Viewed – 03 October 2013  DVD

I have been a casual admirer of the horror movie output of rocker turned director Rob Zombie over the years, especially liking his masterful ‘The Devil’s Rejects’ and even bizarre freakishness like ‘House of 1000 Corpses’.  His style, skill and taste for disturbing violence and hallucinogenic imagery struck a cord with this horror junkie.  Even his ill-advised but interesting remake of Halloween didn’t put me off (less said about the awful follow up, the better).  But now we come to his latest and strangest effort, showcasing the obvious screen presence of Goth muse (and wife) Sherry Moon Zombie.

Sherry plays Heidi, a radio DJ living in Salem who rents a room at a hotel run by three slightly odd elderly women.  When a mysterious record is delivered to her personally at the radio station, on playing it she begins to experience disturbing visions, apparently relating to a witches coven back in the sixteen hundreds.  Is Heidi going crazy, or are The Lords Of Salem back?

A slightly different style for Zombie this, less violent slasher, more freaky supernatural fantasy with echoes of The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby, and even his own House of 1000 Corpses.  Sherry is both likable and quite sexy as the main star and carries the movie well, and although this isn’t about performances, all cast members help create a foreboding and eerie atmosphere.  The devil-worship themes are very under your skin stuff and although fairly tame for Zombie standards, when the claret flies its quite nasty.  Mostly though this is a movie about style, and weird shit going down, goats, mutant babies (!), demonic women and biblical & satanic imagery.  It all gets a bit nuts towards the end and the conclusion is underwhelming … but overall I had a good time, and yes it’s far better than Halloween 2 (damn I thought I wasn’t going to say anything about that!).

Verdict:  3 /5

Related articles

• The Lords of Salem Is Like a Cheerleader (backtothepast.tv)
• The Lords Of Salem: 6 Most Unsettling Moments (jarviscity.com)
• Critics Tended to Hate ‘The Lords of Salem’. They’re Wrong. (Review) (popmatters.com)