The Lords of Salem (2012)

Following the extremely mixed reaction to the 2007 remake of Halloween and its 2009 sequel, Halloween II, comes Rob Zombie’s next film project, The Lords of Salem.  If there is anything that everybody can agree on about this movie, it’s that Rob Zombie is finally showing some diversity in his talents as a filmmaker.  The Lords of Salem is a departure for Rob Zombie in that the movie is primarily supernatural in its premise and is a visually driven film.  This is much different from his earlier films which are quick-cut, face-paced, and full of white-trash characters .  Not to say that I don’t enjoy his earlier movies, because the grimy, 1970s-style works for me (especially in House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Reject).  In many ways those films pay homage to horror movies from an older time, and in many (but different) ways The Lords of Salem does the same.  Unfortunately, the results are decidedly mixed and I think this movie will prove to be a love or hate affair.

The Lords of Salem is a dark re-imagining of the Salem witch trials and assumes that those who were prosecuted at the infamous historical event were actually witches with evil and depraved motivations.  At the beginning a the film, there is a short “flash-back” to the witches of Salem doing some sort of ritual and quickly cuts to more recent times where radio DJ Heidi (played by Sheri Moon Zombie) is seemingly happy with her life and her work.  One day after work, she receives a mysterious recording from “The Lords” which she later plays which in turn opens some sort of doorway that brings the long-dead witches of Salem back to finish their work.  At least that’s what I think was going on during this movie, as the last thirty minutes of this movie get really bizarre and linear narrative takes the passenger seat to surreal visuals and demonic horror-style editing.

So yeah, the movie does have a pretty interesting story.  However, it is difficult to explain why the story actually seems so strange when you are watching this movie.  In many ways I found the Lords of Salem to be a fever dream series of events.  In fact, “dreamlike” is a good way to describe the pace of this movie.  The Lords of Salem builds a very dark atmosphere and doesn’t have any trouble making you feel that something is off and that darker forces are at work.  Also, the visuals are (for the most part) stunning.  Some of the effects were clearly done on a very limited budget so the movie has a vague “do-it-yourself” feeling in parts.  I personally found this made it seem similar to demon/witch/paranormal films from the 1960s and 1970s (especially Rosemary’s Baby and the Sentinel).  There is a lot of tension building going on in The Lords of Salem, and if the look and atmosphere of the film doesn’t impress you, I believe this could be a very boring and pointless film.

The weakest element of The Lords of Salem is probably the one those familiar with Rob Zombie’s work could have guessed.  The acting just isn't very convincing  Some of Rob Zombie’s regulars show up (Ken Foree, Sig Haig, and Michael Berryman show up briefly) and they are fun to watch.  Unfortunately, Zombie’s wife, Sherri Moon Zombie, gets most of the screen-time and she falls flat most of the time.  She’s not hard to look at, but many of the emotional scenes never connect because of her performance.  Moon is better here than she has been before, but she hasn't reached the point where she can carry an entire movie.  Her uneven performance shows signs of improvement, but also takes you out of the story.

All in all, the Lords of Salem is a pretty bizarre film.  The lack of a fully explicative narrative will undoubtedly prove frustrating for most people, and a lot of the acting is uninspired.  Rob Zombie has finally stepped out of his comfort zone and created a more unique film, with his talent with camera position and an increased emphasis on dark, horror visuals making the Lords of Salem is “beautiful” horror movie.  The grainy look of the movie and this visual flair is reminiscent of some old-school horror movies and certainly isn’t fitting any standardized definition of what a horror movie should be.  That’s probably why this movie has received such a limited release, the film is just too odd.  I was perplexed by this movie, and have to admit that as a movie it isn’t the most well crafted or professionally assembled of them all.  The Lords of Salem is a rocky picture with lots of great visuals and fun homages, but is lacking in the acting department and may be too thin a narrative to be engaging.

I do think that I was surprisingly entertained by this movie and that my score of  The Lords of Salem as a film wouldn’t properly represent my feelings about it.  As a movie, this is probably a 6/10, and my personal reaction would be a 9/10.  I can’t deny either of these scores.  So...

7.5/10