Rob Zombie brought forth one of horror’s most deranged families with the Firefly clan, first introduced in 2003’s House of 1000 Corpses. In 2007, audiences thought they’d seen the last of these characters with The Devil’s Rejects. Now, for three nights only, fans can catch the highly anticipated third chapter of this bloody saga on the big screen courtesy of Fathom Events. Starting on September 16, 2019, fans can watch the unrated version of 3 From Hell with different special content offered each night, from limited posters to behind-the-scenes features and more.
While plot details are still scarce, we know we can count on one thing; the Firefly family are a devoted bunch bonded in their depravity. Whatever happens, they have each others backs. Of course, their numbers have dwindled greatly since the first film. In anticipation of 3 From Hell’s 3-night release, we look back at this twisted family tree.
From the outset, House of 1000 Corpses introduces audiences to Sid Haig’s Captain Spaulding, a crusty old man in smeared clown makeup. He’s the proprietor of a gas station that sells fried chicken and doubles as a roadside haunted house attraction. He seems crass yet lovable, at least until erstwhile robbers show up and he slays them without hesitation. The film keeps his ties to the Firefly clan ambiguous, at least until the end, but he directs a foursome in search of the mysterious Dr. Satan straight into the path of the Firefly clan. In other words, he’s the most capable of fitting in with normal society, but that’s still not saying much. It’s in the sequel that we learn Spaulding is the family patriarch, and the biological father of Baby. It’s also in the sequel that we learn that his forged friendships outside of the family have provided unsuspecting and unlikely allies in time of need.
The group of four in search of Dr. Satan pick up a hitchhiker in the rain- a femme fatale named Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie). It quickly becomes apparent that’s she’s the bait; Baby is the most attractive member of the family. She’s wild and unrestrained, loud and always in search of amusement, which entices the men but infuriates the women of the group. Above all, Baby likes to play. But playtime in the Firefly family is bad news for anyone else. She likes to don costumes and roleplay, which seems normal-ish, but it usually results in maiming, scalping, and brutal stabbings for her playthings. The pain and torture she inflicts only gets exponentially worse if you piss her off, as Mary Knowles learned the hard way when she called Baby a “redneck whore.”
While Baby lures in unsuspecting victims, her brother Rufus Jr., or R.J., is the brawn that strands the victims by shooting their vehicles. Large and intimidating, Rufus doesn’t speak much. He’s often the quiet enforcer, be it rounding up victims attempting to escape or wearing self-made armor and holding off a siege of raiding police while his family escapes. Initially played by Robert Allen Mukes in House of 1000 Corpses, and then by Tyler Mane in the sequel, Rufus is gunned down by police early in The Devil’s Rejects.
The only other female member of the bunch is Gloria “Mama” Firefly, a prostitute with a long criminal record. Played by horror vet Karen Black in the first film, Mama often plays ditzy and uses flirtation and seduction as a distraction tactic before unleashing violence, as poor Lieutenant George Wydell discovered when she shot him in the neck. She may not care one iota for anyone outside her family, but she’s an extremely devoted mother to her children; Baby, Rufus, and Tiny (Matthew McGrory). It’s her love for her children that ultimately dooms her; when Rufus is gunned down, Mother (now played by Leslie Easterbrook) runs to his side, which allows the cops to capture her. George Wydell’s vengeful brother Sheriff John Wydell beats her and eventually stabs her several times in the gut.
Gloria’s father, at least it’s assumed, is Hugo Firefly (Dennis Fimple), or Grandpa. Of all the family members, he’s the most harmless. He loves crude humor and telling dirty jokes, and spends most of House of 1000 Corpses yelling at the TV. He never kills anyone, but that doesn’t mean he’s not complicit in the family’s deadly hobbies.
Tiny is an imposing figure, the half-brother of Baby that suffers from gigantism and wears masks to hide his severe burn scars. Those scars were inflicted by his own father, Earl Firefly, aka the Professor. One day Earl went crazy and set the house on fire, dousing Tiny in lighter fluid and setting him ablaze. Or at least, that’s the version Mama shares, but she’s a compulsive liar so who’s to say if that’s the complete truth. Either way, Earl did go crazy and has since gone underground with Dr. Satan to assist in the bizarre mutilations and experiments. That Tiny is so large isn’t surprising with Earl as his father- a hulking mutant that’s last seen getting crushed under debris from a collapsed tunnel.
As for Tiny, his calm demeanor, ironic Halloween t-shirts and sweaters, and affinity for cereal makes him seem like the most innocent and benign of the bunch. He’s just as ruthless as the rest of his family, though, and he only escapes the raid at the beginning of The Devil’s Rejects because he’s off in the woods dragging the naked corpse of a victim behind him. Later, he returns when Baby is on the verge of being slaughtered by Sheriff Wydell, snapping Wydell’s neck and rescuing Spaulding and Otis from burning to death. As they drive off, battered and bleeding, he knows he’ll never see them again and walks into the burning house. For him, death is better than living without his family.
The most depraved and twisted of all, though, is Otis Driftwood (Bill Moseley). Otis is a rapist, necrophiliac, and a sadist who likes to wear the skins of his victims or turn them into bizarre freaks for Spaulding’s haunted attraction. He considers himself an artist. Otis is the most violent and sexually deviant member of the Firefly family, and yet he’s not biologically related to any of them. Mama Firefly adopted him, not legally of course, but blood relation has a wholly different meaning in this family. His predilection for inflicting heinous acts of pain and torture upon others connects him to the Firefly clan in ironclad devotion, even when he bickers with them. His bond with adoptive sister Baby is the strongest of all.
The only surviving remembers of the Firefly clan at the end of The Devil’s Rejects were Otis, Baby, and Spaulding, though their survival odds looked grim. They sped toward a police barricade, grabbed their guns, and the police opened fire. We thought we were bidding adieu with a fitting conclusion, but this trio doesn’t die so easily. It looks as though their family might even be growing, if Richard Brake’s Winslow Foxworth Coltrane is any indication. There’s really only one way to find out how the Firefly trio survived, and what madness writer/director Rob Zombie has in store; snatch up tickets for 3 From Hell.
3 From Hell will be in theaters for three nights only starting September 16, 2019, through Fathom Events. Tickets and details can be found here.
