31

31

For filmmaker Rob Zombie, however, “31,” a shockingly powerful new horror movie about a gang of carnies who are abducted and hunted by serial killers dressed as circus clowns is not simply more of the same. Sure enough, this film contains all of the usual elements that one would expect to find in Zombie’s emerging body of work: foul mouthed carnies with well composed digital photography, unexpected handheld shots, and lesser known character actors whom only the most fanatical followers of horror movies will recognize. The trap and kill story line is strictly boilerplate: pompous noblemen kidnap a group of gypos then gamble on which ones will survive and which ones will die.

Still, it is the contagiously appealing personality and abrasive style that his fans have come to love which gives “31” its unusual sense of urgency tying together all these normal materials into an urgent treatise. To be fair, Trump’s believers view Clinton supporters as real villains in this play just as easily as vice versa; indeed some bad clowns identify themselves as Nazis or/and misogynists while their puppeteers are jaded kings and king-makers from an establishment order. However, the film also has a hard though idiosyncratically expressed political core making it a seemingly perfect Halloween election allegory where indifferent outsiders fight for survival.

Zombie seems to ask what you would do: obey rich tyrants who set you against your brothers? Or would you rather break free from being dehumanized – even if it means taking lives?

There is no middle ground in “31” although eventually we discover that its enemies are human too but when compared with the protagonists created by Zombie. Thus they keep daring each other on similar to crowds sitting at dunk tanks whereby they challenge among those present to hit a target thereby making them fall. But there is one fundamental distinction between these two camps: Charly’s crew works together to stay alive, while Doomhead’s group is a collection of evil minions serving the sinister Father Doom (McDowell) and Sister Serpent.

Before they got abducted, Charly’s people liked being around each other. They got high on marijuana together; they were sleeping with one another (or kidding about that) and so on. The people in Doomhead’s group are not nearly as self-aware. They brag about how much they despise what Charly’s troupe represents: a mixed-race bunch of men and women who enjoy each other’s company. Hence, only when begging for their lives do members of Doomhead’s gang show any sense of humanity at all (more on this later). They are human but have chosen not to be; that is why they deserve death.

This is where Zombie’s rant like intensity loses its grip slightly: his political arena devolves into nothing more than taunting and violence so there isn’t much difference between what the bad guys are doing here and how the good guys respond to them most often.” Thus in “31,” there seems to be an assumption that murder works in a certain standardized way: we want these baddies dead because they’ve made the wrong choice.

Nonetheless, villains beg for their lives, like I said above, because there is something bloody and pitiless about Zombie’s killing moments. These scenes are captured in a hyperactive shaky cam manner. Nonetheless, one can still feel Zombie’s love/fascination of the body language and facial expressions of his actors even when they are dying or close to it.

To do this he uses leering medium and extreme close ups to highlight the twisted smiles/ frowns of his performers, their puffy eyes and the ferocious drive to survive that twists their faces into living masks. He gives Brake equal attention as he does Phillips’ teeth grinning which belonged to him being a good guy with white hat. Such roles are not mannequins but people who have their personal characters irrespective whether they opt for right action or not.

That having been said: “31” is not so different from Zombie’s earlier films, particularly the alienatingly rough around the edges “House of 1000 Corpses,” that it will somehow win over those who aren’t already interested in his work. Zombie tends to throw stuff at the wall, and see what sticks. He’s an intuitive filmmaker whose style is bold and shocking. So I know you’re probably already shaking your head at me by this point, but trust me, I get it: “31” is going to be a hard-sell for anyone but card carrying Zombifies.

That having been said: “31” feels like something new from Zombie. It feels like an adrenaline-high cry to action from an accomplished artist. Maybe he isn’t stepping outside of his comfort zone here but “31” is one of his most formidable works thus far!

Watch 31 For Free On Gomovies.