I felt that the story was very weak, if there even was any story, and the film basically had no ending. I liked the clowns, the set was amazing and the filming was very well done, but I can't help thinking that Rob Zombie could have done much better.
shareI really enjoyed this film. Granted, it doesn't break any fresh ground story wise, but it still was quite fun in a unapologetically down'n'dirty sort of way.
I've been chasing grace/ But grace ain't easy to find
I was very disappointed with this movie. I was so excited when I first saw the trailer and I eagerly waited for it to come out cause it looked so much better than that *beep* Salem movie he did. But looking back I don't even remember what I was excited for and the movie definitely wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Oh well, at least I didn't waste money to rent in on VOD.
shareIt was garbage...
shareFor F sake it was his best movie ever ! far better than his Halloween efforts - she survived that was the end....
shareI didn't hate this movie like some do, but I did find it disappointing when compared to House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. Efforts were put into making Doomhead memorable, but just about everything else felt like someone else trying to make a Rob Zombie movie. Actually, most of the time I was thinking how entertaining the movie would have been if it had revolved around Doomhead.
Rob Zombie seems at odds with what he wanted to accomplish with 31. He clearly wanted to create a memorable villain in Doomhead, but then he stuck the character with a script that ignores him for 90% of the movie - By the time he enters the scene, the movie is a bathroom break away from being over. What strikes me odd about the screenplay is that he dedicates the vast majority of it to characters he didn't care nearly enough for, and it shows. The premise is fine, but the way it's constructed doesn't play to strengths that this movie may possess.
Here are a few gripes I had with 31.
01. Besides Doomhead, none of the other killers felt threatening, and they really should have. There's no reason that two psychos with chainsaws in a dark abandoned factory should feel anything less than menacing. Villains like Death & Sex, and the Nazi Midget simply feel like characters that were intended to look interesting rather than give you the creeps. As far as the villains are concerned, it feels like Rob Zombie only wanted you to take one of them seriously, and made the rest caricatures.
02. A general lack of dread. This is practically The Running Man, but the way Rob Zombie would envision it, and on paper that sounds really awesome. Personally, I'd imagine a gritty, visceral, and bloody fight for survival where death looms around any corner, but what we have here is a movie with odd rules where villains immaturely introduce themselves to their prospective victims before they unconvincingly go on their "hunt".
03. The acting. It's very uneven, and rather jarring. I rarely got the feeling that the protagonists were ambitious about surviving, and that's juxtaposed with killers that rarely felt ambitious about killing. It's like everyone had a slacker-ish attitude about their situations. The killers didn't feel as dangerous as they should have, and the victims didn't feel to care enough about surviving. The choreography was also pretty awful at times too, as there is no way Sheri Moon has any business surviving any encounters with a killer with the way she swings a bat.
04. Sheri Moon. I like Sheri Moon, but including her in the cast as a protagonist is practically telegraphing who the last man standing will be. I realize that most horror movies traditionally have such a character, but Sheri doesn't sell the role of heroine nearly as well as villainess. She feels shoehorned into this role, which inadvertently creates eye rolling situations that don't feel honest. That she survives the game feels unbelievable, but at least it wasn't because she killed Doomhead. Hehe...what saves her is another movie cliche: The wordy villain. If it were up to me, I would have killed her off early on, if only to create a greater sense of mystery as to whether or not anyone would walk out alive.
I wish Rob Zombie had done something more surprising (or even shocking) with 31, but as it is, it's a step backwards for Zombie. Like Eli Roth's "The Green Inferno", this movie doesn't have the balls that their respective directors would allude to, and instead make me wish that I was watching one of the movies that inspired them. My version of 31 would have included 31 (mostly strangers), the handful of killers found in this movie, and I would have let them all loose at the same time. Like Battle Royale, I'd make it a bloody free for all where there can only be one survivor while people make bets on who they think will survive. Hehe...well, if you're already committed to stealing a concept, and your artistic stamp is over the top violence, you might as well go all the way and placate fans that aren't in it for the social commentary, and simply create a chaotic blender of violence. Hehe...I think I just talked myself into re-watching Battle Royale.
In all seriousness, I'm sure I would have really enjoyed a movie that was centered around Doomhead, which is by far the most entertaining thing about this movie.
Totally. DEVIL'S REJECTS is one of my favorite horror films of this century and one of the best ever in my opinion. Check out my thoughts on 31 in my review here: https://youtu.be/bAc9lh3wOAw
shareThis movie is utter garbage. I was so bored that I played it on windows media player and just skipped in 30 second chunks.
House of 1000 had a great vibe, I loved it. Devils was great too but this....?
Total was of time.