3 From Hell Blu Ray Review (Lionsgate)
3 From Hell immediately follows the events of The Devil’s Rejects. Baby (played by: Sheri Moon Zombie from House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween 1/2, The Lords of Salem, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, Toolbox Murders, & 31), Otis (played by: Bill Moseley from House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Night of the Living Dead, Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!, Carnivàle, Texas Chainsaw 3D, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams, & Repo! The Genetic Opera), & Captain Spaulding (played by: Sid Haig from House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, Spider Baby, Galaxy of Terror, The Big Doll House, The Big Bird Cage, Foxy Brown, Coffy, THX 1138, Kill Bill, Hatchet III, & Bone Tomahawk) somehow survived twenty bullet shots each. They are hospitalized & arrested right away. They go through a controversial trial which gets them support from several followers across the world. The two men are put in a prison & Baby is sent to a mental hospital ran by Warden Virgil Harper (played by: Jeff Daniel Phillips from 31, The Lords of Salem, The Gifted, Westworld, Claws, & Satanic Panic). Baby is tormented by head guard Greta (played by: Dee Wallace from Critters, The Howling, Cujo, E.T., Popcorn, Red Christmas, & The Frighteners), she is vicious & makes her pay for it every day. Otis is reunited with his half brother Winslow Foxworth “Foxy” Coltrane (played by: Richard Brake from 31, Game of Thrones, Hannibal Rising, Batman Begins, Mandy, Kingsman: The Secret Service, & Thor: The Dark World). They escape prison & Otis gets revenge on Rondo (played by: Danny Trejo from The Devil’s Rejects, Heat, Machete franchise, From Dusk Till Dawn franchise, & Death Race franchise) who was locked up at the same time as them. The two psychopaths come up with a plan, they hold Virgil Harper’s family plus friends hostage & force him to sneak Baby out of the mental hospital to get his wife Judy (played by: Tracey Leigh from Grey’s Anatomy & The Bloody Indulgent) back. The firefly family is back again & they decide to flee to Mexico to dodge all the attention that’s focused on them. They go to small town that’s celebrating the Day of the Dead. Carlos Perro (played by: Richard Edson from Super Mario Bros, Strange Days, Do the Right Thing, Platoon, Howard the Duck, & Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) sends his assistant Sebastian (played by: Pancho Moler from 31, Candy Corn, American Fright Fest, & Bad News Bears) to help settle them in. He recognizes the criminals & tells Rondo’s son Aquarius (played by: Emilio Rivera from Mayans M.C., Sons of Anarchy, Venom, Z Nation, A Man Apart, Harsh Times, & Collateral). He is the leader of the dangerous Mexican hit squad known as The Black Satans about them arriving in town. The bloody thirsty assassin is looking for revenge & this crazy family is trapped here now. Who will survive this massacre????
3 From Hell is a sequel that I am surprised was even made considering the end of The Devil’s Rejects. Director Rob Zombie managed pulled it off & made it work. You know what to expect from the script & dialogue when it comes to the rocker filmmaker. It’s the same style of material that fits this Firefly family universe. It has some really great one liners plus catchy phrases, movie references, & it’s just straight up fun to watch. Yes, it loaded with plenty of foul language & still has that white trash vibe to it so it can be hit or miss. Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, & Sheri Moon Zombie are naturals when it comes to this twisted world. Bill Moseley shines in this role, he always gives a great performance as the demented Otis. I am not going to lie, Sheri Moon Zombie can be very hit or miss when it comes to acting but in this trilogy she knows exactly how to play this character perfect. She keeps up with her co-stars & adds so much entertainment to these movies. She is also great eye candy & she definitely delivers in that department. Unfortunately, Sid Haig was very sick during the production so he was only able to do a cameo in this. So don’t expect lots of Captain Spaulding screen time in 3 From Hell because he is only in it for a few minutes. It’s a shame because he is top notch in his small role. Yeah, you pretty much guessed it by now. Richard Brake’s character was supposed to be Sid Haig before he couldn’t handle a full shooting schedule. Winslow Foxworth “Foxy” Coltrane is more than a filler role tho, his chemistry with Otis is off the charts. The entire family is just so damn good together. Brake is a great addition to Bill Moseley & Sheri Moon Zombie for this much anticipated follow up. This feels more like The Devil’s Rejects than House of 1000 Corpses. I will say that I wasn’t a big fan of the use of the CGI here, it came off looking real cheap. Like every other Zombie feature, it had a solid supporting cast that included lots of familiar faces like Richard Edson, Pancho Moler, Clint Howard (Ice Cream Man), Daniel Roebuck (The Devil’s Rejects), Wade Williams (Prison Break), Sean Whalen (The People Under the Stairs), Bill Oberst Jr. (Circus of the Dead), Austin Stoker (Assault on Precinct 13), Lucinda Jenney (Thinner), Richard Riehle (Casino), Chaz Bono (American Horror Story), Danny Trejo, Tom Papa (The Haunted World of El Superbeasto), Steven Michael Quezada (Breaking Bad), & Duane Whitaker (Pulp Fiction). 3 From Hell didn’t have one main villain, it basically had three different ones during this whole wild journey. I’ve only seen Dee Wallace play a heel a few times in her accomplished career but I’ve never seen her like this before. She was brutal & you actually kinda hated her which is very hard to do with the lovable actress. I thought this was one of her best performances so far especially in a long time. Jeff Daniel Phillips was sleazy & abused his power as the ambitious warden. He was beyond unlikable in this & that’s in the company of some evil individuals He made Otis, Baby, & Foxy look like good guys compared to him so that’s a major accomplishment when it comes to his acting. I’ve always been a big fan of Emilio Rivera but he usually only gets smaller or side parts so it was awesome to see him as the final bad guy in the movie. He is under-rated, his character & his crew stood out in this. I loved the look & vibe they had going on. It made the finale worth waiting for & that brutal family had some serious competition. Zombie definitely delivered on the violence & gore, horror fans will be pleased by all the chaos that comes along on the screen. Plus it has all kinds of nudity in it so expect some sleaze. I am still beyond shocked that this barely got a theatrical run for it’s release. I think it was put out worldwide in October, it would have made a killing, It’s going to do amazing on home video but I feel like they missed out on a big opportunity here. It’s not as good as the previous two features but it’s still lots of fun & a very entertaining experience, RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Lionsgate! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer looks great especially for it’s lower budget. It has the same gritty cinematography as The Devil’s Rejects. It does feel like it’s happening after all those gruesome events. I would have loved to cover the 4K disc. It has two different cuts of the feature on this release, the unrated & the Rated R versions. The English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track sounds top notch on this release. The dialogue is very clean, all the madness is elevated, & the music has a killer boost to it. It’s very impressive in the home set up. It also has English SDH, French, & Spanish subtitles. Both picture & sound are at a high level, it’s a great viewing experience at home. I guess that’s going to be main audience for this production rather than a major release.
Let’s discuss the special features from Lionsgate! “Audio Commentary” with writer, producer, & director Rob Zombie. He brings up using some extra footage from The Devil’s Rejects in this. He chats about going for a documentary style. He says the opening was inspired by various true crime. He talks about why Sid Haig is barely in the feature. He mentions that he had to change the whole script due to his health. He was originally supposed to be in the whole thing & have the lead role. He goes into the detail about the new major character added to the franchise. He chats about their chemistry & having to make tweaks during the shoot due to the huge casting change for the production. He says lots of the reactions were genuine because they were done on the spot. He brings up that he made sure all the violence were shot different in each scene. He points out several cameos from 3 From Hell. He goes over the colors in certain scenes, cinematography, the music, & filming locations. He mentions Spaghetti Westerns were a huge influence on this. Zombie is always fun to listen to when it comes his movies. He drops all kinds of knowledge about the production, you can tell that he is very passionate about it. “To Hell and Back – Making of Documentary” is broken down into 4 different segments & it’s a little over 94 minutes. It has interviews with Rob Zombie, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Bill Moseley, Dee Wallace, Clint Howard, Kevin Jackson, Sylvia Jefferies, Danny Trejo, Emilio Rivera, Pancho Moler, & various members of the production. Rob Zombie is one of the best when it comes to behind the scenes & documenting the film production. Sometimes his making of features are actually better than the movies themselves. He is always beyond detailed & gives the fans a inside look like no other. It has all kinds of behind the scenes footage in this. It’s nice to see more moments with the great Sid Haig. Bill Moseley jokes about a routine he had with Sid Haig at horror conventions when someone asked about a sequel to the films. Zombie chats about only doing a sequel if there was a good reason for it. He says after 31, Lionsgate was very interested in doing a sequel to The Devil’s Rejects. He brings up the Manson Family being a major influence for some of the material here. He talks about how he had to redo the entire feature because Sid Haig was in bad shape. He brings up that he made sure to include him in this no matter what but he had to alter the role so the character actor could perform in this. They mention the new Foxy character & his chemistry with the two established characters from the franchise. They bring up the rough shooting schedule & having to make sure they got the scenes done so nothing would be cut due to time. Zombie says the producers wanted younger actors when they seen the final script. He told them he was doing it his way & he got the best actors in the roles for it. He chats about the cast from 3 From Hell. He mentions that he personally picks everyone for their roles even the background ones. The actors chat a little about their characters. They talk about the visual style for the feature & the old school look it has. They go over the production design including costumes, locations, special fx, props featuring a variety of weapons, storyboards, visual fx, & sets. They give you a detailed behind the scenes look into the home invasion, prison escape, & finale scenes. Danny Trejo jokes that they actually never showed him die & that he is still alive. They talk about the horror genre & working with Rob Zombie. This release might only have two extras on it but both of them were top notch. They are loaded with information & stories from the movie. Complete your Firefly trilogy & add this to your collection. It also comes with a slipcover, a digital code, & a DVD copy (only has the Rated-R version on it) of the release. It has several different options including 4K & DVD. It’s available everywhere on October 15th, CHECK IT OUT!!!!
