3 From Hell

There are some horror director´s who don´t care about being updated. They know exactly what time periods of horror films that they personally love, especially the ones who love the 60´s and the 70´s horror films. And there is especially one man i am thinking about, who clearly have a big passion about horror films from this time period, and that is of course respected film maker Rob Zombie. He is of course mostly known as an artist with his music, but since his debut full feature film House Of 1000 Corpses was released in 2003, he got horror fans worldwide to respect his passion for old horror films. Looking back at House Of 1000 Corpses, it was a perfect start for Rob Zombie, to introduce his main characters Captain Spaulding, Otis and of course our favourite girl Baby ( every man´s fantasy ). I have to say, the introduction to the iconic character Captain Spaulding ( played brilliant by legendary actor Sid Haig ) turned out better than i expected, and since then i have always felt that no one could ever do Captain Spaulding in such a magical way as Sid Haig does. He passed away this year, and we will all miss this wonderful man. The chemistry between legendary actor Bill Moseley and actress Sheri Moon Zombie in House Of 1000 Corpses is really powerful on screen, and they go into their characters so Deep, that it almost feels like they are the real Otis and Baby. Just 2 years later, director Rob Zombie released his sequel to this film, simply called The Devil´s Rejects. In my opinion, this is the best film director Rob Zombie have ever made, and he brought back the three main characters, who all did an even better performance in this film. The Devil´s Rejects is one of my personal favourite horror films in many years, for many reasons. Most of all i love the brutality, and the grindhouse look of this film that looks fantastic. After many years of speculations, we finally have the last film in this franchise known as 3 From Hell. The final film of Captain Spaulding, Otis and Baby, so the question is, does this film prove to be even better than Rob Zombie´s previous film, or is 3 From Hell one hell of a mess that you should avoid ?

The serial killers Baby Firefly ( Sheri Moon Zombie ), Otis Driftwood ( Bill Moseley ) and Captain Spaulding ( Sid Haig ) miraculously survived their shootout with the police. All three of them are all found guilty in court, and sentenced to life in prison. Captain Spaulding is executed via lethal injection. Otis ´ half-brother Winslow Foxworth " Foxy " Coltrane ( Richard Brake ) shows up to help Otis escape while he is outside doing work on a chain gang. Otis and Winslow begin to plan to get Baby out, to make sure that they can continue their sadistic journey.

The first thing that strikes me with 3 From Hell, is that the power that i love from The Devil´s Rejects can not be found here. In some ways, 3 From Hell is a much lighter version of the previous films, that can´t bring back the same magic as the previous films. That does not mean that 3 From Hell is a terrible film though. Since this is a film directed by Rob Zombie, you know he have kept something tasteful for his beloved fan base. I personally feel that this film really give actress Sheri Moon Zombie a chance to show of her crazy personality on a more personal level in this film. We have all seen her do crazy shit in the previous films as the character Baby, but here we get to see her behind bars, where she does not have the same control as she is used to have. Sheri Moon makes sure she give a performance that fits really good with her character. Legendary actor Bill Moseley ( who i never will forget in the wonderful cult film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ) is back as Otis, and he does get the chance to show his brutal and insane personality. But the real highlight in my opinion, is the new character Winslow, played by actor Richard Brake. This guy is really nuts, and this is exactly the right kind of character to be hanging out with Baby and Otis. Unfortunately we only get to see Captain Spaulding for a very short while, played by legendary actor Sid Haig. Knowing that this was one of his final films ( his final film is called Hanukkah ), it feels sad that we did not get to see Captain Spaulding do what he knows best, having a damn good time. Since this is supposed to be the final film with these characters, i can´t say it does not finish as powerful as i was hoping it would do. At the end of the day, 3 From Hell will most likely divide fans of Rob Zombie fans. I am somewhere in the middle, where i would have made some changes. But i still think this is a film you should see, if you enjoy the style of Rob Zombie´s films. Director Rob Zombie have clearly been inspired to tell a different story with 3 From Hell, where you get a sense that this films shows that becoming older may change your perspective on life. The grindhouse style is something he knows how to handle, and 3 From Hell gives you a glimpse of this world, perhaps in a lighter version than The Devil´s Rejects. Don´t know what to give your grandmother for christmas ? Give her 3 From Hell on DVD or Blu Ray, and i guarantee she will say:- Hey, when can i join in and have some fun ?

Rating: DDD