The Devil's Rejects

The Devil’s Rejects

Director: Rob Zombie

Released: 2005

The Devils Rejects is a third person omniscient film about a family of psycho-killers (known as the Devil’s Rejects) who torture and kill human beings for pure pleasure and a relentless Sheriff Wydell who has a personal vendetta against this family for killing his brother, which the film uses as a back-story. Sheriff Wydell wants nothing more than to stop this family, even if he has to go outside the law to end their massacre and enact his revenge. The film is set in the 1970’s in the Southern United States in which Rob Zombie makes it seem like the south in the 1970’s was like the wild west of the early 1800’s.

The film set’s up its exposition with a montage of Polaroid photos of murdered human beings. This immediately gives the viewer the sensation that the film is going to deal a lot with murder and the people who committed these murders. While this montage is taking place a voice-over comes in explaining the upcoming scene where Sheriff Wydell and a large group of police officers invade a decaying farmhouse where the Devil’s Rejects live and commit their heinous acts.

When the scene actually begins, it shows a group of police vehicles moving in and surrounding the farmhouse that is completely dilapidated with broken bottles, rotting pig heads, and dead shrubbery. This gives the viewer a feeling of disgust and chaos. The scene then proceeds to a short montage of showing the police officers getting out of their vehicles and pulling out their weapons. It then cuts to a close up shot of Sheriff Wydell who begins important dialogue in the exposition with another officer that gives the viewer a good understanding of what his character is all about.(Sheriff Wydell: “Mr. Dobson, It’s time for us to do what the good lord would refer to as a cleansin of the wicked. And what my brother George, god rest his soul, would call a hundred percent Alabama ass kickin.” Mr. Dobson: “So do you think we are gonna die here today?” Sheriff Wydell: “Dieing is not an option.” This immediately gives the viewer the sense that Sheriff Wydell is a radical Christian who will stop at nothing and does not have any sense of fear. Sheriff Wydell’s reference to god is used as a motif in the film in order to make his charchter seem like he is doing the right thing

An example of a non-diegetic element within the film is when the Devil’s rejects escape the raid at their farmhouse and proceed to a motel in which they capture a touring group of musicians and hold them captive in their motel room. The audience knows that the group of musicians have no way of surviving their capture, however, the musicians cooperate with all of their demands thinking that it will help them get out of their predicament. This makes the viewer feel remorse for the musicians and adds to the drama and suspense of the film.

One of the key turning points of the narrative structure is when Sheriff Wydell throws away his sense of fair justice and murders one of the Devil’s Rejects he captured in cold blood, making his character become more insane, just like the characters of the Devil’s Rejects family. This turning point is what makes the film so suspenseful because you have two evils fighting against each other.

Brian Herron