Rob Zombie is as much a ghoulish force to be reckoned with in the film industry as he is on the musical side of the coin where he first honed his stage name. As a first-time writer/director, Zombie was handed a few millions dollar to produce his cinematic debut, House of 1000 Corpses, a B-movie grind-house homage that introduced audiences to an iconic band of miscreants known as the Firefly family. Chief amongst the evildoers is the clownish Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), the sadistic Otis (Bill Moseley), and the ruthless Baby (Sheri-Moon Zombie), a core trio that would return for the electrically charged follow-up to House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects.

Taking a page out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre handbook for sequels, Rejects finds the elusive Firefly clan on the run from authorities. Seeking more than justice, the official in charge of the manhunt is one Sheriff John Quincey Wydell (William Forsythe), a man seeking vengeance for the death of his brother — an officer of the law who was taken down by the Firefly brigade in the previous film. Shooting on raw and gritty 16mm stock, The Devil’s Rejects looks like a mashup of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone, with a dash of Two-Lane Blacktop and Friday the 13th thrown in for good measure. And as far as sequels go, this one is a bit better than Corpses in several ways, particularly regarding narrative structure. After all, who doesn’t love rooting for the bad guys in a movie?