The Lords Of Salem (2013) - A Rob Zombie Joint

 

Ok, so let's get this first thing out of the way before I start this review. I know that this is a controversial movie in the sense that it has strongly divided opinion and there's alot of negativity out there about it. The following review is my thoughts, pure and simple, on this film. SO, thanks for reading, let's get on with it shall we?

 

Rob Zombie is someone who I like, but I don't love his stuff for the mostpart. I really liked The Devils Rejects for what it was, a slice of nostalgic violent filmmaking with a hint of Americana and grindhouse. House of 1000 Corpses was mediocre but I watched it and accepted it as Rob's love letter to the horror genre, a genre he is obviously passionate about. The Halloween movies were just ok, not as bad as some people painted them to be in my view, but not too special either. When the trailers began surfacing for "The Lords of Salem" I was fairly uninterested and not really bothered about following the production of the film.

 

It was released at a small number of movie theatres in the US and Europe and hasn't done good business. It was released April 2013, last week, here in the UK on DVD. No BluRay release has been mentioned.

 

I was open minded walking in to this experience. I didn't expect the sea and the mountains but I didn't expect the dogshit on the pavement either, and you know what? I got neither, as I thought. But what I did get was something much more interesting, I got a film that was much more than House of 1000 Corpses, The Devils Rejects or the Halloween movies were. Here's why I say that...

 

The Lords of Salem, follows a character named Heidi Hawthorne, played by Sherri Moon Zombie, wifey of Rob. She is a late-night radio talk show host and she lives in Salem, MA. Sherri Moon Zombie, what a strange actress she is. Her performances have always been passable and at times funny and brash. Here though I was suprised at how varied her performance was. She mixed it up for the first time in her film career and that is something that should be praised. Her mixture of normal, run-of-the-mill girl, happy-go-lucky and spunky DJ and then anxious, confused and depressed victim is done with subtlety and a sense of clam I didn't expect from her. I liked her in this film because I believed her in this film. Something I have had trouble doing with any previous character in any previous Rob Zombie movie. They're all very cartoonish and silly without any real layer work being done with their characters. This changes with Heidi, she is a much more real and honest presense, at least for the mostpart.

 

The story itself isn't really too deep or hard to follow. It has a slow build which I liked alot and the tension mounts over the first half of the films 95 minutes. The setting where most of the story takes place is the apartment building in which Heidi lives. It's a typical New England building and works well as a place that is normal and cheery yet could plausably host something strange. The internal shots sometimes reminded me of "The Toolbox Murders" and "The Shining". Am I comparing this film to those films? No.

 

In the past Rob Zombie has taken to being very close-up with his directing. His camera was always in the face of the subject, sometimes even acting as the eyes of a vicitm as they ran away from a villainous character. The Lords of Salem does things differently and this is the main reason I will gladly heap praise on Rob Zombie for this film. He has stepped out of his comfort zone and done something truly different and unique. You dont think so? Look at the long, slow and tense shots on doors, expressions, walls, windows and other things. Rather than being "all up in there", Rob has chosen a more fly on the wall appreoach which adds tension and allows the viewer to see much more of the surroundings as the film unfolds.

 

The film follows Heidi as she takes a listen to a record that had been sent to her at the late-night radio station. The record plays like strings being abused, drums being battered and it's an incomfortable sound and one that works well for it's purpose in the film. I think it had a chance to be very clique wiht chanting or whispering voices and it didn't, it stuck to a very vivid banging and sounded like something that could really become uncomfortable if you listened to it for long enough. The music itself becomes a character in the film and allows you to see change come over Heidi as she listens to it, holding her head like it's forcing it's way inside her mind.

 

We see sporadic flashback sequences with naked witches and the familiar song playing over it and these are effective. The witches too remain subtle in their execution. We don't get over-the-top horror makeup or long warty noses. We get mixed age, mixed size women who are out for blood. It worked well in my view.

 

Now, this is not so much a horror film as it is an "arthouse" picture with satanic imagery, psychedelic sequences and eerie overtones of sinister goings-on. There's no "gore" so to speak, there aren't any jump scares which have become all too common in horror films these days and there aren't any big iconic horror film moments, or at least not obvious ones. Personally, I liked alot of the scenes in this, when Heidi first listens to the record it shows, just with reactions, how powerful it is and it set's up the rest of the film in just that moment. The scenes with the withes are well done and get better as it goes on.

 

I don't want to spoil things so I am avoiding telling of the ending of this film. The story speaks for itself, witches out for blood and Sherri Moon Zombie is the one they need to get where they need to be. It's not the most exciting or fresh premise, but the way it is presented is genuinely new and different and I liked that. I liked that alot.

 

This movie won't be for everyone. It obviously isnt as I've read some scathing reviews in the past month or so. Still, there are some people who will enjoy this and some who might even give it another chance after disliking it the first time. This is the sort of film where a fresh perspective will allow a viewer to see new things they had missed before.

 

The setting is nice, I've visited this area of New England and it's lovely and looks just like it did in the film. The inclusion of Ken Foree as the co-host on the radio show was nice. I like Ken Foree, he is a horror icon and though his part wasn't big it was still nice to see him on screen in something that fit him well. The part of Judy Geeson as Lacy Doyle, the apartment owner, is standout and she plays it perfectly. I was suprised to see her name seldom mentioned in reviews of this film, she did a brilliant job in her role. But I wont say why. The obscure sequences near to the end are just what they intend to be, but I couldn't help but want a little more narritive at those points, just a little more closure and explanation would have been nice. I liked having backstories but I thought it would have been good to have had more character development with the other characters in the film such as the radio co-hosts and the sisters of the apartment owner. I would have liked to have spent more time with them in order to get a better feel for them, but those are minor gripes in a film that for many was hopelessly crap. For me though, it was intriguing and enjoyable. Especially the first half which slowly built the story in a way I always enjoy and have since I first saw "The Legend Of Hell House".

 

See this for yourself because no word from me or anyone else will really help. You might hate it with passion or love it, or like me you might enjoy the experience and respect the decision of the film maker to do something truly different for a change.

 

Not for everyone, but really...what is?

 

7 our of 10 (for now)