If you've been following famed rock musician/horror director Rob Zombie on Instagram, then you'd know that all he's been talking about is his new movie. This new film of his came to us by surprise, having received no other promotion prior to the announcement by Zombie himself that the movie was already in the post production stage. The movie is called 3 From Hell, and it is the official sequel to his 2005 "shocksploitation" movie The Devil's Rejects, which itself was a followup to his 2003 movie House of 1000 Corpses. 3 From Hell has been set for a 2019 release, with no specific date being given as of the day this blog was published. Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, and Sheri Moon Zombie have all signed on to reprise their roles as Captain Spaulding, Otis Driftwood, and Baby Firefly respectively. My question is: Where can this movie go after the ending of The Devil's Rejects? We'll have to wait until sometime in 2019 to find out, but I have a couple theories. Also, all of the images you'll see here have been taken directly off of Zombie's Instagram account.
House of 1000 Corpses was a decent movie, but a great introduction to the Firefly Family, who are easily some of the craziest characters ever created for a horror movie. The family consists of Mother Firefly, Captain Spaulding (codename: "Cutter"), Baby Firefly, Otis B. Driftwood, Tiny, Grandpa Hugo Firefly, Earl Firefly (codename: "The Professor"), and Rufus T. Firefly. It's not said whether or not the rest of them have codenames. It shows us through really disturbing ways that the Fireflies are not a family to be trifled with. By the end of it, Earl is presumed to be dead after he's crushed by the falling foundation of the catacombs he resides in, but it's made unclear. He wasn't in the sequel, so I'm gonna say that he's dead. Grandpa Hugo is said to have died on-screen inbetween the two movies. He was supposed to have a role in The Devil's Rejects, but his actor (Dennis Fimple) passed away before filming began, so Zombie omitted the character out of respect for the actor. So that's two down.
Two years later, The Devil's Rejects happens. This one is a much better movie than House of 1000 Corpses, and also, somehow, a crazier movie. Rufus is killed off in the first scene, during a gunfight between the remaining Fireflies and the police. Later on, about halfway through the movie, Mother Firely is killed off by a sheriff in a really uncomfortable scene. Towards the end, Tiny is seen walking towards a burning house. We never actually see Tiny die, but, given the death of his actor (Matthew McGory), it's unlikely that we'll see him moving forward. And then, in the final scene, a police shootout results in the deaths of Spaulding, Baby, and Otis while a Lynyrd Skynyrd song blares in the background. But, apparently, they somehow survived being filled full of bullet holes, since this new movie has been confirmed by Zombie himself to be about the three of them living and answering for their crimes. An interesting concept, most definitely, but exactly did they survive The Devil's Rejects?
These three maniacs get put through all kinds of torture during the final few scenes. Having pictures of their previous victims stapled to their stomachs, being tazed multiple times, Spaulding gets shot in the gut, Otis gets thrown out a window, has the crap kicked out of him, and then ends up with stakes being driven through his hands, two of them almost get burned to death, Baby gets shot in her ankle and then strangled for a bit, and then the three of them gets shot up by the cops. And they're supposed to have survived all that? I can believe that they could've lived through the shootout, but it becomes harder to buy when you add all of the other injuries they suffered onto it. The promotional images Zombie released show Baby, Otis, or Spaulding without any sort of wounds at all, so maybe there's a time skip? Now, granted, the only full-body shot we get is of Baby (since Rob really likes showing off his wife, I guess), but look at her in that picture up there. Do you see any bullet wounds? I understand that this is just a behind-the-scenes photo of Sheri Moon on the set and that the wounds might be added in digitally later, but it's still a little jarring nevertheless.
I know that Zombie has a plan for how the Fireflies make it through that shootout, but I have a couple theories of my own. Firstly, and the most logical, is that the bullets mostly just grazed them, or perhaps they hit them only in spots that were survivable (like the shoulders or the arms). Or, alternatively, the police could've been shooting them with blanks. You'd still get hurt, but it's less likely to kill you. I think. I'm not a gun expert. But, the new movie could take the cliche route and have them be revealed to be unkillable, supernatural beings (which would give another meaning to the title). It'd be lame, but I could understand it. They could've also secretly been wearing bulletproof vests when the shootout happened. We never saw them put on bulletproof vests, but the opening scene of Devil's Rejects does show that the Fireflies are able to get their hands on armor. It's possible. No matter what the reason is, regardless of how good the movie could potentially be, it's still really gonna cheapen the ending of The Devil's Rejects in my eyes.
But I am still looking forward to it. I'm a fan of Rob Zombie as a filmmaker, and he makes decent music, too. I love his style of scriptwriting and his way of choosing songs for the soundtracks of his movies. The Devil's Rejects, to me, has the best soundtrack out of all of his movies. Leave it to a musician to know how to create a good playlist. I have yet to see every movie he's made, but I plan to at some point. 3 From Hell comes out sometime in 2019, most likely early, and I am excited to see it. Here's hoping that it gives a satisfying and definitive end to the Firefly legacy. Or, maybe it'll just sequel bait for two hours, I don't know.
