Contrary to what director Rob Zombie kept saying on the press tour, it turns out 3 From Hell was NOT actually horror icon Sid Haig’s final movie. Haig was a reliable presence onscreen for over 50 years, but it wasn’t until landing the role of Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses that he finally got the mass recognition he deserved. Haig imbued Spaulding with both a hulking menace and an irresistible charisma, making the proprietor of the world famous Murder Ride an instant fan favorite.
Haig wowed audiences even more in 2005 sequel The Devil’s Rejects, which gave Captain Spaulding more to do, and allowed the character to be a bit more sinister and less comedic. Playing Spaulding rejuvenated Haig’s career overall, making him a regular on the horror convention circuit, and leading to his appearances in several dozen films in the years since debuting the character. By all accounts, he and Rob Zombie remained friends as well, appearing in a few of the director’s non-Firefly films.
Fans were saddened when it came to light that Haig’s Captain Spaulding would play a limited role in 2019’s 3 From Hell, and when doing interviews promoting the film, Zombie revealed that Haig was in such poor health when 3 From Hell was in production that he could only be on set for a single day. He also made mention multiple times of Haig “knowing” 3 From Hell would be his final film role. and wanting to go out in a memorable way. However, evidence suggests that might not be accurate.
3 From Hell WASN’T Sid Haig’s Final Movie (No Matter What Rob Zombie Says)
On a basic factual level, 3 From Hell will not be Sid Haig’s final film to be released. He has two more movies in the can, a horror film called Hanukkah, set for release on Christmas 2020, and another horror effort called Abruptio that’s currently in post-production. That said, films can sometimes not be released for years after production finishes, so a charitable explanation would be to assume these two films were shot before 3 From Hell, and Rob Zombie was referring to the final film role Haig shot. Unfortunately, while Abruptio was filmed a few years back, Haig shot his scenes for Hanukkah in October 2018, many months after shooting his 3 From Hell material in March of 2018.
What makes things weirder is that Rob Zombie’s narrative about Haig’s failing health and the desperate measures he had to take to use him in 3 From Hell at all has since been directly contradicted. In comments left on Sid Haig’s official Instagram account (a hat tip to Horror Freak News for first noticing these), Haig’s wife Suzie stated that her husband had long since been released from any kind of medical facility prior to 3 From Hell’s production, and Hanukkah director Eben McGarr followed that up by saying Haig was by no means frail and struggling on the set of that film. Suzie Haig even directly called much of what Zombie said about Sid realizing that 3 From Hell would be his final film “bulls**t.” So the question becomes, did Rob Zombie purposefully mislead fans to try and boost 3 From Hell’s profile during its theatrical run? Or was he simply mistaken or misinformed? Both sides can’t be right.
More: 3 From Hell Fails To Explain The Most Obvious Firefly Family Plot Hole
