3 from Hell Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

3 from Hell Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 15, 2019

Note: Lionsgate's PR firm provided only the 3 from Hell 4K release for purposes of both the 4K and 1080p reviews, and that release contains only the Unrated Version of the film. Until recently, we had two 1080p Blu-ray listings active, this one supposedly featuring two cuts of the film, and a standalone 1080p release of the Unrated version which apparently is not being released, which makes me wonder if this release actually only has the Unrated version, since that's the 1080p Blu-ray included with the 4K UHD release. My review is therefore only of the Unrated version, and both the technical assessments and listing of supplements are (to probably state the obvious) of the 1080p Blu-ray included with the 4K UHD release.

Update: A member messaged that while he had not received this version, he thought that perhaps the Rated version was on the included DVD, which would explain why the Blu-ray disc only has the Unrated version. Anyone who actually receives this is encouraged to private message me with details, and I'm happy to post more information here as it becomes available.

Update 2: The consensus seems to be that the DVD is the R rated version.

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 togethere 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 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

3 From Hell is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. As I discussed in my 3 from Hell 4K Blu-ray review, while this was evidently digitally captured with Arri Alexa cameras and then presumably finished at a 2K DI, Zombie and cinematographer David Daniels have gone into overdrive in terms of post processing of the imagery, and as such this is a far cry from the typically sleek, glossy look of a lot of Alexa captured material. A cursory glance at some of the screenshots I've uploaded to this review will give some indication of some of the video "bells and whistles" that have been employed, but suffice it to say that detail and especially fine detail levels can kind of ebb and flow depending on not just the "usual suspects" like lighting conditions, but in this case other elements like intentional distressing, digital grain and at times extremely aggressive grading and (on the other end of the spectrum) desaturation. A prevalence of dark or dimly lit material in addition to some of these stylistic quirks can also prevent fine detail from peeking through shadows on occasion. The film does employ a large number of extreme close-ups, and fine detail is typically quite excellent in these moments, and generally speaking, sharpness is rather good as well, especially considering some of the intentional masking strategies that are employed. To my eyes the best looking sequences in the film come relatively late in the Mexican scenes, where a relatively normal lighting regimen aids detail (and especially fine detail) levels, and where the palette looks comparatively robust. The palette, while as tweaked as everything else in this presentation, is often quite impressively saturated, though, and some of the grading and/or lighting choices really offer a lot of very vivid hues, all of which pop nicely. Fans going into this presentation with an understanding of its "grindhouse" proclivities will probably love the look of this transfer, despite some variabilities in detail levels.

3 from Hell 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 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 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" digitally captured image had best be braced in a different way.