Rob Zombie's 31 (2016)

Rob Zombie can be a pretty divisive figure in pop culture, whether for his music career or his film-making career; odds are that if you say his name, you'll get either a Love Him or Hate Him reaction.  The best part about that though?  He doesn't care either way. 


His latest feature film, 31,  -- which debuted last night in a series of advanced screenings sponsored by Fathom Events -- is the result of a crowd-funded production and, for my money anyway, it's his most fully realized production to date.  That last part is a bit ironic given that the original genesis for the film came out of frustration from the constant stalling of his 70s era Philadelphia Flyers bio-pic, Broad Street Bullies where he threw out what he thought was the dumbest, most simple concept for a film -- essentially, "a bunch of people are kidnapped on Halloween night and forced to survive against a bunch of murderous clowns."


31's story picks up with a group of carnies on a cross-country road trip -- on October 31, 1976 -- in search of fine-tuning their show when they're suddenly accosted by masked clowns and forced to fight for their very lives under the orchestration of three mysterious English people dressed in upper crust, powdered wigs.  Again, a very simple premise that works in Zombie's favor this time around. 


Once again, Zombie peppers his film with familiar genre faces and various "Zombie Players" seen in his previous films.  The cast breakdown includes:  Meg Foster as Venus Virgo, the pseudo-mother figure to the group; Jeff Daniel Phillips as Roscoe, who has showbiz dreams beyond just being the mechanic of the group; Sheri Moon Zombie as Charly, the group's free-spirited sexpot.   New faces in the cast include Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Panda Thomas, the Jamaican-accented heart of the group, and Kevin Jackson as Levon, a sort of elder statesman of the group.  There's a definite chemistry among the five main players and the audience genuinely cares for them as the picture progresses. 

Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen.

On the flipside, the villains are comprised of several more returning Zombie veterans:  Malcolm McDowell as Father Murder, Judy Geeson as Sister Dragon, Lew Temple as Psycho-Head, E.G. Daily as Sex-Head, Daniel Roebuck as Pastor Victor, Ginger Lynn as Cherry Bomb, and Richard Brake as the show-stealing Doom-Head.  As a new-comer to the villain side, Pancho Moler also shines as the diminutive (and aptly named) Sick-Head.

Malcolm McDowell as Father Murder

The most obvious comparison for 31 lies in The Most Dangerous Game -- not in The Running Man, which Zombie admitted that he hasn't seen in probably 25 years during a post-show Q & A at last night's screening.  Our heroes have 12 hours to survive a labyrinth of dead-ends in an abandoned factory, all while being hunted by various 'Head' characters:  the Nazi-obsessed Sick-Head, the chainsaw-wielding brothers Psycho-Head and Schizo-Head, the sinful Death-Head and his non-platonic partner Sex-Head, and of course, the Nosferatu-inspired Doom-Head.


For some, there may be a hesitancy to avoid this film, thinking that it's just another "Rob Zombie torture film" and, while 31 initially starts out with the sort of bottom-of-the-barrel "humorous" dialogue you'd find scrawled across the fecal-stained walls of a gas station bathroom, thankfully, this isn't more of the same throughout!  Make no mistake:  for fans of 80s Slasher films (and a handful of 70s drive-in pictures like Last House On The Left and The Hills Have Eyes), this is a straight-up Fight For Your Life Revenge picture!  Our heroes more than hold their own against the sadistic hunters who prey upon them, often dispatching them in more and more gruesome ways while advancing to the next scene (not unlike The Running Man though).

As Charly, Sheri Moon Zombie fights to survive 31!

Dialogue-wise, Sheri Moon Zombie has some great "let's get these fuckers" type of one-liners, Lew Temple has some hilarious bits as Psycho-Head (his brief scene in Rob Zombie's Halloween remake still cracks me up!), Jeff Daniel Phillips throws out some fine Reluctant Hero lines, but of course, the majority of the page-chewing goes to Richard Brake as Doom-Head.  The film starts off with a fantastic black and white monologue as Doom-Head seemingly breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly. 


Richard Brake as Doom-Head

Speaking of Doom-Head, my immediate impression was:  "He'd make a GREAT Halloween costume" and "Move over Otis Firefly and Captain Spaulding, there's a new sheriff in town!"  Welsh actor Brake (known by most as Joe Chill, the man who killed Bruce Wayne's parents in Batman Begins) owns every single scene he appears in whether he's having a not-so-intimate moment with a cheap prostitute in a low-rent flophouse room, smearing on pancake makeup to prepare for his own hunt, or stealthily stalking his victims in the film's second half -- his performance is a tour de force!


Of course, this isn't to say that 31 is a perfect film through and through though; there's a lot of hand-held, borderline shaky-cam cinematography that made several of the fight scenes a bit confusing and distracting; as mentioned before, there's some of that vial, infantile dialogue that appears in every Zombie film; and the picture almost  veers into the sort of dream-like, cinefile art-house scenery which did in Zombie's Halloween II and The Lords of Salem for a few folks.


More of its strengths are in some incredibly creepy make-ups for the hunters; Doom-Head, with his crusty white pancake paint and bloodied nose & mouth and, surprisingly Sex-Head with her beautiful, yet disturbing mime-like face paint.  There's also a beautifully filmed opening credits sequence, utilizing vintage filmmaking techniques and showcasing Zombie's love for the craft!   31's greatest strength though, lies in its overall simplicity.  The story doesn't get bogged down in backstory or origins -- we never do find out who the three upper crust people are or why they're playing the seemingly-annual titular game of 31 (it's simple:  for their own amusement) and we never learn anything more about the various 'Head' characters outside of the hinted at fact that they come to work when they're called upon.  However, there are enough unanswered questions and open-ended fates that leave the barn doors wide open to revisit these characters in the future...  


Jeff Daniel Phillips' Roscoe takes a final stand.

In the end, Rob Zombie's 31 is an entertaining funhouse ride which showcases his growing talents as a writer/director.  The film also shines with probably the strongest principle cast Zombie has ever had at his disposal.  Ultimately, it's unfortunate that so many people will likely pass on the film just because Rob Zombie's name is attached to it; if it was any other writer/director, 31 would probably be the foundation for this decade's Saw or Hostel franchise.


See it!

Gordon's War (1973)

Blaxploitation films have been a favorite of mine since at least the 7th Grade when I first saw Shaft and bought a 45" of the theme (I used to listen to it on my Walkman while I walked to school then to get pumped up for the day) and also after I caught Scream Blacula, Scream on cable during a sick day.  My eyes were then open to a new sub-genre that I've spent the last 20+ years appreciating! 


Lately, I've been discovering some gems of the genre that I maybe hadn't heard of outside of the odd trailer popping up on a compilation disc; titles like Cotton Comes To Harlem, Cool Breeze, Trouble Man, Hit-Man, Black Fist, and of course Gordon's War.

"Say, aren't the dude from The Terminator?"

Gordon's War is a revenge film with an anti-drug message, so it was a no-brainer for me to check out!  The late, great Paul Winfield (Lt. Traxler in The Terminator) stars as Captain Gordon Hudson who, upon returning from Vietnam, learns that his wife became a junkie and died while he was away.  Talk about a heavy homecoming, right?  He vows to rid the streets of pimps and drug pushers and, along with three of his old 'Nam buddies, Gordon sets up recon on several of Harlem's key scumbags.   Gordon's team screws over/robs/shuts down/beats down a pimp called Big Pink, another dude called Luther The Pimp, and drug kingpin "Spanish" Harry Martinez (played by genre vet Gilbert Lewis -- you might know him as Detective Frank Linto in 1992's Candyman). 

"We're loaded for bear...if bear was a pimp and a pusher man."

It takes a while, but soon "Spanish" Harry and his men are onto Gordon's team; there's a great, tense sequence where the crew is separated while waiting for "Spanish" Harry...only he's got the upper hand on them and it's obvious that the hardline crew is in trouble!  A lot of cross-cutting and near montage work makes this a really effective sequence actually! 

The film is directed by the late, great Ossie Davis (long before TV's Evening Shade and Grumpy Old Men, Davis was a prolific civil rights activist, along with his late wife Rubie Dee; he directed several, early Blaxploitation pictures, including one of the genre's first, 1970's Cotton Comes To Harlem). Davis shows a great knowledge for film-making here, keeping the story moving and the action/drama flowing. One cool bit that I picked up on was how much Mario Van Peeples' New Jack City paid homage to this film -- this has to be one of the first anti-drug films to show near naked people cutting/bagging heroin under a black light. 


Soundtrack-wise, I wouldn't say the music was as memorable as most other Blaxploitation films, but I was still bobbing my head and shaking my hips while laying in bed watching. 

And, hey, I'm all for a movie where drug dealers are hunted and killed . . . though this one is not as on the nose about it or quite as violent as 1973's Coffy. Instead of merely killing the pushers and pimps, Gordon and his crew hunt them and keep tabs on them via some innovative (for the time) methods before ripping them off of their product and their money.

Luther the Pimp ain't so bad with a switchblade in his face!

Par for the course with the genre, Gordon's War has some scenes of brutal violence:  a pimp has his legs hobbled, a local scumbag is forced to shoot his own product into his veins (much like that great opening scene in Coffy!), a henchman gets his face burnt off via an ingenious lighter and underarm deodorant spray combo, and there are several bloody shotgun blasts to the chest.  While it's not the most violent for the genre, it still delivers! 

Take that sucka!

Speaking of Gordon's crew, they're a lot like The A-Team or Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible teams; each guy brings his own flare and strengths to the group. One cool scene involves one of the guys undercover as a shoe shiner on the streets, accosting a fly dope-pusher; he insists on shining the dude's platform leather boots that only a member of KISS would wear today....of course, he coats the boats with a UV paint so that they can track him at night with a set of UV binoculars! 

I'd probably try and rock these boots.

There are also some slight echoes of this film in 1977's Rolling Thunder, where William Devane stars as a Vietnam vet returning home, only to have his reward ripped off from him as he is forced to watch his wife and child get murdered....and he loses his right hand in the garbage disposal. Like, Gordon's War, Devane vows revenge and recruits his old Army buddy (Tommy Lee Jones) for recon and blood-spattered revenge!


In the end, it was another fun Blaxploitation film that I hadn't seen before. I'm actually surprised that it hasn't been remade today....


PS:  Also look for a "blink and you missed it" cameo from Grace Jones!