Everybody loves popcorn

Sid Haig made his unfortunate passing a few weeks ago. This was a week after I saw Three From Hell. A movie that will be known as Sid's last appearance. However unfortunate that might be. More on that later.

For now, I'm gonna bless you with a story.

The teaser to House of 1000 Corpses and a movie theater standee of the poster are two nostalgic links to my first viewing of the movie. Having been a huge fan of Texas Chainsaw, the mood I was getting from this was just that- a mood. And a gloriously sick one at that.


Having been removed from my nostalgia and looking at it today, the movie looks and sounds like something a music video director with a boat load of love for horror would make. The style that Rob infuses into his films can be traced back all the way to his work in White Zombie. It's 70s grindhouse with 30s throwback horror thrown in. This is why he appealed to me in the first place. The 80s will always be a bountiful decade where I am still finding unsung gems. The 70s aesthetic is something I dig a bit more. The grime and the grain.

The moments in 1000 Corpses and the characters are better than the film itself. Dr. Satan remains the coolest creation Rob has concocted. The choice to exclude the hospital scene in Rejects where he rips out Rosario Dawson's throat would be the first signpost that the guy knows exactly what kind of mood he wants when it comes to crafting a movie. Dr. Satan was a character entrenched in fantabulist horror.

Corpses felt like a purge movie. A movie that Rob needed to make to get everything out of his system to make The Devils Rejects. This is where he became a filmmaker. Halloween showed him stuck in redneck hillbilly mode while tackling the Michael Myers story. It wasn't until Halloween 2 and Lords of Salem where he expanded his visual pallette into new, interesting directions.

Then came 31.

Play House of 1000 Corpses and 31 back to back and you don't really see a progression of style. He still loves using his now regular stable of actors. He still uses 8mm footage of a character before they are about to die. Clowns are still not fucking funny. And argue all you want, the grease painted performer you see in front of you as 31 begins ain't no fuckin' clown.

The opening of 31 was so good, anything that came after it had a bar set that was as high as some of Rob's best work. Richard Brake had an appearance as a paramedic in Halloween 2. Only to have his head brutally cut off with a shard of glass at the hands of Michael Myers. Here we are finally able to see the actor blossom to full potential. We've seen people escape at the hands of Jason Voorhees. Doom Head is a character that illicits genuine dread when he is in a scene with another person. We know that person is going to have a bad day.

Now I've seen the opening a dozen times, more than the movie it is attached to. Bad movies are bad movies. They are a dime a dozen. What hurts more is seeing a bad movie that had the potential to be a great one. Sick Head's boring, Psycho Head and Schizo Head have dialogue worse than an angry 12 year old and Death Head and Sex Head don't really contribute much of anything. Doom Head remains the one constant I can rely on through the movie. Anytime he shows up is when I get a sense of true peril for the protagonists.

When 3 From Hell was announced I balked at why it even needed to exist. Rejects had as perfect an ending as any horror movie. Why retcon it?

Any point to bringing back the Firefly family was made moot as I watched 3 From Hell. The hotel scene in Rejects established that these are psychopaths who don't care about money. They are agents of evil that only serve to create murder and mayhem. What's more is that now, after surviving 28 bullets each, they are practically invincible. So any real threat to them is neutralized just by bringing them back for another movie.

There's definite seeds of ideas in his last two movies that I wish he'd grow more fully. Especially 31. I've maintained that the last thing an artist should do is make something 'for the fans.' As loyal as they can be. If a story is there, tell it. If it's not yet the urge to satiate the appetite of your fanbase is too strong, resist. If Dr. Satan, Captain Spaulding and Doom Head can come out of this guys head, just imagine what other great characters can.