I do have a soft spot for Rob Zombie – this is the guy who gave us ‘Dragula’ for crying out loud! As a director of horror films, sure, some of them feel like a pack of rabid drunks in a bar screaming horror movie references into your face, but I appreciated that he tried to do something different with his Halloween remakes and The Devil’s Rejects stands as an entertaining blood-soaked modern western. After hearing Patrick Bromley discuss it on The Pure Cinema Podcast, I was keen to finally catch up with The Lords Of Salem (2012), which marked a change in direction for Rob Zombie, making something that wasn’t a sequel or remake, and went for more of a slow burn horror film. It is a synthesis of influenced and references – Rosemary’s Baby, the original Suspiria, The Exorcist, Maria Bava movies, etc. But Zombie was ahead of the curve by a couple of years, preempting the current trends in modern horror; I feel like if his name wasn’t attached and it was released by A24, Lords Of Salem would be more critically celebrated and appreciated. Set in Salem Masschusetts, it focuses on a radio DJ (Sheri Moon Zombie – who has kind of a Jamie Lee Curtis with dreadlocks vibe) who receives a mysterious record from a band with the film title’s name. When she plays it, a strange dirge is heard and she goes into a trance. There are flashbacks, dreams and visions of a persecuted witch from long ago named Margaret Morgan (Meg Foster from Masters Of The Universe and They Live, who is effectively creepy here) Then there’s a mysterious tenant in the neighbouring apartment in the townhouse she lives in; her neighbours downstairs are a curious trio of older women who are always checking in on her (Judy Geeson from Fear In The Night, Patricia Quinn from Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dee Wallace from Cujo). Ghostly visitations, satanic flashbacks and nightmarish visions keep appearing to Sheri Moon’s character, all of which builds to a final stretch that escalates in phantasmagorical effects and stark, surrealist imagery. There is some truly batshit crazy stuff in here, a satisfying payoff to its patiently paced scene setting and world building, effectively scored by composer John 5’s dread-filled drone-y music and classic needle drop song cues (very much into the ‘Venus In Furs’ Velvet Underground vibe of dirge). While some of the film remains clumsy and flawed, Lords Of Salem is an effectively creepy and gloriously visual modern horror. Recommended.
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