We look at two Rob Zombie classics, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects in this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast.

Zombie is a polarizing figure, and some of his later work has been underwhelming. Still, the man knows his horror and showed some incredible talent with these two films.

On the show, we talk about how House of 1000 Corpses is a bit of an unofficial sequel to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They have a very similar aesthetic sensibility.

It has a lot of detractors, people who say it’s a self-indulgent music video-style production, but it’s really incredible in our estimation.

Discussion also focuses on how the Marx brothers vaudeville comedy troupe influenced the character names.

Also, our talk focuses on the cast: genre legend Sid Haig, who’s been in Foxy Brown, House on Haunted Hill and The Big Bird Cage; and Karen Black who starred in Easy Rider and Nashville. And many don’t know that Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight from American version of The Office) was in House of 1000 Corpses.

Zombie’s wife, Sheri Moon and the absolutely incomparable Bill Mosely discussed as well.

The Devil’s Rejects is way more vicious. The film features an incredible performance by William Forsythe (who played murderer John Wayne Gacy in another film, as well as a bad bad biker in Stone Cold, starring Brian Bosworth). He portrays a psychopathic cop here who’s nearly as nuts as the murdering family. Bill Mosely undergoes a big physical transformation and there’s a tonal shift between his performance in House VS Devil’s.