Okay, I will start this review out saying that I am a fan of Rob Zombie, the musician.  I thought Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses was rather unexciting, very unoriginal, and highly derivative.  It just seemed like one 90 minute long Rob Zombie music video.  The only thing that made me see it a second time was Sid Haig's incredible charisma and dark, dark humor as Captain Spaulding.  It cracked me up like few things do, but other than that, the film was rather uninteresting for me.  Others felt differently, but I will get more into such things as I have many of the same gripes here as I did with Zombie's first film.

Picking up six months after the events of House of 1000 Corpses, The Ruggsville County Sheriff's Department, headed by John Quincy Wydell (William Forsythe), is storming the Firefly household, and some do not survive.  Mother Firefly is captured, but Otis & Baby escape to meet up with the foul-mouthed mad clown Captain Spaulding (who is also Baby's father).  Along their twisted road trip, they encounter some strange folk, and leave them worse off than they found them....much, much worse.  Sheriff Wydell, in the meantime, is deadset on bringing the entire clan down because they killed his brother George (as seen in House of 1000 Corpses).  Sheriff John Wydell has nothing but vengeance on his mind, but in time, that will drive him to become exactly what he's hunting.  The trio's road trip takes many bizarre twists and turns, leaving unresolved plot points along the way, and ultimately leads the film to a strange and unsatisfying ending.

First and foremost, this is one grizzly, brutal, and unrestrained movie.  I rented the unrated director's cut, and so, everything that was meant to be seen, was seen.  And while all the gory effects are excellent, and the performances are amazing, this film just doesn't deliver anything more.  The story is too simple, and the resolution is just so damn weak.  I won't spoil anything, but possibly the film's strongest character is dispatched like a worthless camper in a Friday The 13th movie - the death has no meaning, no importance when this character probably should not have died at all.  It simply goes to show that despite Rob Zombie's ability to make such an intense and disturbing film, he really has a long way to go in crafting solid storytelling skills.  He tries, but he fails for two films in a row.  I think it's even worse in this one because some characters and plot points simply drop off the map with no reason, no explanation.  Plot points about the Groucho Marx' alises is dropped after two scenes, and was apparently only created for a weak comedic bit.  As for vanishing characters, Zombie apparently just decided, "they've served their purpose, so now they're gone."  It's a shame because there's such a great cast to work with such as Michael Berryman, Danny Trejo, Ken Foree, and the absolutely awesome William Forsythe.  Also, I was rocked to see former WCW & WWF superstar "Diamond" Dallas Page featured as black-haired bounty hunter (teamed with Trejo).  Page does a fine job too, and having cameos from The Warrior's Deborah Van Valkenburg and Halloween's P.J. Soles was a unique touch.  But despite having such a rich cast, the story just does not offer up anything original.  We've seen movies with murder sprees before, and despite the extreme distance this one takes the violence and mayhem, such thrills are only momentary.  Once the mayhem and gore is off screen, there's not much to excite you or the film.  The story is just three sick and twisted people on a killing spree running from the law and a vengeful lawman, period.

I can respect Rob Zombie wanting to revitalize a forgotten genre of film, but it's already back on its feet with numerous hardcore, edge-of-your-seat horror films that push the limits of disturbing imagery.  Zombie churning out all these homages to 70s horror films forces his films to be unoriginal and thin on story.  It's cool to give nods to your favorite films in your own feature, it happens somewhat frequently, but you've gotta put a cap on it.  If you don't, they'll take over your movie, and make it quite weak.  The entire premise is an homage to a certain genre of film from the 1970s, and Zombie makes no attempt to build on it or make it any fresher.  In fact,the entire premise is lifted directly from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2!  Only problem is, there's not all that much of a massacre, but I digress.  Zombie simply doesn't do enough to make this film seem original to even the smallest degree, and the main characters that carryover from House of 1000 Corpses only make themselves even more detestable and inhuman.  It's obvious that Zombie is trying to make them into some twisted band of anti-heroes, but frankly, these characters are not relateable, let alone sympathetic creatures - they're sick, twisted, homicidal psychopaths.  Why anyone would root for these demented maniacs is beyond me, let alone why Zombie believes anyone would want to?  They have zero endearing qualities.

Now, the style of this film isn't as oversaturated and surreal as House of 1000 Corpses, but Rob Zombie still needs more competent help in the editing department.  The pacing and editing of certain sequences is all out of whack, and very inconsistent.  The final scene of the film drags on and on and on and on to the point where it loses all impact.  The use of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" makes it quite the quirky and over-the-top sequence, but ultimately, this is a flat end to a film that seemed to have potential from time-to-time.  Zombie's attempt to make the murderous threesome go out in an amazing blaze of glory works against the entire film as these three deserve the harshest death possible for the horrific crimes they've committed.  Instead, Zombie wants us to feel sorry that they've met their collective ends.  The actual hero of the film gets a piss poor demise while the despicable villians get a grand, epic swan song.  That's a perfect example of what's wrong with this movie.

Whatever score there is happens to be practically unnoticeable.  Zombie packs this film with classic rock songs from the Allman Brothers, Skynyrd, Joe Walsh, and so forth.  It's a much more appropriate soundtrack than the modern day heaviness of the previous film (which put the whole film out of time since its set in the 1970s).  The Devil's Rejects soundtrack is probably quite a cool listen, but I would've preferred a stronger score to intensify the film further than using songs to remind people of the time period or using them to create quirky moments.  I understand Rob Zombie comes from a music video world where he uses music to tell a story, but this is a different medium, he needs to adapt a whole lot better, in my honest opinion.

The makeup effects here give the film the grizzly texture it has, and for some, might make it a difficult watch.  Zombie didn't make it a point to make this film pretty - it is definitely grounded in that 70s ugliness.  Even the nudity is dirty n' trashy.  Some CGI work is here, but only for certain gunshots and other minor details.  Nothing here looks fake, it all has a dense, gritty realism to it, and that is a refreshing plus.

Though, when taking this film in as a whole, it's really not much better than Rob Zombie's feature film directorial debut, House of 1000 Corpses.  While that film was more a true horror film in the sense that it was meant to scare and horrify you, this film just tries to freak you out through disturbing violence and sickening moments.  It maybe darker and sicker, but it's not really all that much better.  I would've expected more of an improvement from Zombie, but I suppose he's gonna need a lot more time to evolve as a filmmaker.  He had great resources to work with in every aspect of filmmaking, but he couldn't utilize it all to its highest potential.  I am forced to give this film a 5.5 out of 10.  I don't recommend seeing it or not seeing it, I'm just rather indifferent.  Just don't expect anything all that original if you do plan to see it.  If you liked House of 1000 Corpses, you'll probably enjoy this film.  If you hated House of 1000 Corpses, you probably won't like this film either.