my thoughts on.... Rob Zombie's '31'

As with all of my reviews for The Creepercast, I fully recommend that you check each and every one of the films out. I am one man, with one opinion. I've seen plenty of movies that received reviews that were the complete opposite of how I saw the film. These writers, directors, producers and actors all put a lot of time and love into these projects. They deserve to be seen and appreciated for what they are. Everyone has a dream and I fully support all of the people that take the time to make theirs a reality. With that being said....

Let's get one thing clear, I'm a fan of Rob Zombie. I may only be partially in love with his music, but his films struck a chord with me from the 1st time I sat down and watched 'House of 1000 Corpses'. There's just something about his visual style and keen eye for little artistic flares, that speaks to the horror lover in me. Not only with the cinematography, but with the music, set designs, character creation and his all out kinetic style of editing. It spoke to me in a way that most other film makers had never done before. Ever since then, I've seen all of his films more times than I can count. I own several action figures, various versions of his films on DVD and Blu-ray, all of his albums and soundtracks and even a plush Michael Myers from 'Halloween 2'. With all of my Rob Zombie out of the way, when I first heard that he was crowd funding a new project called '31', I got excited. Since 'Broad Street Bullies' seemed to be languishing in development hell, the Groucho Marx picture was looking like it was still way out in the future and 'Tyranasaurus Rex' being dead.... it was something new to sink my teeth into. The first concept art, that was released, was insane and had all the ear marks of a Rob Zombie joint. It looked like he was pulling out all the stops, since he was working outside of the studio system. Not unlike, one of his favorite directors, Woody Allen, he was doing his own thing and doing it his way. When you can take someone who just loves to make movies and doesn't care what the greater masses think and give them a blank check, it's possible that you might get the unfiltered magic you've been hoping for. As the film progressed through all of it's production phases, I got more and more excited. After it's premier and Cannes, the overall thoughts were that it was a pretty solid film. Rob Zombie doing exactly what fans of his work would expect. However, there were a lot of issues with the original cut being too much for an 'R' rating. He's since gone on record as saying that the unrated version will be the version he intended for us to see, but we'll have to wait for that for the DVD/Blu-ray release. Once Cannes was over, the film went back into the shadows as it was looking for a distributor. Finally, Saban Films picked it up if up for distrubution and I got our hopes back up that it would finally reach a mass audience. With a release date set for October 22nd in theaters and September 17th for VOD, I settled in for a few more months of waiting. Then the clouds broke and it was announced that Fathom Events was having a one night only showing on September 1st, that would include a post Q and A with the man himself, some behind the scenes stuff and 2 world premier music videos. Of course, I bought a ticket 5 minutes later. Last night.... I finally saw what I'd be waiting for, in all it's cinematic glory and surrounded by fellow horror hounds. What better way than that to take it all in?

*** Some small SPOILERS may follow. You have been warned. ***
'31' opens on a black and white scene of a door opening, to reveal a shadowy figure carrying an ax. As he slowly walks into focus, his entire head fills the screen. It's covered in grease paint and blood, as the man introduces himself as Doom-Head (played by Richard Brake). He proceeds to give one hell of a monolgue about who he is and why he's there. Almost as if he's talking to the audience directly. We soon realizes that he's speaking to a priest (played by Daniel Roebuck), who's tied to a chair in front of him. What happens next, is one of the strongest moments in Rob Zombie's film career, so far. Only to be matched by the opening scene with Captain Spaulding in 'House of 1000 Corpses'. After this establishing shot occurs, we jump to the credits and then move on to our main story. '31' then begins to tell the story of 5 carnival workers, their driver and 2 'hangers on', as they travel from one town to the next. The film takes place on Oct. 31st, 1976 and things are steady for the group, but not as good as they used to be. They stop at a run down gas station, in between destinations to fill up and there, Roscoe (played by Jeff Daniel Phillips), strikes up a conversation with a flirty stranger. She asks some obviously strange questions, but he thinks nothing of it, as he's too preoccupied by her flirtations. They soon finish up with their pit stop and hit the road. After nightfall, they come to a row of scarecrows that are blocking the road. Roscoe, one of the 'hangers on' and Venus Virgo (played by Meg Foster), get out to remove them from their path. The rest of the group stays in the RV, until the trio are suddenly attacked by an unknown number of men in masks and old timey burglar costumes. They dispatch, quickly, with the two 'hangers on' and the driver and proceed to kidnap the other 5 and take them to an abandonded factory in the middle of nowhere. After being gagged and strung up by chains, they meet their captors. Father Murder (played by Malcom McDowell), Sister Dragon (played by Judy Geeson) and Sister Serpent (played by Jane Carr). They're all dressed up in white face and powdered wigs, like old English artistocrats. They inform the group that they are about to play a game called '31'. The game takes place over 12 hours and the only rule is to survive. Each of them are only given a number and it's attached to their wrists by a metal arm band. Along with Roscoe and Venus, there is Levon (played by Kevin Jackson), Panda Thomas (played by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and Charly (played by Sheri Moon Zombie). At this point, odds are placed on the 5 'players' and they're introduced to their first competitor, a midget dressed as Hitler, who only speaks Spanish. His name is Sick-Head (played by Pancho Moler). He slowly walks past each one of them, taunting them before the game begins. Once the time is right, the 5 of them are released into the hell on earth known as '31'. Along they way they meet a duo of chainsaw weilding clowns named Schizo-Head (played by David Ury) and Psycho-Head (played by Lew Temple) and another duo of sexily clad killers named Sex (played by Elizabeth Daily) and Death (played by Torsten Voges). Finally, whomever is left of the group, meets the ultimate player of '31', Doom-Head. That's all I'm going to give you, kids. The rest you just have to see for yourself. I don't want to spoil anymore of it for you.

What I put into the plot portion of the review, will never truly paint the picture of what we see on the screen during the film, but I don't want to take away from what the film maker has done. You really need to see how it's presented in the film, to really appreciate all of the hard work that went in to each shot. Specifically, with Rob Zombie's way of telling a story, it's something that needs to be seen to be believed. He lives in a world of dirt, grime and sideshow attractions. He fully intends on making us feel uncomfortable and like we might need a shower when it's all over. '31' is no exception. Now, the film itself, doesn't tread a lot of new ground for him, as a film maker. As a matter of fact, it uses bits and pieces of each and every element used in all 5 of his movies to date. It's like taking ingredients from all over your kitchen and putting them together to create a single meal. At times, it works amazingly well, but at other times, it can feel a bit like a repeat of what's happened in the past. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it did take me out of the film a few times, as I was trying to put the original idea into a new context. There was also a strong sense of deja vu with the storyline. However, this type of story has been told and re-told in countless films over the years. Including, 'The Hunger Games' most recently and classic, 'The Most Dangerous Game'. Rob Zombie, in the post Q and A session even made reference to 'The Most Dangerous Game' as being similar, but not in an intentional kind of way. One of the other things that took me out of the story, was how fragmented each section of the game was. It never felt as fluid as I thought it should be. The game had more rules than they let on in the beginning and this made it a bit clunky. The biggest thing that never felt quite right though, was Sheri's role as Charly. Not that she didn't have the ability to embody the character, but it almost felt as though her and Meg Foster should have swapped roles and it would have been more effective. Charly was just not as flushed out as the other characters in the film. I never totally got her motivation and felt like she was all over the place at times. Perhaps, that's what Mr. Zombie was going for? I don't know, but at the end of the day, she was outshined by everyone else in the movie. The stand out performances were really by Meg Foster, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and Kevin Jackson. They were so committed to their roles, that you could feel every bit of tension and terror they experienced throughout the night. Even Jeff Daniel Phillips fell short and usually he and Sheri have amazing chemistry together.

The villians in '31' were exactly what you would expect from the warped mind of Rob Zombie. Vicious, cruel, filthy, violent monsters. None of them had any redeeming qualities, but yet Doom-Head was so charasmatic that you loved to hate him anyway. Credit to Richard Brake for embracing the role and playing it with gusto. My only gripe with his character is that we didn't see more of him. With as strong as his introduction was, I was expecting him to play a larger role in the game. I also felt like there were some logic jumps that had to be made, throughout the picture. However, I was so immersed in the world, that anything that might not have made as much sense as it should have, was lost in my suspension of disbelief. The battles were bloody and over the top and everything you are hoping to see in this film, was given to you on a silver platter. I do wish the ending had been a bit more thought out, but it left me thinking about the film and has kept me wanting to go back and see it again. It's like ending a song on a minor chord, your brain needs to finish the song, but the minor chord feels so out of place, that you just need to hear it again, to see if what you actually heard is what actually happened. That is a sign of a good film. Something that leaves you wanting to come back and see it again. '31' was certainly that film. Despite all of the inconsistencies and flaws that I'm knit picking at.

The two videos, before the film, from his recently released album 'The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser', were a nice bit of pre-show entertainment. Something to set the tone for what you were about to witness. The first of the two songs was 'The Hideous Exhibitions Of A Dedicated Gore Whore', which featured Sheri Moon Zombie back in her Living Dead Girl outfit. This was, by far, one of the best videos Rob Zombie has made so far. Just watch and let me know what you think afterwards. It was like all of my favorite things were jammed into one 3 minute video. The second was 'Get Your Boots On ! That's The End Of Rock And Roll'. A straight ahead concert style video, but that's exactly what it needed to be. Straight forward and a kick to the throat. Now, the Q and A after the film, brought some insight into the process of creating '31'. It also gave us all a chance to hear directly from the horses mouth, about the experience we had just had. Rob Zombie was very candid about the whole production and even took us back to the exact moment he decided to make the film. It was during a phone call that he was on, as he was struggling with the difficulty of getting 'Broad Street Bullies' to keep moving forward. He jokingly commented about how he could throw any other idea out there, no matter how crazy it was and it would probably be able to get made before 'Broad Street Bullies' would. At that moment, he just spit out the rough outline for '31' and the rest is history. This comment has left other reviewers feeling that this film was just an after thought and nothing to be taken seriously, but Rob followed up that question by saying that '31' was the film that his was most genunie film he'd made to date. It was straight out of his head and was unfiltered Zombie. He also saw the use of other elements from his first film, as a positive thing. It was 100% intentional and it shuoldn't be looked upon as a bad thing. Following the Q and A, was an excerpt from the upcoming documentary 'Everybody Loves Popcorn'. Which I assume will be a special feature on the DVD/Blu-ray release.

So what did I think about it, in the end? After all of that waiting and time spent reading about the film and counting the days until it came out? To put it simply, I loved it. It's not my favorite, of the films he's made, and I don't think we've seen the best he has to offer.... yet. This was just an incredibly, fun, sick and twisted carnival ride. It gave us a new and iconic villain and it proved that horror is still and alive and well. There isn't a lot of new ground that's covered here and it's not going to make too many critics top 10 of 2016, but it did what it set out to do. To give Mr. Zombie a break from his other project and to create something that just comes naturally to him. This is simply the most Rob Zombie film that Rob Zombie has made, up to this point. I can see myself watching and re-watching this for years to come. Puzzling out the various bits and pieces hidden in the background scenery and to marvel at the opening monoluge. There is also some really great dialogue sprinkled throughout the film, that will make you think. It's not entirely about the blood, guts, gore and icky stuff. There's also some wit and wisdom contained within, if you pay attention. All in all, a solid 4 out of 5 stars. It's simple, refined, Zombie in his purest form. No film will ever be made that doesn't have its share of flaws here and there and '31' is no different. But for as many problems as I found in the film, there were far more positives that I found too. This one is going to polarize people, in the same way that 'The Lords of Salem' did. However, if you love Rob Zombie's previous films, then I think you'll enjoy this. If you're a horror fan and want something that's new and worth your hard earned money and that isn't a PG-13 Hollywood style horor, then you'll dig this one. This was the film I was waiting for. It feels like I'm leaving out a lot of things I originally had intended to say about the film. But instead of going on about it, I'll leave you with this final thought: I only regret not having popcorn while I watched it, because “In hell, everybody loves popcorn.”

If you enjoy this, check out Rob Zombie's entire body of work: 'House of 1000 Corpses', 'The Devil's Rejects', 'Halloween' (2007), 'Halloween 2' (2009) and 'The Lords of Salem'