The Lords of Salem (2012) (Movie Review)
Directed By: Rob Zombie
Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips
Rated: R
Heidi, a blond rock chick, DJs at a local radio station, and together with the two Hermans (Whitey and Munster) forms part of the “Big H Radio Team.” A mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record arrives for Heidi, a gift of the Lords. She assumes it’s a rock band on a mission to spread their word. As Heidi and Whitey play the Lords’ record, it starts to play backwards, and Heidi experiences a flashback to a past trauma. Later, Whitey plays the Lords’ record, dubbing them the Lords of Salem, and to his surprise, the record plays normally and is a massive hit with his listeners. The arrival of another wooden box from the Lords presents the Big H team with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon, Heidi and her cohorts are far from the rock spectacle they’re expecting. The original Lords of Salem are returning and they’re out for blood.
Lords of Salem is Rob Zombie’s take on 60s/70s psychedelic horror. Unfortunately it seems to be much more style than substance. It becomes apparent while watching that Rob has been dipping into his Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch collections going into this, but he seems to miss a clear point. Both those directors had weird images with meaning behind them, meanings that seem much more deep and symbolic than Sheri Moon Zombie riding a stuffed goat in one of the more bizarre moments of this film, also the film has some terrible pacing issues early one, slowing down to a snail pace more than once. I’m not saying there isn’t anything worth seeing here in this film, but those moments come few and far in between.
While you can’t deny that this is Zombie’s most mature film to date, it just doesn’t seem like a Rob Zombie film for the most part. Some could argue of that being a good thing, but I liked most of Rob’s other films and have almost forgiven him for Halloween 2. The film does give off an odd House of the Devil vibe from time to time and that is never a bad thing. That could be due to the dark content or that could just be the way the film looks overall. I think this will be a love it or hate it film for the most part. I still find myself a bit mixed. I acknowledge we have creative eye candy, especially near the end. Still, most of it seems to be a madness that lacks any real method or point.
