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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated 3 From Hell (2019) in Movies

Oct 10, 2020 (Updated Oct 10, 2020)

RIP - Sid Haig

I... wanted to like this so badly, it physically hurts me to write this. I revere the first two films in this trilogy and thought it ended contently on the previous one - though I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to seeing more. However, the way this was practically forced out of Zombie when he wanted to make another film instead (after over a decade of swearing off interest in another sequel already) plus the whole thing being plagued with a stifled budget and Sig Haig's failing health on top of that just makes it a sad affair in more ways than one. It starts off okay, begins with a substantial amount of 'martyred killer' psychobabble ("Justice is a fucking knife", "All hail the man behind the grease paint!") and hallmark Zombie sadism, albeit significantly toned down this time around much to its detriment. I still applaud Zombie in his effort to make every entry into this canon a different experience, but there's nothing going on here - it's essentially a diet retread of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭'𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 meets a boring hangout movie that barely even attempts to delve into the tantalizing Manson-era publicized serial killer culture it teases in its opening scenes. Looks like cheap DTV shit too, especially that criminal CGI blood. Just so disappointingly cursory in its storytelling, obviously this would have suffered without Haig anyway but the Richard Brake replacement character stands around and does jack shit. Moon-Zombie and Moseley are intact but to what effect? Their characters come out worse off than they were 15 years ago. Has enough alright moments to escape being too offensively bad but I'm still immeasurably let down. Dee Wallace is great, though. I wonder what Doctor Satan is up to.