MovieChat Forums > 31 (2016) Discussion > a Huge gripe with this film

a Huge gripe with this film

posted 8 years ago by tbickle84
25 replies | jump to latest

It's been said over and over again with Zombie's film but this one takes the cake...

Every. Single. Character. in this film is beyond vulgar and despicable. Not only does every person in this film curse every 3 seconds but they say and do the most insanely vulgar and inappropriate things that I questioned what the hell I was even watching. Like what world does this movie take place in?? Even the most disgusting human beings in reality don't act this consistently ugly and vile on a minute by minute basis.

It's like Zombie has become the Tarantino of talking about the smell of your finger after pulling it out of a girl's *beep* Sorry to sound so vulgar but that's basically what 80% of the dialogue from every character consisted of.

Our protagonists were so vile that when they were confronted by the first Head and he begins speaking as vulgar as they were for the first 20 minutes of the film, I was completely numb to it. He had zero effect on me.

Now imagine if Zombie held back on making the "heroes" so disgusting. When Sick Head appeared and starting berating the captives in sucha verbally abusive fashion it would've had a much greater impact.

Listen, this has nothing to do with a being a prude and I'm sure 99% of you will agree with me if you've seen this film. RZ dialed up his white trash, unlikeable, unrealistic, filth bag dialogue to 100 on a scale from 1-10 with this film. If he makes another film, that has GOT to stop.

[–] scoup 8 years ago

It's almost every single movie that is the same thing (Halloween of course was just a remake)...

Dumb mental retard vulgar hick hillbilly crazies. Wife who can't act. Rinse. Repeat. But since nobody looks like they wash, let's just go with repeat.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jjstacey84 8 years ago

I'm starting to think his movies are just for teenagers. Thats when the dialogue would seem cool. It doesn't work for me these days.

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

Couldn't agree more. No one but a teenager could appreciate this dialogue. It's so juvenile and amateur and I know for a fact RZ is wayy more talented than that. That's the frustrating part.

[–] mabeltheavenger 8 years ago

I totally agree. Zombie's other movies are full of dirty, potty-mouthed, unlikable hillbillies, but in this one it felt even more overdone than usual. The only "hero" I cared about was Venus.

"I'm so happy dancing while the Grim Reaper cuts, cuts, cuts, but he can't get me!"

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

mabeltheavenger,

Yes, she was def the most restrained out of the entire cast. But man, this was such overkill. It's like Zombie thinks he can use that trashy dialogue as a safety net. He must feel that if he writes "normal" characters the dialogue will come off as boring whereas if your saying *beep* every 20 seconds people will maintain an interest even if it's because of shock value.

The guy is clearly so much more talented than that. It shows in a lot of his other work. That's why fans keep coming back to see what he cooks up. I've come to the conclusion he creates amazing atmospheres but lots of time has trouble doing the right things in them.

I guarantee you his next movie will be some sort of Firefly family spinoff because this movie set him back a bit. He's gonna have to go back to the success well to get fans pumped again.

[–] mabeltheavenger 8 years ago

The guy is clearly so much more talented than that. It shows in a lot of his other work. That's why fans keep coming back to see what he cooks up. I've come to the conclusion he creates amazing atmospheres but lots of time has trouble doing the right things in them.

Yeah, Rob Zombie really frustrates me because he has so much potential as a director, but he just wastes it by using the same tired tropes and making the same types of movies over and over again. I think that if he worked on trying to scare his audience instead of trying to shock them, he could make a truly amazing horror film because he obviously has a deep love for the genre.

I guarantee you his next movie will be some sort of Firefly family spinoff because this movie set him back a bit. He's gonna have to go back to the success well to get fans pumped again.

Well, Zombie admitted he only made 31 because Broad Street Bullies didn't work out, so who knows what he'll do next? It will more likely than not be a horror movie, though. I was looking forward to this because he compared it to The Devil's Rejects, which is his best film IMO, but it was, simply put, a chore to watch.

"I'm so happy dancing while the Grim Reaper cuts, cuts, cuts, but he can't get me!"

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

I think it's safe to say that Zombie is pigeonholed in the horror genre especially in the studio system. I don't think he's gonna get money to make Broadstreet Bullies from a studio especially since his last two movies were basically straight to dvd horror films that did not do well critically. Zombie doesn't have a box office blockbuster track record in horror let alone in the sports genre. Hockey films also don't have a tendency to do well. It's not the most accessible sport to mainstream audiences.

There's a better chance of a studio throwing him money for something that has already been successful like Devil's Rejects as long as it revolves around that same world and characters. Other than that he's gonna have to keep crowdfunding or cough up his own dough to make more passion projects.

Unfortunately that's the way the studio system works now. Zombie is too experimental and too much of an acquired taste to be mainstream which is a good and bad thing for him.

[–] blackknight273 8 years ago

Well said.

I would add that RZ and other current horror directors (Adam Green comes to mind), obviously love the genre but they seem to not understand what made the horror movies of the 70's and 80's so watchable.

You watch the original Halloween, My Bloody Valentine, F13, or even Phantasm you realize what makes these movies work are characters who are likable, and you can identify with them and care about their plight.

I can't identify with white trash carnies, backwoods psychopaths, or just scumbags in general. Having actors recite dialogue that appears to be written by a 14 year old with tourette's syndrome only alienates me more from his movies.

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

I agree blackknight,

Whenever you see director's who try and re-capture the exploitation vibe or old school slasher vibe, they have this immediate tendency to go parody on it to a degree.

Many of those films were made to be dead serious but were inadvertently bad or corny. That's part of their charm. They genuinely tried to be good and didn't set out to patronize the viewer.

All of the 80s slasher movies like you said had characters that you rooted for in the end. Look at how awesome all of the protagonists are in NOS Dream Warriors. As much as you love Freddy, you're actually upset when a lot of those kids get killed. That is remarkably absent in so many horror films today. Especially in 31.

[–] JJett131313 8 years ago

i agree that every character (Meg's character i did kind of sort of like though) is completely unlikable. it's funny that the ending "home movie" (after the staring stand off between Sheri & Joker wannabe) seems there to inspire sadness at the deaths of these vile people. it's showing a fun loving, seemingly nice group of people laughing and dancing yet nothing shown in the film even remotely shows them as actual nice, sympathetic people. lol.

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

Yeah I agree. That home movie device never works for me in his movies. I suppose the only time it sem-worked was in Halloween 1??

I especially wasn't sad when he used that tactic in Devil's Rejects lol

I Love Devil's rejects but I at no point in that movie ever felt bad for the firefly family. I mean come on. The whole freebird ending with home movie footage to me was sort of corny. How the hell can you care about people who skin a guy's face and brutally murder innocent people. I mean they're amusing to watch but your not gonna feel sorry for them in the least.

Anyway, getting back to 31 -- so yeah anytime I see home movie footage in a Rob Zombie movie now, I just see it as a RZ staple and I don't actually think about it as a useful filmmaking tactic on his part.

31 was really a hodgepodge of every movie he's made so far but just nowhere near as good. Say what you want about Doomhead but he's nowhere near as cool as the Firefly family or Michael Myers.

[–] angelic1o7 8 years ago

The language doesn't bother me as much as making the characters unlikable. There was nothing interesting about these characters that made me care about them or root for any of them. Except for Deathhead, who was a great horror character. However I did enjoy devil's rejects and House of a 1000 corpes because they had a good story and they were scary as hell. This movie was severely lacking good dialogue, good characters and in horror.

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

Yes, there's a difference between having foul mouthed characters and characters who just become a caricature of filth. No one in this movie was real.

And yes, there was no empathy for any of these characters. I couldn't care less who died or who survived. I mean I honeslty couldn't care who lived or died in Devil's Rejects either but at least those characters were interesting. And I did actually root for The Sheriff. I would've loved if he killed all of the fireflys.

[–] markdown474 8 years ago

And yes, there was no empathy for any of these characters. I couldn't care less who died or who survived.

I think this is what Rob Zombie needs to learn if he wants to continue making horror movies. A key aspect to successful horror movie is the audience being able to identify with and like at least some aspect of the protagonist(s). That's not to say they can't be flawed, but the flaws need to be balanced and When Charly starts grabbing the old guy's privates at the gas station, she just comes off as gross. Not funny, not sexy, not likable, just plain gross.

Take the recent movie "Don't Breathe". The main girl is a thief who wants burglarize a blind man's home. Pretty despicable. You later learn her home life is miserable and she has a young daughter that she longs to provide a better life for. She is not an admirable character by a longshot but the audience can at least understand part of her plight and feel some sense of sympathy for. There was nothing like that for any of the characters in 31.

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

Exactly markdown474. 100% nailed it.

[–] hairmetalmusic 8 years ago

Lol at all you clowns that keep paying to see the movies of a director/writer that you all hate. You know what Zombie is going to give you - so STOP watching if you don't like it.

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

hairmetalmusic,

I don't think any of us are hear just to hate on RZ. I'm gonna say 95% of us on this 31 board are frustrated fans who like at least a few of his films and recognize his talent but are disappointed when he takes the weakest aspects of his films and then suddenly amplifies them by a hundred in the case of 31. He has so much more potential than that.

[–] apriloish 8 years ago

i feel his style may not be for you you also seem not to understand devils rejects ending you werent supposed to feel sorry for them but to see that they just like there victims were also human an they were that they loved each other like a family thats why he had the sheriff cross the line in the film to show we are all capable of loosing it an becoming violent if pushed enough or under the right circumstances rob zombie writes white trash down on there luck ass hole people then he trys to make you care about them threw the film these are the types of people that intrest him white trash losers thats the people he enjoys writing about if you cant deal with these types of people your wasting your time with his flicks rob likes flawed white trash losers they arent meant to be perfect just likable in the white trash way but still stupid

[–] ranmalein 8 years ago

you watched a bunch of people get killed with chainsaws and you had a problem with the vulgar language? that's a bit odd, to be honest. is hearing a few *beep* worse than seeing someone get killed with a chainsaw?

i don't care for the foul language either way. don't like it but don't mind it, either.

i read a lot of people complaining about how the main characters weren't likeable and i don't really see why. we didn't see too much of them before the murdering started so we don't know much about them, but what we did get to see was how they tried to work together to get out of that situation. i doubt most people would put on their best behavior, watch their language, ec., when they're fighting for their lives.
i felt sympathy for them and thought they were likeable enough that i didn't want to see them get slaughtered. just because someone uses a lot of swear words doesn't mean they're bad people. and i think if we had gotten to watch the church group in the game it would've probably not been as interesting (my guess is they were less kick-ass, but who knows ;) )

even though i really don't like these kinds of movies (i'm not a fan of the torture-porn slasher movies) i enjoyed this one because i liked the characters. i liked that they hardly hesitated to fight back. usually the victims only do as much harm as necessary to incapacitate (like they did with lil' hitler first), but they didn't shy away from doing as much harm as possible to make sure the guy won't get up again. kinda refreshing in a way

"Angel Investigation - we hope you're helpless" - Doyle

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

It's not about being offended by vulgar language -- come on. Gimme a break. That's a horrible argument after everything I said in my original post. I wouldn't be waisting my time on a 31 message board in the first place if I was offended by foul language and graphic violence. I wouldn't be watching the movie in the first place.

Again, there's a difference between offensive writing and just absurd, juvenile writing that is just plain terrible and insulting to an audience. It's literally condescending to fans of the genre.

Look it's real simple, if you enjoyed these characters (especially the "heroes") you will enjoy/accept anything Rob Zombie throws at you and I'm sorry to say you really don't know the difference between quality and garbage.

I'm actually sticking up for Rob Zombie and saying he has the capability to be WAY better than that. That's why I keep returning to his work but after this, I'm probably tapping out.

[–] ranmalein 8 years ago

maybe you should try to express yourself a little better, because it sounds a lot like you were offended by the vulgar language. i'm still not sure what your problem is. that he didn't do it the way you would've wanted it?
i don't know Rob Zombie personally, but he maybe talks like that himself, is my guess. as far as i can remember, there's lots of foul language in all his movies.
there's nothing condescending about using that kind of language in a movie, but it sounds like you're taking this a little too personal.

Look it's real simple, if you enjoyed these characters (especially the "heroes") you will enjoy/accept anything Rob Zombie throws at you and I'm sorry to say you really don't know the difference between quality and garbage.

you seem to know quite a bit about being condescending yourself, huh? ;)
i'm a fan of Rob Zombie's music, but not so much of his movies. i watched house of a 1000 corpses and the devil's rejects and somewhat enjoyed the first one, but devil's reject i really didn't like. so no, i don't enjoy anything Rob Zombie throws at me and i do know the difference between quality and garbage, i'm just not stuck up enough not to enjoy things that are considered garbage (by other people ;) ).

to me there sometimes is a difference between a "good" movie (quality-wise) and an enjoyable movie. there's lots of horribly boring movies that are good in quality, while there's a lot of fun trash movies. i think the horror genre is probably the genre with the most trashy movies that are still enjoyable. it's a little pretentious, in my opinion, to act like only you know what good quality in movies is and thinking that the kind of movies i enjoy says anything about me personally.

bottom line is, you like Rob Zombies movies (some of which i'd call pretty crappy and not enjoyable, but to each their own, no?) and are hurt/angry/whatever that he didn't deliver this time. maybe you think he owes you good movies because you're an old fan or something, but he just doesn't. and it's okay that you don't enjoy all his movies and just because you didn't like this one doesn't mean you won't enjoy the next one. you "tapping out" won't hurt him, he won't ever know you watched his movies and he'll probably continue doing the kind of movies he enjoys, without wondering whether you personally will enjoy it or not. tapping out just means you won't even find out whether you'd enjoy the next movies or not. might miss out on a good one, but it's your decision ;)

"Angel Investigation - we hope you're helpless" - Doyle

[–] tbickle84 8 years ago

Good points. I don't mean to be condescending to you and I agree about enjoying trashy horror movies. I love many trashy horror movies that are in no way good movies but to me, this movie wasn't enjoyable and the main fault was with the unlikeable characters. It's almost like he did it on purpose as an F-you to his fans and please believe me, I'm in no way a diehard Rob Zombie fan. I really only like House and Rejects but I always saw lots of potential in his works.

But since the first re-make of Halloween, the fans have been pleading with him to dial down the white trash in every film and not only did he not do that but he's put it on steroids in 31. I mean, I've said this all a million times already. It's my opinion. This film would've worked for me with way less crotch grabbing trash, scarier villains and a way better ending. To each his own though. Rob Zombie's a millionaire and here I am on his message board lol

[–] ranmalein 8 years ago

i guess many people don't enjoy the white trashy-ness of his movies, but more people watch it because of it. there's enough horror movies without white trash people in it, his movies usually involve these kinds of people, so... doubt it's an f-you to his fans, probably more a catering to the fans who like the white trash about his movies.

the movie was in no way perfect, but i think it was quite a decent trashy horror movie, i'm not sure we can expect much more from his flicks.

"Angel Investigation - we hope you're helpless" - Doyle