Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

3 from Hell 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 14, 2019

Note: I'm posting a note of clarification here in case some are understandably confused, but this release contains only the Unrated version of the film. Until recently we had two separate 1080p Blu-ray listings for 3 From Hell, one featuring two cuts (Unrated and Rated) and a standalone release featuring only the Unrated version. That second release seems to have been pulled (if it wasn't just a "phantom" listing to begin with, though it did have an official Amazon pre-order for quite some time), though the 1080p Blu-ray included with this 4K UHD release contains only the Unrated version. Therefore, I can't comment at this time on any differences between the Unrated and Rated versions of the film.

Update: A member has private messaged me that the digital code included with this version redeems the R rated version of the film.

Maybe Rob Zombie misunderstood some fans’ continued clamoring for more Firefly. That’s said in jest, of course, as fans of Zombie’s film work will know that in this case “Firefly” is definitely not a class of spaceship, but is instead the moniker of a “family” whose murderous exploits were detailed in House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects (note that those links point to very old Blu-ray releases; I recently reviewed the newer Australian release of Two From Hell, which contains both films, though my hunch is the transfers are culled from older masters in any case).

In both the X-Men: Dark Phoenix Blu-ray review and the X-Men: Apocalypse Blu-ray review I mentioned how the tendency toward “alternate timelines” in some relatively recent franchise entries have made things not just kind of nonsensical, but in a very real way, beyond the bounds of actually caring about events, since any “major” occurrence like the death of a focal character can turn out to be a “passing fancy” once a “new, improved” alternate timeline is introduced. I guess it’s to Zombie’s credit that he doesn’t go that route in resurrecting (in more ways than one) this “series”, but he does engage in one pretty serious conceit right from the get go, one which results in the at least temporary survival of Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie), Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) and Otis B. Driftwood (Bill Moseley). Given the rather cartoonish ambience of all of these linked films (including what some may see as cartoonish in another way — absolutely over the top, hyperbolic and at times graphically depicted violence), it’s probably not going to be a deal breaker at all that these three characters are depicted as surviving events which seemed to indicate otherwise at the end of The Devil's Rejects.

Between some of this film’s depictions, especially Moseley’s Driftwood, not to mention some “revisions” proffered forth in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, it might seem that cult murderers like Charles Manson are experiencing their own kind of resurrection. And in fact some of the early plot mechanics of 3 From Hell revolve around the “lionization” of suspected killers by certain members of the public. That adoration most certainly does not include Warden Harper (Jeff Daniel Phillips), and a kind of hostage drama involving his family develops after Otis and his brother-in-law Foxy (Richard Brake) break out of stir. A “women in prison” angle involving Baby and a nefarious guard (kind of amazingly played by Dee Wallace) takes up a bit of time, before a “new, improved” trio of Baby, Otis and Foxy become the focal characters (those aware of Sid Haig’s passing can probably put two and two together here, but suffice it to say Haig’s appearance in this film is basically a glorified cameo).

Kind of hilariously, given the fact of how miraculously the original trio escaped with lives intact, 3 From Hell only really manages to deliver some consistent energy in its final act, when the “replacement” trio ends up in Mexico during Day of the Dead festivities. It’s here that Zombie seems to find his authentic “voice” for the project, still able to virtually wallow in cartoonish aspects, but also delivering a fair amount of tension as events spiral (further?) out of control. While Haig is definitely missed in this enterprise, Sheri Moon Zombie chews the scenery with aplomb (if little nuance), and the supporting cast is quite colorful, adding to the kind of lunatic ambience of it all.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf was pretty similarly inclined toward 3 From Hell as I was. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

3 from Hell 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray.

3 From Hell is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. While this sports the "captured with Alexa" credit in the final roll (and I'm assuming was finished at a 2K DI), as can probably be gleaned from the screenshots, the imagery has been tweaked with any number of bells and whistles. The intense transformation Zombie and cinematographer David Daniels put a lot of the imagery through means that those expecting huge upticks in detail levels in the 4K UHD presentation may be at least intermittently disappointed. Not only is the film rife with such techniques as desaturation, intentional "distressing", digital grain (sometimes quite heavy) and other "tricks of the trade", large sequences, especially some of the jail scenes, play out in near darkness, all of which contributes to somewhat more variable levels of fine detail than can be seen in other, less stylistically florid, presentations. There are definitely upticks in fine detail noticeable in elements like bloody faces seen in close-ups, or even the textures on a kind of rubbery-leathery mask one character wears in the final scenes, but to my eyes the biggest change between the 1080p and 4K UHD versions was the palette, which is considerably more saturated (when it is saturated, it should be stated) in the HDR aided version. The film has a number of really vivid gradings and/or lighting conditions, and everything from some of the lustrous blues and greens of the jail scenes to some really evocative reds and oranges in some of the Day of the Dead sequences pop with an immediacy and increased highlights that aren't quite as noticeable in the 1080p Blu-ray presentation. Shadow detail is at least marginally improved in the 4K UHD version, something that aids seeing into the "nooks and crannies" of some of those aforementioned darker moments. The film is also stuffed full of "video" like elements, in the form of "newscasts" and the like, and the 4K UHD increase in resolution is not particularly kind to the overall look of many of these moments. That said, there's an obvious "grindhouse" approach to the visuals here, and so anyone expecting something "pretty" is in for some major surprises one way or the other.

3 from Hell 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

3 From Hell features a nicely bombastic Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix. There are a ton of really nicely executed (pun probably intentional) effects here, beginning as soon as the gunshots accompanying the title credit, shots which clearly pan and emanate from different surround channels. The film is kind of relentlessly noisy, and surround activity is fairly consistent as a result. The outdoor material has a lot of ambient environmental action, but even some of the supposedly cloistered interior material (and there are a lot of scenes in small environments) often offer spaciousness in terms of discrete placement of individual effects (or even reverberant echoes in some of the jail scenes). As might be expected, there is ubiquitous use of music, all of which spills quite effectively through the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free and enjoyable track.

3 from Hell 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Rob Zombie


• To Hell and Back: The Making of 3 From Hell (1080p; 1:34:28) is a fun look at the production, with a glut of candid footage, some of which will probably be a bit bittersweet for fans of the late Sid Haig.

3 from Hell 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Zombie has left himself some considerable "wiggle room" this time in case he's thinking of another little journey with the Firefly consortium, in terms of how this film comes to a close. Fans of the first two films in this supposed "franchise" will probably get a kick out of seeing two of the three original villains (?) back in action. Newcomers here should be braced for some completely bizarre characterizations and a kind of sleazy undertone that fits those characters to a tee, but which is still a bit disturbing. Technical merits are solid, though the imagery has been so aggressively tweaked that videophiles expecting a "squeaky clean" 4K image had best be braced in a different way.