News came out Monday that actor Sid Haig passed away at the age of 80. The horror icon had been in poor health according to a post from Rob Zombie, his buddy and the guy who revitalized Sid’s career by casting him as Captain Spaulding in “House Of 1000 Corpses”. I was surprised when I scrolled through Sid Haig’s IMDB page. He wasn’t only in the cult horror movies many remember him in, including the Zombie directed Firefly Family Trilogy, but he was in a ton of movies and shows you’d never expect. He was featured in two Quentin Tarantino movies, “Jackie Brown” and “Kill Bill, Vol. 2”. He had roles in classic 80s TV shows like “Dukes Of Hazzard”, “Fantasy Island”, “The Fall Guy”, “The A-Team”. In the 70s, he was in the James Bond movie “Diamonds Are Forever” and in some fantastic sounding Blaxploitation films like “Black Mama, White Mama”, “Coffy” and “Foxy Brown”. His television appearances in the 60s saw him on shows like “Get Smart”, “Star Trek” and “Batman”. What truly a terrific character actor with an incredibly eclectic career.
Last week, I saw Sid Haig’s final performance on film when I took in the limited release of Zombie’s “3 From Hell”. Presumably because of his health, Sid’s Captain Spaulding had limited screen time, but he was definitely a presence throughout. I loved these Firefly Family movies. “House Of 1000 Corpses”, “The Devil’s Rejects” and now, “3 From Hell” are not for everybody, but if you’re into lovable murderers, great dialogue and pervasive symbolism, no one does it better than Rob Zombie. If you’re a fan too, the characters in “3 From Hell” are welcomingly familiar and there’s always that underlying feeling that they could kill at any moment. Especially with Baby, who is played of course by Rob’s wife Sherri Moon Zombie. She’s the star. She says so herself in the movie. Maybe it was the south of the border landscape in part of the movie, but it kind of felt like a western at times. Complete with a big shoot out. Featuring a Mexican wrestling masked hit squad. But that’s all the spoilers you’ll get here.
If you missed the three night special engagement of “3 From Hell” last week, you’ll get the chance to see it soon enough. The movie raked in around $1.92 million which was enough for Fathom Events to want to bring it back for one night on October 14th in select theatres. It’ll be available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and I’d imagine digitally, on October 15th. Be sure to check it out! And R.I.P., Captain!