Short Attention Span Review - 3 from Hell (2019)
3 from Hell is maybe the best we've seen from Rob Zombie yet. In many ways, it is a perfect representation of what he brings to the cinema. Dark, twisted, colorful, and fun in spite of vile forays into thoroughly unsettling territory, his vision is a crazy kaleidoscope of horrors and cheap thrills. Unabashedly devoted to centering his work upon the evilest denizens of his creative landscapes, he finds ways to both terrify us with these creations and make them endearing. The worst among us can be repulsive and charming in equal measures, and the same could be said for Zombie's audacious fiends. The director's love for grindhouse cinema is also something that could be seen as an amazing strength or glaring weakness. Many might decry this element of his approach as degenerative and uninspired. Others may find it to be wildly compelling, and may even argue that he conjures this sort of atmosphere as well as (if not better than) Robert Rodriguez and QT have been able to. All this aside, I will note that I'm a fan of his work. In particular, I found The Devil's Rejects to be a sinister opus that felt a bit like a horror film directed by Sam Peckinpah, and I view Lords of Salem as an intense and terrifying oddity that isn't easily forgotten. His features are shot well (even if the choppy editing can be problematic at times), his soundtracks are superb, and he gets wonderful performances from his talent. I fully appreciate his catalog. 3 from Hell is another superior effort-- as I said at the onset, it may just be his best, though that is surely debatable. What isn't debatable is the sheer impact and the wicked buffet of awful delights that this one is guaranteed to provide for those willing to dip their toes in this ghastly pond.
Final Grade: A
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| While Zombie gives Spaulding the best send-off he could under the circumstances, his presence is surely missed throughout an otherwise exemplary sample of the director's divisive fare. |
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