3 From Hell

This certainly wasn’t a film that needed to be made but I’m not mad about it. Word on the street had me believing that it would be abysmal. It wasn’t that bad overall but it is guilty of something far worse… it’s kind of boring. Also, a lot of the content has been done before in Corpses/Rejects so – YAWN.

Somehow it’s worth watching just for the ‘Baby with a bow & arrow, inexplicably wearing an Indian headdress’ montage though.

Sequel to The Devil’s Rejects. (That’s it. That’s the IMDB synopsis).

The Evil Returns.

*Spoilers*

“Hello America. Did you miss me?” ~ Otis Firefly

My Review

You’d think that the final film in the Firefly trilogy would go out with a bang – like all bets off horror – but honestly, this is quite the damp squib.

Baby, Otis and Captain Spaulding were badly bashed up at the end of The Devil’s Rejects but, despite taking 20 bullets each, they survived. For a time.

Alas, the Captain (Haig) passes away in prison, leaving Otis (Moseley) and Baby (Moon Zombie) the only surviving family. Otis however, isn’t going out easily and during a chain gang outing with his fellow inmates; his half-brother Winslow (Richard Brake) busts him out of state custody. Unfortunately, my love Danny Trejo is slaughtered in the melee (DT you might remember plays bounty hunter Rondo, who’s hot on the heels of the Firefly family in TDR).

Otis, being the warm-hearted chap that he is, takes his new freedom seriously and enjoys a few killings, finally arriving at the home of Virgil Harper (Jeff Daniel Phillips), the Warden of Baby’s women’s facility. The deal is: Virgil breaks her out and saves himself – and the lives of his colleague and their respective partners. Promises, promises Otis old boy.

Baby meanwhile is having a whale of a time in prison, somehow maintaining her stunning locks and terrorising the prison guards. During an unsuccessful parole hearing, she breaks a guard’s nose. Later the guard – Greta (horror pro Dee Wallace) – sets her up to be murdered by fellow prisoners. Which doesn’t go Greta’s (or the prisoners’) way – at all. I would have loved to have had more prison time with Baby TBH, who has all but lost her flimsy grip on reality and is more unhinged than anyone.

Once busted out, things get decidedly less interesting. The siblings set up camp in a disgusting motel until Baby does something to draw attention to the fugitives, forcing them to flee to Mexico. It’s all fun and games however until Rondo’s vengeful son comes looking for Otis…

What will become of the remaining Fireflys and will they make their new lives count?

My Comments

It’s exciting when Baby’s locked up and then it just doesn’t do much. There’s some lovely gore – Otis does his trademark face skinning in one scene – but it feels tired and even he seems done with it. Baby in comparison makes Otis seem like a slightly off hippy uncle and this is not what I signed up for. New addition Winslow is fine but not exactly memorable and their road trip is 30 minutes too long.

Lots of sex workers and undeserving girlfriends get murdered in the crossfire and that pisses me off. It pissed me off in 2005 but Rob, dude it’s 2019 – can’t we just let them live?

Sheri Moon is excellent as Baby, her look is still incredible and I love her but she isn’t the best actress in this role. In previous outings she’s been a supporting character and I think Baby works best in smaller doses.

And finally I have to tell you, the movie really suffers for the absence of Sid Haig (God rest his soul). Captain Spaulding always brought the light relief and the humour – and there’s not much here to make you crack a smile.

It’s a shame really that this was stretched into a trilogy, TDR really ended it perfectly, while we (horror fans) still had a vested interest in the characters. By this point there’s nobody to root for – except maybe the vertically challenged Sebastian (Pancho Moler) – and it really makes a difference. Plus 3FH is left wide open to continue the saga and I beg Zombie to let this one go now, once and for all.

Film details:

Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig
Director: Rob Zombie
Year: 2019
IMDB Rating: 5.8/10
My Rating: 3/5

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