Halloween 2017: Devil’s Night Double Feature – THE CROW and HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES

[To get you into the spooky spirit, the Daily Dead team is spotlighting double features that we think would be fun to watch this Halloween season. Check here for more double feature recommendations and other Halloween 2017 coverage.]

In horror movies, things usually go so very wrong on October 31st when it comes to the Halloween-themed offerings of the genre. But what about the night before? October 30th, or “Devil’s Night”, can also bring about its own horrific consequences, which is the theme I went with when it came time to put together my double feature of Alex Proyas’ The Crow and Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses. Both are coincidentally feature film debuts for each director, they feature killer soundtracks, and this pair of films is also centered around a storyline where the characters will never be the same after their experiences on the night before Halloween.

Based on the comic by James O'Barr, The Crow finds aspiring rock star Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) rising from the grave a year after his death to take revenge on the four thugs (David Patrick Kelly, Angel David, Laurence Mason, and Michael Massee) who murdered him and his fiancée on the eve of their wedding day. Fueled by supernatural powers of invincibility, the haunting power of revenge, and guided by a mysterious crow, Draven paints his face black and white, suits up in his very best leathers (like any good anti-hero would), and takes to the streets of D-Town to right all the wrongs that transpired against him and those he loves the most.

Standing in the way of his need for redemptive vengeance is Top Dollar (Michael Wincott), the coke-binging, twisted crime lord of Detroit who uses the annual "Devil's Night" as an excuse to set fires to acquire real estate around the downtrodden city. As Draven hunts down and eliminates Top Dollar's associates one by one (in fantastically brutal style—that car death still remains a total “Holy Shit” moment, even by The Crow’s standards), honest street cop Sergeant Albrecht (Ernie Hudson) begins investigating Draven's vigilante acts of justice after he notices a pattern to all of the victims.

If there ever was a truly "star-making" performance of the ’90s, Lee's depiction of a man so purely driven by his deep affection for his deceased fiancée and a need for vindication in The Crow is definitely it. In this breakout role, Lee commands the screen as the charismatic but doomed to be eternally haunted Draven—a kind and sensitive artist whose tragedy transforms him into an undead avenger. Lee's physical abilities lend a bit of heft to The Crow’s ambitious action sequences, playing up his supernaturally-powered character's ability to perform spectacular fast-moving sequences of violence and gunplay to boot.

But unlike most other young action stars of that era, Lee distinguishes himself here with his work in The Crow as a dramatic force to be reckoned as well, turning in an emotionally wrecked performance that gives Draven multiple dimensions beyond him being a revenge-seeking ghost; it's his heartbreak over losing his love that grounds his character and makes him a sympathetic anti-hero. The word "tragic" doesn't quite seem to do justice for what happened to Lee during the filming of The Crow, and seeing him here again is a haunting reminder of the young star's potential, and that he was taken from us far, far too soon.

The rest of the cast in The Crow are all equally deserving of praise as well; from the four main thugs Draven hunts down (shout-out to Mason, who appeared just a year later in Hackers, and has always been someone I love to see pop up in anything) to Wincott's performance as world-weary mob boss who happens to enjoy piles of coke and trading sexual innuendo with his half-sister (played by Bai Ling), everyone in The Crow brings their A-game and that definitely elevates the flick beyond being considered just another “over-stylized and under-substanced” comic book adaptation.

Horror fans also get to enjoy Tony Todd here playing Grange, one of the legendary actor’s more intriguingly subtle roles (it’s amongst my top three favorite genre characters from Todd that doesn’t involve bees and/or a hook hand), and Hudson brings his trademark warmth and humor to the character of Albrecht in The Crow. Some of his quieter moments that he shares on screen with both Rochelle Davis (as Sarah) and Lee happen to be some of my favorite scenes of the film (when Draven pops into a boxers-and-police-hat-wearing Albrecht’s apartment is just aces).

And speaking of Davis, the young actress provides Proyas’ movie with relatable balance of hope, idealism, and skepticism in her utterly charming portrayal of Sarah, Draven's surrogate daughter figure. It's a nice touch that balances well with the rest of The Crow, which can get downright dirty, deranged, and dementedly nasty at times. I absolutely love the scene where her hopeless addict of a mom Darla (Anna Thomson) decides to clean up her act after Draven chides her for abandoning Sarah, and we see the struggling mom the very next morning trying her best to make her daughter some eggs for breakfast as she adapts to her new role. It’s moments like those that add to the emotional core of The Crow, and make for an effective thematic juxtaposition against the movie’s dark and dreary (yet utterly captivating) palette.

As a feature film debut, The Crow demonstrates a visionary director on the rise in former music video helmer Alex Proyas (who would go on to helm flicks like Dark City and I, Robot), who manages to find a way to whip up a cinematic symphony of love, violence, and death with The Crow, making it a remarkable first time at bat for Proyas and truly a landmark project of its era. It may be rough around the edges, but its story remains a powerful tale of supernatural revenge and The Crow is still among the finest comic book adaptations of the last three decades.

For the second part of this double feature, we head down south to Ruggsville, Texas back in the year 1977, as we dare to venture into the House of 1000 Corpses, where the demented Firefly family reigns supreme over their macabre menagerie of victims and odd assortment of wares and other kitschy collections (doll heads, shoes, tennis rackets—you name it). It’s October 30th when we meet four young 20-somethings—Jerry Goldsmith (Chris Hardwick, post-Singled Out and very pre-Talking Dead), Bill Hudley (Rainn Wilson, who would go on to become a household name due to his wonderfully wacky work as Dwight Schrute on The Office), Denise Willis (The L Word’s Erin Daniels), and Jennifer Jostyn as Mary Knowles (who appeared in films like Deep Impact and The Brothers McMullen)—as they’re on the search for weird roadside attractions and oddball places of interest. They stop for gas at Captain Spaulding’s (Sid Haig) gas station that specializes in fried chicken, oddities, and serial killers with Spaulding’s infamous “murder ride” which couldn’t be more perfect, or so Jerry and Bill think.

It’s while on the murder ride that Jerry becomes obsessed with finding out more about the local legend of Doctor Satan, who was supposedly hanged in the area after his misdeeds at a mental institution came to light and a mob of residents took justice into their own hands. Spaulding gives the group their directions to Doctor Satan’s supposed resting place, and sets them out on their merry way, complete with their complimentary bag of fried chicken (the way Hardwick reacts to his bag of free chicken is one of House’s most “pure” moments, and I love it). But after they hit the road in a hellacious downpour, the travelers come across a hitchhiker named Baby (Sheri Moon, before she officially became a Zombie), who they pick up, and for Jerry, Bill, Denise, and Mary, their lives will never be the same after that fateful night of October 30th.

It’s no secret that for his directorial debut, Zombie was heavily influenced by ’70s horror cinema, but there are definitely more than a few nods to Tobe Hooper’s 1986 sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, since the first-time filmmaker leans heavily on a pitch black sense of humor to balance out the movie’s gritty and often unforgiving moments of disturbing violence. Parts of House of 1000 Corpses play out similarly to Zombie’s live performances, too, where he utilized several montages of abstract frights and cult film footage (Faces of Death anyone?) to establish his down and dirty horror aesthetic. If you’re looking for a director who boldly establishes who he is as a visual storyteller with his first time at bat, Zombie’s work on House of 1000 Corpses defiantly does just that.

Even though its opening scene, involving a botched robbery at Captain Spaulding’s, sets the course for the film’s brazen and unforgiving violence, things only get more depraved from there. And while I love all the gruesome and gory stuff just as much as the next person, it's House of 1000 Corpses’ commitment to the spirit of Halloween that has made it a staple in my house every October. Once the kids arrive at the Firefly abode, that’s the first time we get a real sense of the impending holiday, and we see how “traditions” begin to take over—because if nothing else, Mama Firefly (Karen Black) knows just how important it is to honor and respect Halloween. And when her house guests turn their noses up at the idea of getting into the spirit, that’s when Baby, Otis (Bill Moseley), Tiny (the late, great Matthew McGrory), and the rest of the Firefly brood decide to teach their rude visitors some manners when it comes to appreciating the “simple pleasures” of the holiday.

The graphically brutal nature of the Fireflys is what pushes House of 1000 Corpses to horrific heights beyond the films that inspired it, as the level of savagery they unleash on their respective victims was unlike anything we were seeing in horror at the time Zombie’s debut was finally unleashed in theaters in 2003. Between Otis turning poor Rainn Wilson into his patented “Fish Boy” to Baby cutting off a chunk of Hardwick’s scalp after he guesses her favorite actress wrong to the myriad of corpses and still barely alive victims strewn about their vast property, Corpses pushes so many buttons here that it’s easy to understand why fans with a perhaps more “refined” palette have often turned their noses up on Zombie’s first feature. And believe me, I get it, because after seeing House of 1000 Corpses in theaters its opening weekend, I absolutely hated the whole experience.

I’m so glad I gave it another go, though, when it hit DVD, because House quickly evolved into one of my very favorite go-to movies for October over the last decade or so, and the film’s amazing DVD menu is still an all-timer in my book. But with each viewing of Corpses, I find something new to love about it, including the film’s very divisive finale that takes a hard right straight into WTF-ville, which was Zombie clearly doing his own Fulci-esque twist on Alice in Wonderland. I’ll never argue with anyone who says that’s the moment they “checked out” on Houses of 1000 Corpses (it’s admittedly a moment you’re either on board with or you're not), but the more time I’ve spent with the film, the more I’ve come to appreciate what a bold decision Zombie made by taking the story deep into the bowels of this ghastly world he brought to life here.

So whether or not you like it, House of 1000 Corpses' last moments ultimately prove that Otis was so very right about everything: the boogeyman is real, and for Zombie, he exists in many forms. And really, isn’t that what this season is all about? Some may see House of 1000 Corpses as nothing more than a grisly grindhouse movie that wants to punish its viewers; to me, it’s Zombie’s cinematic love letter to the traditions of Halloween and the films that so many of us (including Rob) grew up loving and helped foster our deep-running passion for the genre.

Happy Devil’s Night everyone, and Happy (almost) Halloween!

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In case you missed it, check here to read our other special features that celebrate the Halloween season!