The Devil's Rejects - villains we've actually sided with?

 The Devil's Rejects - villains we've actually sided with?

In the mid 2000's director Rob Zombie did something that is extremely rare for filmmakers. His sophomore effort, a sequel to his colorful, whacky, and extremely violent House of 1000's corpses, went in the complete opposite direction. This time around he took a gritty Western like feel to this action and violence paced movie which was wonderfully titled…

The Devil's Rejects.

Continuing his crazy storyline of the blood thirsty Firefly family, this movie was a strange mix of some of the best and most violent films of the 1970's. In the original film House Of 1000 Corpses, Zombie focused on this completely insane family picking off a car of helpless teens one rainy Halloween night one by one. Taking hints from such films as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Funhouse, nobody could guess that just a few years later he would knock the ball completely out of the park making a follow up to this movie which goes down as one of the most well loved horror sequels of all time. Besides changing the look and feel of the movie, he turned audiences on their heads when he made the focus of this follow up mostly on the surviving members, going on a cross country rampage as a crazed sheriff is hot on their trail Hell bent on revenge.

Rob Zombie did something many have tried and failed before. He made blood thirsty killers into the actual main characters, and had the audience root for them even if they did commute unspeakable crimes. Right up until the epic ending, you couldn't help but want these guys to get away, even if you down right hated them in the first movie. So I beg to ask the question, what villains did you actually feel sorry for or root for?

1) Hannibal Lecter 

- Let it be the novels, the films, or the brilliant television show, Hannibal Lecter is one of the world's most famous serial killers. What makes Lecter different than so many others is the fact that you actual side with him. Who doesn't absolutely love his final line in Silence Of The Lambs "I'm going to have a friend for dinner." or of course his life's motto in the TV series "Eat the rude."

2) Norman Bates

- Who didn't catch their breath when the car didn't sink completely all the way in the original classic Psycho? Or in the brilliant sequel when he was laying in bed holding Mary, telling her the story of what his mother used to fix him when he was sick? For such a deeply disturbed character, between the films, and of course the amazing TV show you can't help but feel sorry for Norman and the madness that's over taking him.

3) The Phantom 

- I'm not even going to pretend I know anything about the musical or the other films. But I was sold with the 1988 version with Robert Engulnd. First off what a honestly tragic love story for a man who was horribly disfigured, and sold his soul to keep his music immortal? I loved the ending scene where Christine visits his apartment and discovers the new music only to have him tell her how long he's waited for her to be with him again. A haunting, yet very fucked up love story.

4) Candyman

- Speaking of fucked up love stories, how about the Candyman? Murdered all because of falling in love with the wrong woman, and having his blood line cursed for all entirety. The story of Daniel is not only heartbreaking, but continues and goes into much better detail with it's sequel Farewell To Flesh. I always loved him haunting Helen from the first movie since she reminded him of his long lost love. Honestly if you ever re-watch these movies you'll perfectly understand what drives this spirit and how he's trapped to kill until the end of time.

5) The monsters of Midian 

- I honestly wouldn't even call these guys villains. Decker was the true villain of this film as well as the humans. Still, the monsters of Midian are truly misunderstood, and overall a peaceful clad that are attacked and forced to fight back for their own survival. I love how they honestly are their own little family, hidden away because they either look or can do things humans can't seem to wrap their minds around. Truly a film that begs the question who are the real monsters?

6) Jerry Dandridge 

- "I'm going to give you something I never had. Choice." These ten words forever changed the way I looked at this character from my all time favorite vampire movie. Little is known about Jerry, only that he is very old, and has lost many past loves due to his curse. Even if he a blood thirsty monster, if you look closely you can just begin to see what truly drove him to trying to survive all these years alone, searching for his lost love. The fact he tried to even give Charlie the chance in forgetting him really makes you wonder if he would have kept his promise.

7) Pinhead

- It wasn't until Hellbound Hellraiser II that you met the man behind the monster. I began to notice this trend of the misunderstood monsters in the mid to late 1980's just like the original Universal ones from the 30's and 40's. Pinhead, or as he's known as was shown simply as a demon until the second film in the series. Going further into his storyline in part III, this character is revealed to actually have a human side and even gives his life up not once but twice in two different movies.

8) The werewolf 

- The reason why I love An American Werewolf In London is because of who's the man behind the beast. Poor David, a young, attractive, Jewish man who is violently attacked one night as well as losing his best friend. Try putting yourself in his shoes. You're in a different country, far away from everyone and everything you know and in just the span of a week everything falls apart. I always loved the scene where David calls his little sister up saying goodbye to his family after truly understanding that the warnings were all true, he is in fact a werewolf, killing innocent people without any memory of it. The final scene from the movie where Alex walks down the alleyway, locking eyes with him saying she loves him always kills me every time.

9) The Devil's Rejects 

- As I said above it's really hard to take a blood thirsty family of crazed killers who you down right hated from the first movie and make them somewhat likable in the sequel. My heart always drops at the epic ending when they are all beaten up and drive straight into the road block. Would of loved to see these guys keep going.

10) Toby

- Normal people stuff, normal sex, normal kids of my own. You people have no idea how wonderful normal is until you can't have it. Toby, the killer from Popcorn has never spoken truer words. Whenever he reveals himself to Maggie at the end, explaining what happened to him and how he's had to suffer all these years always sends chills down my side. Just sucks whenever I watch the scene where one of the girl characters confesses how madly in love she is with him and how he freezes, unable to believe that somebody could like him and he could of had a chance at actually having a normal life. Always makes me scream at the screen yelling at him to just stop. Tragically, like always…he never listens.