Editorials
Free as a Bird – Rob Zombie’s ‘The Devil’s Rejects’ Turns 20
Rob Zombie has been one of the most polarizing figures in the horror community since making the leap from musician to filmmaker. He made his feature writing and directorial debut with House of 1000 Corpses in 2003 — after being purchased by Lionsgate when its original studio, Universal, shelved it three years prior due to fears of it receiving a dreaded NC-17 rating.
Corpses fell victim to many issues faced by first-time directors — Zombie was seemingly unsure if he’d ever get the opportunity to make another movie, resulting in an anarchic mélange of ideas and influences — but the end result remains potent all these years later. Despite the troubled production and a largely unfavorable critical response, the film turned a healthy profit, giving Zombie the sinister urge to make a sequel as his sophomore effort.
Released 20 years ago today, The Devil’s Rejects is decidedly more grounded in reality than its heightened predecessor. The follow-up shares more in common with 1970s exploitation cinema than horror, although the genre is still present along with elements of western, road movies, and even comedy. Zombie’s refined approach allows him to blend the tones more smoothly this time around.
The Devil’s Rejects kicks off with a literal bang. Set in 1978, the savage Firefly clan — collectively responsible for more than 75 deaths — have been tracked down by vindictive Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe, The Rock), whose brother fell victim to the merciless killers in Corpses.
A shootout between the family and state troopers ensues, with Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) and Otis (Bill Moseley) narrowly escaping. They meet up with Baby’s estranged father, local celebrity Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), who helps them flee from the law. The fugitives’ ruthless reign of terror continues on the lam.
Zombie creates a fascinating dichotomy with his characters, challenging the notion of protagonist and antagonist. Although the Fireflys’ actions are reprehensible and Wydell’s vengeance is justified, the former villains are presented as antiheroes for whom the audience is encouraged to root. It comes to a poetic climax with a shootout boldly set to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” — one of the most effective uses of a popular song in cinema.
Captain Spaulding is still a vulgar curmudgeon but spends most of the movie sans his iconic clown makeup, as the desperate times have forced him to assume the role of patriarch. No longer the gangling albino introduced in Corpses, Moseley delivers a career-best performance as Otis, a bearded madman in the mold of Charles Manson. Baby’s sweetly sadistic tendencies are also presented in a more grounded manner. Tiny (Matthew McGrory, who passed away shortly after the film’s release) doesn’t have much screen time but plays an important role in the story.
In addition to the characters evolving, several changes were made on the casting side between the two films. Most notably, Leslie Easterbrook (Police Academy) replaces cult favorite Karen Black as Mama Firefly after the former reportedly wanted too much money to reprise the role. While Black’s unhinged magnetism is impossible to match, Easterbrook admirably sinks her teeth into the deranged matriarch.
The hulking Rufus was recast from one former professional wrestler to another, as Tyler Mane (who went on to play Michael Myers in Zombie’s Halloween films) took over the role originated by Robert Mukes. Grandpa Hugo was written out of the script following the death of actor Dennis Fimple prior to production. Walter Phelan returned as the mad Dr. Satan in a gory scene that was deleted because Zombie astutely recognized that the character was incongruous to Rejects‘ tone.
As he’s become known to do, Zombie populated the cast with cult actors in roles both large and small, including such recognizable faces as Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Elizabeth Daily (Pee-wee’s Big Adventure), Priscilla Barnes (Three’s Company), Geoffrey Lewis (Double Impact), comedian Brian Posehn, Danny Trejo (From Dusk Till Dawn), wrestling legend Diamond Dallas Page, Dave Sheridan (Scary Movie), P.J. Soles (Halloween), Mary Woronov (Chopping Mall), and adult film star Ginger Lynn.
Rejects embraces a gritty realism that makes the violence cut deeper. Cinematographer Phil Parmet’s (Zombie’s Halloween) documentary background proved useful for emulating the cinéma vérité aesthetic. Zombie is careful to balance the brutality — such as the intensely uncomfortable motel scene, which initially earned the picture an NC-17 rating — with levity. Supporting characters are the primary sources of comedic relief, but even the Firefly family members earn a few laughs (“Tutti fucking fruity!”).
Zombie has continued to make interesting, if divisive, choices as a filmmaker, but The Devil’s Rejects remains his strongest work on the whole. It’s a relentless and emotionally draining yet entertaining and endlessly quotable experience. In striking that unique tonal balance, its characters were cemented as bona fide horror icons.
While Rob Zombie undermined his own efforts with 2019’s superfluous sequel 3 from Hell, The Devil’s Rejects showcased a filmmaker as free as a bird on this day twenty years ago.
A new month means a new guide as titles are added (and dropped) from streaming services. Let’s unpack the most exciting titles that are available to watch on Tubi in July 2026.
New to Tubi July Horror Films
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
- Premise: Searching for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease, a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the prey as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.
- Why Watch It? Let’s be frank: Director Renny Harlin has made some absolute dogs in the last few years (the less said about The Strangers trilogy the better, though this year’s Deep Water was actually ok). Deep Blue Sea remains one of the Finnish director’s best contemporary efforts, though. Between the great cast (Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Stellan Skarsgård, Michael Rapaport, LL Cool J, Thomas Jane, and Jane’s sleeveless wetsuit), the ridiculous premise, and that damn/dumb song (“My hat is like a shark’s fin”), you basically can’t go wrong with Deep Blue Sea. It’s one of two great shark films gliding onto Tubi this month, so why not stay out of the water and watch this instead?
- Streaming: July 1
Exorcist II: Heretic (1977)
- Premise: Reagan (Linda Blair), a girl once possessed by a demon, finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, Father Lamont (Richard Burton) investigates the death of the priest who performed her exorcism.
- Why Watch It? August sees the release of documentary Boorman and the Devil, which is about the troubled production of this sequel. The notoriety surrounding Heretic has undoubtedly kept plenty of horror fans away from the sequel, but this truly is a “seeing is believing” kind of film. Real talk: it’s undeniably a disaster, but the John Boorman film has also become a minor cult film. Don’t you want to see it to make up your own mind?
- Streaming: July 1
Hostel: Part III (2011)
- Premise: Four men attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas fall prey to the Elite Hunting Club, who are hosting a gruesome game show of torture.
- Why Watch It? What does Hostel look like without Eli Roth? Part III kinda answers the question. Technically Roth is still a writer, but he hands over the directorial reins to Scott Spiegel (best known for acting in Evil Dead films). The result is a film with a terrible pedigree; it’s also the first (and last) entry to skip theatres before the franchise was permanently shelved (until that TV show with Paul Giamatti shows up?). For some horror fans, however, there’s something exciting about a bad low-budget sequel. Just bear in mind that the Hostel: Part III‘s biggest star is Kip Pardue…so adjust your expectations accordingly before hitting play.
- Streaming: July 1
Insidious 1-3 (2010/2013/2015)
- Premise: A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
- Why Watch It? It’s hard to believe that the sixth (!) Insidious movie is coming out in a month and a half, but James Wan and Leigh Whannell‘s other horror franchise has been steadily chugging along for sixteen years. It’s a shame that Tubi doesn’t have all five films available to watch, but in terms of quality, you can do far worse than the original trio. The first film is iconic, and the second is basically an extended coda (with some admittedly problematic stuff going on). I’ll go to bat for Whannell’s 2015 directorial debut, though: there’s a few banger sequences in that film that people slept on.
- Streaming: July 1
Man Finds Tape (2025)
- Premise: After finding mysterious video clips, siblings investigate the strange recordings and uncover a disturbing secret spreading through their Texas town.
- Why Watch It? Writer/directors Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall‘s well-received found footage film did an extensive tour of the festival circuit, so now is a great time to check out one of the most contemporary titles debuting on Tubi this month. Surely a title that hails from producers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring and The Endless) is worth a free look?
- Streaming: July 2
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
- Premise: A depressed musician Adam (Tom Hiddleston) reunites with his lover Eve (Tilda Swinton). However, their romance, which has already endured several centuries, is disrupted by the arrival of her uncontrollable younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska).
- Why Watch It? This beautiful, melancholy vampire film is courtesy of writer/director Jim Jarmusch, who doesn’t often dabble in genre fare. As always, some will quibble if this artsy drama qualifies as horror, but the existential ennui of an eternal life certainly qualifies (bonus: there’s also something inherently sexy about watching Hiddleston and Swinton just lay about). Plus: if Leviticus has you hankering for more Wasikowska, this is an under the radar pick.
- Streaming: July 1
The Shallows (2016)
- Premise:A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy (Blake Lively) is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
- Why Watch It? What better time to watch a shark movie than July? The temperatures are soaring and the idea of escaping into the water is so tantalizing. This tight, contained thriller features a great performance by Lively (and that damn seagull!), but it’s the direction from genre fave Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan; the House of Wax remake) that keeps the movie clicking along like clockwork. At 86 minutes, this is a perfect summer flick.
- Streaming: July 1
Vacancy (2007)
- Premise: Stranded in an isolated motel, a couple (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) become the unsuspecting subjects of a snuff film.
- Why Watch It? I’m not going to pretend that this Nimród Antal-directed home invasion film is high art, but it is a good time. You’ll likely wish there were deeper characterizations for Wilson and Beckinsale’s David and Amy in Mark L. Smith‘s screenplay, but this mid-aughts thriller is tense, exciting, and just the right amount of grimy. Plus: another short runtime, clocking in at an expeditious 85 minutes!
- Streaming: July 1
July Tubi Originals
The One Next Door (2026)
- Premise: When a mysterious stranger moves in next door to Robert and Tabitha, boundaries are tested, loyalty is questioned, and danger comes for all.
- Streaming: July 10
I Know Where You Live (2026)
- Premise: Sarah thinks she’s found “the one” until his flaws emerge. When she pulls away, chilling threats suggest he’s watching her from inside her own home.
- Streaming: July 24
What’s your favorite from the list above? Will you check out the new Original? Sound off in the comments below
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