Stalk, Slash, Kill, Repeat

I realise that I have forgotten to include this warning on my last few review posts so allow me to begin by stating that there will of course be spoilers for the movie in question.

It is of course fairly obvious from the title of this post that I am looking at a horror film this time around and the film under the microscope is none other than Rob Zombies 31.

For the uninitiated of you Rob Zombie is a heavy metal musician who was part of the band White Zombie before breaking out on his own in 1998. He has continued to put out music but has in more recent times become better known for his efforts in the directors chair, a career that saw his first feature film released in 2003 and which has seen him both write and direct seven movies to date.

His debut was House of 1000 Corpses which was a down and dirty little horror film that set the tone for his work to come as in it he demonstrated many ideas and techniques that he has used in every film he has made since.

Two years later he brought the world a sequel to the events of House in the form of the Devils Rejects which is one of my favourite horror movies of all time. It was the success of his early work that led to Zombie being given the job of rebooting the Halloween franchise in 2007, five years after many thought the adventures of Michael Myers were done after the abysmal mess that was Halloween Resurrection.

Zombies Halloween took the story of John Carpenters original and twisted the central premise on its head by focusing on the life and times of Michael Myers rather than his sister Laurie Strode and it was only the final 30 minutes or so of the film that saw us revisit the plot of the original with a slightly more modern take.

Halloween divided audiences but not as much as 2009s sequel Halloween II which tried hard to add to the Myers mythos but failed on every conceivable level. That same year Zombie released the adult animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto which channeled the spirit of Ren and Stimpy but lacked all of the tv shows charm.

Three years would pass before Zombies next film which saw him return to the roots of his first two movies with The Lords of Salem which like every other Zombie work starred his wife Sherri Moon Zombie. Whilst Salem was not as bad as Halloween II it was certainly nowhere near the standard the director had set for himself with Corpses and Rejects but it could be seen as a positive step back towards what brought him to the dance in the first place.

All of which brings us to his latest movie 31 which is full of what we have come to expect from the director and is without doubt quintessentially Zombie.

The plot sees a group of carnies have their road trip interrupted when they run into a group of masked psychopaths who kill some of the group but take five survivors to an undisclosed location where they are forced to try and survive for 12 hours whilst being hunted down by a series of murderous clowns. These range from a nazi dwarf (midget? not sure of the politically correct term), to a pair of hillbillies and a German sex addict and his female friend. As they fight for their lives three wealthy individuals watch over the events and make bets on who will get killed next.

As you'd imagine there are plenty of gory deaths to be had in 31 and of course as the films draws to its conclusion only Mrs Zombie is left standing against the most psychotic of the clowns Doomhead. Luckily for Sherri the timer runs out and so Doomhead has to let her leave whilst the three gambling overlords go home to return to their everyday lives. Well this would be the case but for the fact that the last time we see Sherri she is staggering down the road all covered in blood and traumatised as hell and a van pulls up behind her out of which strides Doomhead. We leave the pair staring at each other as Doomhead pulls out his knives preparing to finish her off. This just leaves you wondering why he didn't just kill her when he had the chance since the whole clock thing makes no difference as they are not prepared to let her leave with her life.

So what did I think of 31? It was in truth perfectly servicable and was by no means a bad film. Yes it was full of the aforementioned tropes that appear in all of Zombies films but that is not necessarily a bad thing as why change what works for him. Now where does it stand in regards to his filmography? It is not as good as Corpses or Rejects and personally I would rate his first Halloween movie higher than 31 but in turn this latest film is certainly far and away better than both Halloween II and Lords of Salem which of course means that 31 sits comfortably smack bang in the middle as far as quality goes.

Sherri Moon Zombie turns in a performance which is so similar to all of her previous turns in her husbands films that you could be forgiven for thinking that she is always playing the same role. The clowns are suitably creepy and messed up which is all you can ask for wen it comes to face painted murderers although not quite in the same league as Pennywise or the Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

All of which leaves me with the task of rating 31 with a score out of 10 and this time out I think I'm going to go with a solid enough 6 as not unlike the film itself this score is middle of the road and is without doubt what it deserves.