When it came to my faovurite monster of villain, my first thought was Dracula. I grew up watching the old Universal Bela Lugosi flicks, moving on to the Hammer films with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee later on. I’ve had a thing for vampires as long as I can remember. But upon deeper thought, it occurred to me that my favourite monsters aren’t the ones that I go back to regularly. Instead, they’re the ones that I tend to not see so often, except for special occassions. Sort of like family.
We had Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), Otis (Bill Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), Tiny (Matthew McGory), Mama Firefly (Karen Black), Rufus (Robert Allan Mukes) and Hugo (Dennis Fimple). Believe me – they’re one of the most crazed families ever in film history. Psychopaths through and through. And what goes on in their house is mass murder and crazy experiments. Depending on how you like your movie monsters, you either love House of 1000 Corpses a lot, or you can’t get past the first 25 minutes.
While I would never say that House of 1000 Corpses is played for laughs, it’s a comedic masterwork when compared with its sequel, The Devil’s Rejects. The straight horror and fantasy styling of the first film are gone, instead replaced with a low-budget, road trip to hell feel covered in grit rather than neon. In my opinion, it’s not only Rob Zombie’s best film, but it’s one of the best of the past decade. Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley and Sid Haig are back playing the same characters from the previous film, but in a far more realistic setting. Which makes their characters all the more frightening. Lunatics on the run will have that effect on you. At the same time, Zombie makes a clear effort to demonstrate that these killers are indeed an actual family like anybody elses. Sort of.
The Firefly family – you wouldn’t want to mean them in a dark alley. Or a brightly lit alley. Or on a farm or at a motel. But to me, they’re Rob Zombies greatest creations. Right after More Human Than Human and Dragula.