A Reel Review: 3 FROM HELL

In 2003, shock-rocker turned horror-director Rob Zombie introduced us to the twisted and evil Firefly Family in HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, and then followed it up with the far-superior sequel, and his best overall film, THE DEVIL’S REJECTS in 2005. REJECTS had a perfect ending for the surviving members of the Family, and seemed to close the book on the series. But nothing ever stays dead in the horror genre, and Zombie has found a way to bring back his trio of murderers in 3 FROM HELL. 

A decade after the events of REJECTS, the surviving members of the Family are incarcerated and have become criminal celebrities. Otis (Bill Moseley) breaks out of prison with the help of his half-brother Winslow (Richard Brake), and hatch a plan to break his sister Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) out of the same prison so they can continue their bloody rampage. 

THE DEVIL’S REJECTS ended with the Family being gunned down in a terrific closing scene by a barrage of police gunfire, and seemed to put an end to them. Zombie finds a simple way to bring them back (they survived, no big deal), so the question of 3 FROM HELL isn’t the “how” as much as the “why”, because if you’re going to negate a great ending…then the next ending needs to justify it. This time around, most of the film is spent with Otis and Winslow working their plan to break-out Baby, which involves kidnapping the warden (Jeff Daniel Phillips) and his friends and family to a gruesome end. 

Once Baby, who is slowly going insane due to her time in jail, is reunited with Otis and Winslow, the rest of the film is spent on the run, leading them to Mexico where even more trouble is awaiting them. Similar to REJECTS, the film is a road-trip movie where the characters go from place to place, killing at will, and then moving on. It’s a bit repetitive but it does keep the film moving. But also similar to REJECTS, there isn’t much time spent to dig into the characters and why they find spilling blood as easy as spilling coffee. Zombie does take a time-out for them to reflect here and there, but they come and go too quickly and are never explored. With this being the supposed end of the Firefly Family trilogy, it feels like a missed opportunity. The Family’s status as celebrities is also under-utilized. 

3 FROM HELL is very similar to its predecessor as a throwback to the gritty, 1970’s style of horror. The film does look like it could have been shot 30 years ago, and the period setting and music are used to great effect. As a horror film it does function perfectly; not quite scary but definitely unsettling and hard to watch in places. Humor is spot-on, and the film moves at a brisk pace. 

Acting is pretty good. Bill Moseley owns the film and does great work, while Sheri Moon Zombie seems to struggle a bit with her character who has lost her mind. She seems to be channeling Harley Quinn a lot and that’s not a bad thing. Richard Brake is fantastic. The rest of the cast including Dee Wallace, Danny Trejo, Emilo Rivera, and Clint Howard are all good. The late great Sid Haig appears in what amounts to a cameo and does a great job in his final screen appearance. 

The burning question is if the ending of 3 FROM HELL justifies negating the end of REJECTS, and the answer is…not really. It’s a shrug of an ending, and if the finales of the two films were swapped it would have worked better. It’s still a great ride to get there, and despite being a sequel has enough original elements to earn a trip back…there’s just no rush to do so. 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it