3 from Hell

The outcasts of hell rise from the dead (though not entirely in their original line-up) and are given another opportunity to have fun and put real terror into motion. The result, however, is an outdated garbage dump of worn, annoying and brazen lunatics with a schematic and straightforward story consisting of three parts - a breaking news story introduces us to the situation, followed by flirting with the prison director and then by a Mexican party, which seems as if Rob Zombie added it to the script after finding out that the material he had would not be enough for a feature film. Even so, the film is based solely on the brutality and ostentatious abomination of the hell trio, but it makes them into cool killers that you are supposed to cheer for, which is at least regressive in today's climate of critically filmed movies and series about uncovering the complex psychology of murderous maniacs. Rob Zombie is thereby only able to satisfy the most loyal of fans, who are more than happy with a bit of stylistically shot bloody butchery and the return of their favourite characters, who basically do what they always do, and in their free time they play cards or argue about which one of them is more like Bogart. 3 from Hell amounts to the same exhausting misery as the clown performance in the second part of the film, which also came without anyone asking for it. And look how it turned out. (04/10/2019)

In the case of Three from Hell, the trailer was more a deterrent than an enticement, so the film itself being at least what it is was a pretty pleasant surprise. This, of course, doesn’t alter the fact that is hard to find anything more pointless. What’s the point of it? What is its added value to The Devil's Rejects? Absolute zero. Especially since Sid Haig evidently could not take part given his health, and his place was rewritten and replaced by another interchangeable tough lunatic. Rob Zombie is embarrassing in his whimsical, tough and cool dirty world that might have been interesting fifteen years ago, but that today can be easily waved off. Keep on playing, Rob, if you’re having fun. (04/10/2019)

Rob Zombie concludes his famous trilogy, but it's as if someone has taken his foot off the gas. I found it funny how Zombie was doing countdowns to trailers that ultimately sucked. I was very annoyed by the opening 20 minutes, but after that it's a pretty decent exploitation affair, with Sheri Moon Zombie leading the way. There are a few gore scenes, even though I was hoping for much more in that regard (the finale in particular is very poor for how action-packed it is in terms of gore). It's as if filmmakers nowadays don't like to overstep their boundaries. It has a dirty look and atmosphere, but otherwise the film doesn't have much to impress. The Devil's Rejects was maybe two levels above. 60%. (08/10/2019)

Rob Zombie is a master of style, but the content of this movie suffered as it slipped out of his hands. 3 from Hell thus serves as more like a succession of episodes concerning prison escapes and repetitively murderous rampages by the Firefly family than a single movie. It works like a stylishly filmed retro ‘70s exploitation B-movie full of action and buzz, but it seems that Rob gave up any higher ambitions. Reportedly before and during the making of the movie, the screenplay was noticeably rewritten (mainly due to the deteriorating health of Sid Haig, who appears in only one scene at the beginning of the movie instead of starring in the main role), and Zombie's original vision was pretty much fragmented, so I think that only die-hard fans of the previous two installments of this trilogy will probably rejoice at this movie, however, otherwise disinterested audiences will certainly be unlikely to engage with 3 from Hell. [Sitges 2019] (04/10/2019)

A zombie swan song; no script, no budget, no traditional mainstays, no structure, no build-up and no ending. On the other hand, its has an excessively long running time, hardly believable levels of self-centredness and old actors who used to be stars a long time ago. And yet they managed to make a decent B-movie, though the ending taken from Outcasts ruins everything, but it essentially cannot offend anyone except with the fact that this move is completely useless. On the other hand, we cannot deny that it also has a few (literally) light moment. (24/07/2020)