It’s was pretty nifty to see that 31, Rob Zombie’s new flick, was available On Demand from my cable company before it was available in theaters. Cool?!
This is my time of year as Halloween approaches. Horror movies are my jam. I can watch it at home for less than the price of a movie ticket? I’m in. Am I a rabid fan of all things Rob Zombie? Yes and no. Sometimes his efforts kinda suck, but I appreciate the style, the overall weirdness that he delivers. I think I might be one of the only people that actually liked Lords of Salem.
I would also just like to note that I should’ve married Rob Zombie so I can be in every movie he makes. Yes, Sheri is in this one, too.
I gathered a horror movie cohort and the required Jello shots (what, you don’t do Jello shots during horror movies?), dimmed the lights, and we got this party started.
Right off the bat, we’re pushing the traditional horror movie envelope with a carload of ne’er do wells on a road trip on Halloween, smoking weed and of course, having sex. You know as soon as you have a road trip, weed, and sex, someone’s about to die.
No spoilers, but our characters end up in a game called 31 where they have to survive to win. Some of the characters we met in this movie needed more development. Doomhead, for example, kicked us off in the movie with some great dialogue, but then when he reappears, he delivers little more of his snazzy speeches. Doomhead reminded me of Willem Dafoe’s character Bobby Peru from Wild at Heart, creepily sleazy but much smarter than you think.
The ending sort of sucked. I felt like the cast and crew just all gave up and wanted to go grab dinner or something rather than deliver the audience a slam-dunk of an ending. The ending was a little flat, a little abrupt, and a little predictable. I can think of a few different endings that would’ve made me feel more satisfied with the movie.
To see or not to see? I didn’t find it that scary or provocative. That said, I’ve been there, done that with these kinds of movies, but maybe someone new to the horror genre or new to Rob Zombie’s films might find it more thrilling than I did (like teenagers, for example). It was worth the $10 on demand for a couple hours of entertainment, but we were glad we didn’t buy movie tickets, movie popcorn, and movie drinks.