This movie was a lot different than I expected. The tone, overall, is a lot more subdued then House of 1,000 Corpses or Devil's Rejects.
This movie does continue the story of the Firefly family, but not really, because the plot basically repeats the outline of Devil's Rejects: They're on the run, they hole up and terrorize a family (and then kill them), they go somewhere to party, they get ratted on, there's a battle, they kill their pursuers, they drive away. What the movie really is, is paying a visit to some great characters we haven't seen in a while. It gives them a new life, it gives Otis the start of his endgame as he starts to feel his age, it gives Baby a new soul, and it gives them new family in the form of half-brother Winslow Coltrane.
Though it repeats story beats from Devil's Rejects, it's still a different movie. 3 From Hell is quieter, more mellow, and the characters are a little less intense (except Sheri as Baby, who is next level). Otis, who in the previous films was the engine that drove the murderous family, really is tired and ready to settle down. His overt malevolence is largely replaced with more of a sense of fatigue. Even when basically duplicating his hotel room massacre from Devil's Rejects, Otis is just going through the motions (the character, not the actor).
Richard Brake, one of the scariest (but somehow extremely charming) actors in film is not as maniacal as I had expected he'd be. His character Winslow is really rather amiable. We know that Otis and Baby are sad about losing their brothers Tiny and Rufus, so once Brake's Winslow was introduced, I was hoping to see some good bonding and character development. That gets skimmed over pretty quickly. I really wanted to get more Winslow in general, including his backstory.
In a lot of RZ's movies, he brings in great character actors and gives them a chance to shine, but just as often they only show up for a couple of minutes a piece. Sid Haig and Danny Trejo both get very little screen time this time. I was excited for both of them, but Sid's scene in the beginning is basically what you see on the trailer. I think that his interview should have been longer. At least he got a scene of his own, though. The brevity of Danny Trejo's appearance, and not giving his character Rondo anything to do, is unforgivable.
And then there's Clint Howard. I have never seen such a waste of a perfectly good Clint Howard. Clint Howard as a clown in a Rob Zombie movie basically writes itself, but no one remembered to write it.
Clint Howard's appearance as a clown who took a wrong turn occurs in the middle of a larger scene that also doesn't work, the home hostage scene. This scene that I've mentioned before is really just a rerun of the motel scene in Devil's Rejects. That scene only worked once. I know the goal was to coerce the warden into sneaking Baby out of prison, but it was redundant and unsurprising, and given the change in Otis's demeanor, it didn't really fit. I wish they'd gone a different route for coercing the warden, Jeff Daniel Phillips, another actor whose character I wanted to see more of.
The part of the movie that worked the best and is its saving grace was Sheri Moon Zombie's performance as Baby. She's wonderful in the first two movies, but in this one she is next-level amazing, so far out there that she seems more like a hallucinatory CGI effect in human form. She brings an amazing energy to this film.
In House of 1000 Corpses, everyone was amazing, and overall Sid Haig stole the show. In Devil's Rejects it was Bill Moseley as Otis who lit up the screen and you couldn't take your eyes off of him. Here in 3 From Hell, it's Sheri as Baby who brings the fireworks. This really is her movie.
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