Rob Zombie’s ’31’ is a Must See (Review)

Written by: Paula Limbaugh

Written and directed by: Rob Zombie

Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Richard Brake, Jeff Daniel Phillips

“In Hell everybody loves popcorn.” – Doom-Head

EEK!! What can I say, I saw an advanced screening of Rob Zombie’s 31 and I was not disappointed! Set to release nationwide in October this is a must-see for all Zombie fans. You have all the elements of a great gore fest. Dark, gritty, tons of blood and of course, gratuitous sex, what more could you ask for in a Zombie flick?

Starting off we have that whole 70’s vibe going on, which makes sense because these events take place in 1976. The film opens with a band of misfit carnies on the day before Halloween making their way to Las Vegas to set up shop. While traveling down the lonely highway they are stopped in their tracks by what looks like Halloween decorations strewn across the roadway. Rather than drive through them, they stop to move the decorations aside, big mistake!!

The group is attacked and 5 of them are taken prisoner while the rest are killed, time for the games to begin. The 5 survivors consist of Charly (Sheri Moon Zombie), Venus (Meg Foster), Panda (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), Levon (Kevin Jackson), and Roscoe (Jeff Daniel Phillips). They have been taken to a place called Murderworld where they awake to find Malcolm McDowell (Father Napoleon-Horatio-Silas Murder), Judy Geeson (Sister Dragon), and Jane Carr (Sister Serpent), dressed like French aristocrats ready to start their annual Halloween event. The rules are simple, 12 hours to survive the different obstacles you’ll be facing and you’re free to go. Sounds easy, huh?

This is where it really gets interesting with characters like Death-Head, Sex-Head, Cherry Bomb, and Psycho-Head you know our misfits have their work cut out for them. At first, the group thinks they may have a handle on the situation but that’s when Father Murder decides to bring in his secret weapon… Doom-Head (Richard Brake), he’s a mean, no-nonsense killing machine!

Sounds good, huh? I thought so.

Okay, so this movie probably won’t win any Oscar nominations, but it is entertaining and the soundtrack is spot on. Yeah, I’m sure there will be plenty of naysayers out there complaining about this movie, but Hey, if you don’t know by now what a Rob Zombie movie is like then too bad. So all you fans of his previous flicks, go see it! You won’t be disappointed! You can check out the trailer below!

Rating: 4/5