Written
and directed by Rob Zombie, "31" is his latest grindhouse style horror film, the kind we are so used to seeing from him. It follows a group of
carnival workers played by Jeff Daniel Phillips, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs,
Meg Foster, Kevin Jackson, and of course, his wife Sheri Moon Zombie,
because what would a Rob Zombie movie be without Sheri Moon? This clan
are abducted by a group of wealthy people in powdered wigs and
Victorian-era costumes that go by names like Father Murder, Sister
Serpent, and Sister Dragon, played by Malcolm McDowell, Jane Carr, and Judy Geeson. This group forces them to play a game of survival called
"31," where they are hunted by psychopaths who have equally weird names
like Sick-Head, Schizo-Head, Psycho-Head, Death-Head, Sex-Head, and
Doom-Head, and have to try to stay alive in the face of chainsaws,
shotguns, and other various types of weapons.
This
film is a clear homage to old splatter-house horrors and is even set in
the seventies to drive home that grindhouse feel. The plot has a style we have described as "The Running Man" meets "The Purge" meets
"The Devil's Rejects," and we're sure others will have the same
observations as well. The script isn't all that great. The narrative is a
bit nonsensical and the dialogue is downright awful at times, but
we aren't really looking at Rob Zombie to make impactful, dramatic dialogue
if we're being honest. The visual style, the violence, the gore, the
graphic nature of the kills, and the gratuitous nudity may be enough to
keep many horror fans happy, and really, this kind of stuff is his
wheelhouse as a huge horror fan. We do wish there was
more tension and we sort of wish we cared a little more about whether or
not the characters survive because we absolutely don't. We also wanted the methods used for killing off characters would have been more
creative. There is a lot of clichés going on in "31" and we find one
aspect in particular very predictable that we just can't forgive.
In the
end, there is some entertainment value in "31" if you accept this splatter-fest
for what it is: a low budget, crowd-funded horror feature with all of
Rob Zombie's signature directorial styles and the same people he's been employing for nearly two decades.
My Rating: 5.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 5.5/10
IMDB's Rating: 5.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 58%
Do we recommend this movie: Meh.
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