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3 FROM HELL (2019)

CAST
RICHARD BRAKE
SHERI MOON ZOMBIE
BILL MOSELEY
SID HAIG
CLINT HOWARD
KEVIN JACKSON
PANCHO MOLER
JEFF DANIEL PHILLIPS
EMILIO RIVERA
DANNY TREJO
DEE WALLACE
SEAN WHALEN

WRITTEN BY
ROB ZOMBIE

PRODUCED BY
MIKE ELLIOTT
ROB ZOMBIE

DIRECTED BY
ROB ZOMBIE

GENRE
CRIME
HORROR
THRILLER

RATED
AUS:R
UK:18
USA:R

RUNNING TIME
111 MIN

 

 

 

 

Third film in director Rob Zombie's grizzly crime horror trilogy continues to baffle, with 3 from Hell still unable to differentiate whether its sadistic killers should be booed or applauded, with a morally ambiguous tone troubling both narratively and ethically.

"Free the 3!" "Free the 3!" At the beginning of 3 from Hell, the trio of sadistic killers who made their bloody mark in House of 1000 Corpses and The Devils Rejects, find themselves lauded with praise and support from a cavalcade of delusional fans. Such stuff is sadly all too real, with serial killer fandom disturbingly still prevalent today.

It also says something as to why these characters - Manson type killer Otis (Bill Moseley), cackling homicidal maniac Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), and murderous clown Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) - are viewed less as monsters, and more as badass anti-heroes. Despite the murder, the rape, and the torture, these "devils rejects" are treated as serial killer pinups by not only its dedicated fanbase, but also its creator Rob Zombie, and from this comes many problems.

3 from Hell begins with Zombie's hell bound trio having miraculously survived the bloody climax of the last movie. Incarcerated and facing the death penalty, the brother-sister Firefly duo of Otis and Baby escape from their iron-bar confines, with the help of equally murderous Winslow "The Wolfman" Foxworth Coltrane (Richard Brake). Together this newly formed trio make their way to Mexico, where they find themselves the target of a vengeful cartel gang.

While on their way south of the border, the three leave behind a trail of bodies in suitably sickening displays of violence. One woman has the skin carved off her face. In a later scene, two women are shown unclothed (possibly raped) before they are butchered to death. It's not so much the violence that irks. This is a Rob Zombie horror movie, and you get what you paid for. Rather, it's the confusion as to whether Zombie wants us to cheer or condemn his anti-protagonists. Horror often is about the monster holding the knife, yet we clearly know what line in the sand that monster stands on. It is also why they work so much better as supporting players. There needs to be a human element to the proceedings to add stakes to the story. What good is a victim in a horror film if there is no emotional investment?   

Zombie wants that human element to shine in his killers, but that is simply not a possibility. In the way they are written and portrayed, these devil's three do not have the depth of personality to warrant such an investment. They are too brutish, too macabre, and too sadistic. They are the people you run away from, not share a beer with.

Yet that is exactly what Zombie wants us to do, as we follow the Firefly's and the Wolfman to Mexico. There the film takes an interesting twist as a Mexican cartel targets the three in a revenge plot that is paper thin. Again, no depth results in no investment. This leads to the surreal sight of watching gun-toting luchadores battle it out against white trash freaks. It's typical Rob Zombie stuff, with his cinematic world akin to a Tobe Hooper film on acid. If only the final result was as interesting.

 

**

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