Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Richard Brake, Jeff Daniel Phillips
Storyline
The day before Halloween, five carnival employees are kidnapped & held hostage in an isolated compound known as "Murderworld". On Halloween, they are thrown into a sadistic game called "31" where they must survive 12 hours against a gang of maniacs dressed like clowns. However, the clowns aren't the only ones they need to worry about - a grand scheme of satanic rituals & a much more sadistic plot awakens. It's time to play 31.
Cast: Elizabeth Daily -
Sex-Head
Sheri Moon Zombie -
Charly
Meg Foster -
Venus Virgo
Sandra Rosko -
Satan's Slave
Malcolm McDowell -
Father Murder
Richard Brake -
Doom-Head
Lew Temple -
Psycho-Head
Ginger Lynn -
Cherry Bomb
Daniel Roebuck -
Pastor Victor
Judy Geeson -
Sister Dragon
Tracey Walter -
Lucky Leo
Torsten Voges -
Death-Head
Jane Carr -
Sister Serpent
Jeff Daniel Phillips -
Roscoe
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs -
Panda Thomas
Trivia:
This movie features five The Devil's Rejects (2005) alumni: Michael 'Red Bone' Alcott, Elizabeth Daily, Ginger Lynn, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Lew Temple. See more »
Goofs:
When announcing the casting of Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Rob Zombie announced him as being "the manager of a traveling roadshow known as The Venus Lux Happy Time Fun Show". Later, when announcing Jeff Daniel Phillips, Zombie called him "the ass-kicking carney mechanic of Venus Virgo's traveling show", inexplicably changing the show-within-a-film's-title. Zombie has not addressed this apparent memory slip. Actually, Zombie did not change the show's title; The Venus Lux Happy Time Fun Show IS Venus Virgo's traveling show. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 7/10
Here are a couple of things that must have gone through Rob Zombie's
mind whilst shooting 31: "Who needs a plot when you got a psychopathic
Nazi-midget?", "Who gives a damn about plausibility when you have
Malcolm McDowell himself dressed up like a French Aristocrat and
depicting a character that is named Father Murder?" and "Why would I
make ambitious when the crowd simply wants sadistic & graphic
violence?" And you know what? If Rob Zombie really was thinking these
things, he was damn right! Personally, I'm an enormous fan of Zombie's
"House of 1,000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects" and I remotely
enjoyed his remake of "Halloween", even though the critics were quite
harsh about it. But then he suddenly went psychedelic and experimental
with "Halloween II" and "The Lords of Salem" and many fans – yours
truly included – were disappointed. I, for one, was extremely happy to
read that, with "31", Rob Zombie would return to the basics of crude
and repulsive horror/shlock cinema! Because, after all, the revival of
70s grindhouse/drive-in exploitation cinema was largely the deed of Rob
Zombie and not of Quentin Tarantino! So, "31" actually doesn't a have a
real plot but is a mixture of homages to genre classics (for example
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") and borrowed ideas of cult classics
("The Most Dangerous Game", "The Running Man"…)
A ramshackle old RV full of traveling circus artists/carnies is driving
through the middle of redneck nowhere on Halloween's day 1976, and
pretty much all they ever do is foul-mouthing and fornicating. When
night falls, however, they notice the road is blocked with immense
scarecrows. Before they properly realize what's going on, the RV and
all its passengers are brutally attacked by mysterious creeps and three
people are killed instantly. The remaining five survivors, two women
and three men, awake tied up and chained in an abandoned factory where
three elderly lunatics dressed up as French Aristocrats joyfully inform
them that they are the players in this year's traditional game of 31.
They are released in a dark and creepy labyrinth and have to survive
for twelve hours while being chased by some of the most demented sickos
ever caught on film, including a Spanish babbling Nazi-midget, clown
siblings with chainsaws and deranged German sex deviants. The group
defend themselves quite well, though, and thus the crazy tormentors
bring in their ultimate secret weapon, the unbeatable master-psycho
Doom-Head!
There isn't really too much to write about Rob Zombie's latest film, in
fact. Either you're a fan of extreme and relentless violence and "31"
is a must-see for you, or you'll completely detest the film for its
lack of plot, character background, style or overall lack of taste. If
even writer/director Zombie himself repeatedly stated that this is his
most brutal movie to date, there isn't any reason to not believe him.
"31" features numerous scenes in which people's heads are smashed in
with a bludgeon, torsos are cut in half by chainsaws and throats are
slit with rusty knives. Still, I can't help mentioning that most of
this gruesome stuff also featured in "House of 1,000 Corpses" and "The
Devil's Rejects", but those two were suspenseful and haunting on top!
"31" is sheer mindless horror entertainment but it won't leave a
long-lasting impression. As usual, Rob Zombie surrounds himself with a
cast that he worked well with before, including his own wife Sheri
Moon, Meg Foster, Jeff Daniel Philips and many other familiar faces.
The soundtrack is terrific as well, which is another Rob Zombie
trademark, and features for example the beautiful song "California
Dreaming" during a rare quiet and peaceful scene.
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