totally on board with this character because he seemed too laid back and maybe wasn’t crazy enough for this bunch.  After spending some time with him though you see he’s just as tough and up for as much mayhem as the rest contributing his fair share of destruction.  I also realized that this relatively calmer character who doesn’t raise his voice much or get too excited is a good contrast to the bombastic Otis and the live action cartoon character Baby.  Brake does wonderfully in the role and is a nice addition to the fold.

Sheri Moon Zombie (Lords of Salem) goes all in on Baby’s eccentricity.  There are maybe two or three lines in the whole thing that she delivers straight without some weird inflection or delivery.  While this is guaranteed to annoy some people I appreciate the performance.  It makes sense with the character because she probably wouldn’t have received proper care for her mental health in prison, especially in the 80’s when the film is set.  So her condition would’ve continued to deteriorate over time with her drifting deeper into madness.

What I Didn’t Like: The biggest problem with the picture is that the story is extremely thin.  Otis gets broken out of jail by Winslow and then they break Baby out and then…?  When they get to this point even Otis admits he has no idea what to do next.  They decide to duck into Mexico for a while but that’s out of boredom more than anything else.

The action sequences are edited poorly most of the time.  They have a mid-2000’s vibe where you can’t follow what’s going on due to too many closeups and a million cuts.

Overall Impressions: I don’t really get the point of this movie honestly.  Zombie already did The Devil’s Rejects so I don’t know why he felt he had to do the same thing again fourteen years later.  I understand that it’s a chance to make a film with all his friends once more but they should’ve went for something less identical.

There’s an effort being made in the execution though.  Aside from the aimless script, where Zombie’s ordinarily charming dialogue doesn’t pop quite enough, it doesn’t feel phoned in.  The showdown finale in particular where it turns into a western is handled well.

It’s just a shame that this third installment is a bit tired and doesn’t go in a different direction like the first sequel to House of 1,000 Corpses.  The Devil’s Rejects still feels fresh and you can really sense this young hungry filmmaker chomping at the bit to blow you away with some kick ass shit.

Look, this isn’t terrible it’s just disappointing.  But I have a feeling I’ll like it more as time goes on.