When a rock musician’s love of horror movies merges with his music, you get some pretty good material. Rob Zombie, the lead singer of White Zombie who also has had a very successful solo career, moved into film making in the early 2000’s. His early pictures, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, were a throwback to old drive-in films before the faux-grindhouse film was even hip. Now in 2016, he has returned to his horror film roots with the new exploitation horror film simply entitled 31.
When a group of carnival employees head off to the next gig, their way is blocked. A group of Halloween scarecrows sit in the middle of the road. Getting out of their RV to examine, they soon are kidnapped and brought to a large industrial building where they are entered into a game entitled 31. On the run from a group of psychopath killers, they are told one thing. If they can survive the night, they will be granted their freedom and also their lives.
After unsuccessfully having some other films brought to fruition, Rob Zombie opened up a crowd funding page for his new film, 31. As a result, the film was almost entirely funded by horror fans. Set in 1976, and with a throwback feeling, with subtext of the exploitation of the poor, the film received fairly good reviews by critics. The question is would the fans agree. Dark Discussions talks about this new film by one of horror’s most talked about filmmakers.