Retro Spins: White Zombie - La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One

It was the summer of 1995, and a buddy of mine from high school had me over to his house to visit. Out of all the friends I had, he was always the one who was the most well off. He was the first out of all of us to have a car, his parents always made sure he had money in his pocket, and he never really wanted for anything. He was also the only guy I knew who owned a Panisonic 3DO.

At $699.99, it was the most expensive video game console in America at the time. It was aimed at a specific type of gamer - The wealthy one...Or the child of the wealthy.

Though the games sported fantastic "realistic" graphics for its time, I personally always found them to be clunky. As such, none of the games really impressed me all that much. I was content to go home and play my Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.

One of the games we did play a little bit of during my visits was Way Of The Warrior, a fighting game ala Mortal Kombat visuals and fatalities. The game itself was garbage. What kept me enthralled was the fantastic soundtrack I kept hearing throughout the intro and stages.

I don't remember how I found out, but I did. The soundtrack to Way Of The Warrior wasn't just video game music, but tracks from an album which had been released in 1992. That album, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One by White Zombie. Very soon after that, I purchased both that album and their 1995 Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions Of The Electric Head on cassette. I played them both to death, and eventually had to upgrade to CD copies.

Fast forward to August 1996, and White Zombie becomes the first concert I ever go to. Unfortunately, due to temperatures in the 110 degree range, it was so hot that we left before the show even started. To this day, I swear we would have gotten heatstroke if we hadn't made that decision. It was so miserable. Disappointing too.

Sadly, White Zombie broke up in 1998 and I never got an opportunity to try and see them live again.

When I started putting my CD collection back together back in 2017, La Sexorcisto was a top priority album for me. It had been about twenty years since I'd heard it, and I was eager to see if it had withstood the test of time. I was pleased to see it had. I enjoy it now just as much as I did when I was younger.

Hearing it now, you can definitely pick up on Rob Zombie's love for movies. All the interludes and outros which are inner cut with dialog from classic "B" films seemed odd to me back in the day, but it didn't deter me from enjoying the album. However, now that I've seen where Zombie has gone on to in his career, it all makes more sense, and fits all the more because of it.

Ironically, for has much as I love the 80's and White Zombie, I've never bothered trying to track down their two albums from the era. I've never heard anything off of them, and I honestly can't say as I have any interest to. My White Zombie time frame is firmly locked in at 1992 to 1995.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

The Devil's Rejects (NECA)

The Devil's Rejects
NECA
2005

It's not exactly a toy line in tune with the spirit of the season, but as they say in golf, "Play it where it lies." This one came around the time frame of the date, so here you have it.

When Rob Zombie started making films, I really wanted to love them all. As a fan of White Zombie in high school, it really intrigued me to see what the guy could do on the big screen.Unfortunately, I found his movies were definitely not for me.

I know it worked for Kevin Smith when he hired his friends to be in Clerks, but sorry, it's not working for Rob Zombie. The "actors" are terrible, the dialog is corny and the stories seem to serve nothing more than a pornography of violence and mayhem. Granted, violent movies can work if there's a good story surrounding it - Natural Born Killers, Saving Private Ryan, etc. However, Rob Zombie is not an "A" lister film writer.

It's honestly no surprise that NECA produced a small set of figures for the film. The company will pretty much release anything that someone will "give" them a license for. While they get a nod of appreciation for the details and the expected quality from a NECA product, this line still falls under that age old question - "Did we really need this?" Like I said, the NECA brand is synonymous with quality, but at the same time, they waste an awful lot of plastic on toy lines people didn't ask for or want.

Well, I suppose I should correct myself. Perhaps I'm just projecting my own personal opinion on the matter. Truth be told, these figures fetch a fairly hefty price on secondary markets. Sealed figures can fetch forty to sixty dollars, while the below box sets can garner upwards of one hundred fifty. So to say that nobody wants these figures is definitely inaccurate.

It's funny how this always seems to happen with NECA figures. They sit on pegs for months until they're discontinued, and them BOOM, explode on secondary markets. The Devil's Rejects is no exception to this rule.

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Rob Zombie Presents The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto (NECA)

Rob Zombie Presents The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto
NECA
2009

Rob Zombie has worn a lot of hats during his career. Music artist, film writer and director, and as of 2009, animated movie developer. Rob Zombie Presents The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto wasn't technically his first foray into the world of animation. In fact, fans of the movie Beavis and Butthead Do America can be treated to a fun music video of sorts tucked into the film featuring both Zombie's music and animation style.

For his fans, El Superbeasto was a project long in the works, and one they feared would never come to light. The film started production in 2006, but was put on hold when Zombie switched focus to write and direct the reboot of the Halloween franchise. Upon completing that film, Zombie then went on tour.

It wasn't until 2009 that Zombie announced the film would see completion. True to his word, it was released in September of that same year. Much like his prior work, it quickly reached cult classic status.

In that same year, NECA licensed to produced a batch of figures based on the movie. Much to NECA's MO, the series came and went in the blink of an eye. Only two figures made it to production before the company moved on to other projects.

 Suzi-X

El Superbeasto

Was there room for this series to grow? Absolutely. There were plenty of characters NECA left untouched. Unfortunately, this is common for NECA, and action figures in general these days - Produce small lines that feel incomplete. Quickly move on to what may or may not be the next biggest and best thing.

As far as secondary markets go, these aren't breaking banks just yet. Each figure can be grabbed for about $7.00 each - Which is pretty amazing considering their retail price was twice that (if not more).

Join us next time when we take a look at Kull The Conqueror!

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