Otis B. Driftwood

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Otis B. Driftwood in the Devil's Rejects
Otis B. Driftwood in the Devil's Rejects

Otis B. Driftwood is a fictional character created by Rob Zombie. He was portrayed by Bill Moseley in House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects.

[edit] Character Background

As revealed in The Devil's Rejects' official website, Otis B. Driftwood was born December 23, 1929. He was horribly neglected and abused by his parents, who didn't even give him a name. He later wrote that he committed his first murder at the age of 13.

He was a drifter for much of his life, travelling over the country from Wilmington, Delaware to Hurst, Texas. In the small town of Ruggsville, he met Cutter a.k.a. Captain Spaulding, and was soon living with his new friend's family, whom he had nicknamed The Fireflys. This family consisted of Cutter's wife, whom Driftwood called Mother, her two sons and his daughter, Vera-Ellen, with whom Otis formed an immediate bond and nicknamed Angel Baby.

The two roamed the states, murdering anyone in their path. Beginning in the summer of 1975, Driftwood began committing his now famous Son of Satan murders. Later, in the winter of 1976, Baby returned to Ruggsville alone and resumed her life on the Firefly farm while Driftwood continued his murderous rampage. He travelled over the country stealing and selling cars to survive, but eventually returned to Ruggsville with the hopes of attaining a job he once had working for Tommy Trucks.

[edit] The Films

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about The Devil's Rejects follow.
Otis from House of 1000 Corpses.
Otis from House of 1000 Corpses.

Driftwood is by far the most sadistic member of the Firefly family. He often considers himself to be a revolutionary and an artist; he makes sculptures out of his victims, or skins them to wear as costumes.

Driftwood's character was altered somewhat for The Devil's Rejects. In the first film, for example, he is an albino, but he is of average Caucasian skin color in the sequel. Rob Zombie did this because he felt the albino look was too 'cartoonish' and was out of place in the grittier sequel.[1] By the second film, he had become far less over-the-top, but was also more depraved and sadistic, and he looks older than in the first. At one point he tells a victim that he is the Devil, and is "here to do the Devil's work." He often rapes his victims, something that is only implied in the first film. In one particularly brutal scene, he skins the face of a man and then forces the man's wife to wear it as a mask.

At the end of the film, Driftwood is shot down by the police along with Baby and Captain Spaulding.