The Lords of Salem (2013)

I love this movie so much

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The Lords of Salem is everything you can expect from a Rob Zombie movie, entertaining at times, but forgettable as a whole (As a Rob fan I think the only movie that doesn't apply to the rule is The Devil's Rejects).This movie starts well, interesting soundtrack, good atmosphere and aestethics, there are some amazing scenes and Rob Zombie proves to be a director that knows how to set an image, but the film turns out to be very slow and underwhelming. I can get it at the beginning, you try to set the mood and atmosphere but if you are 50 minutes into the movie and it still feels like the start, you have a problem.The end, there you have the biggest issue, Rob Zombie is obviously someone with many and great ideas, but this particular film lacks of consistency at the scenes once it reaches the end. The movie also lacks the climax it seems to be building to. The chaotic scene of the final coven or the scene with the opera singing in the palace seems so off with the general tone of the film that it gets annoying.There's no doubt about Zombie's passion, he's obviously inspired by those early classic supernatural horror films we all love, and his as adaptation of the style is quite great, but it doesn't bring nothing new to the table neither leaves anything behind after the title. Nothing against renditions, but you need more to make a good movie As I say at the beginning, the movie is forgettable, some good moments in it and it may be a good film to play when you got nothing more to see and just want something easy to kill time, but I don't see myself revisiting it in the future.

I had no expectations on this movie. Maybe my appreciation is by some amount explained by my enjoyment of all kinds of witch or occult things - and by the mere fact that I didn't expect anything from it - largely because it was so critically banned and I truly hated Rob Zombie's Halloween fiascoes. But in the end, Lords of Salem showed up as a real, moody, beautifully simplistic and most of all interesting occult thriller.The obligatory Sheri Moon Zombie has, for a change, a good role as a former drug addict radio jockey who finds herself tormented by visions and experiences related to the old nick after she plays a mystifying record by the band "Lords" in her rock'n'roll show. The lead role is also a perfect example on how to write identifiable and sympathetic characters without making them insufferably boring - an almost unprecedented case in the modern, main stream cinema.Other main role is inhabited by Bruce Davidson as an author who is interested about the history of the town of Salem. He starts to find clues about the coven of witches disturbing Sheri Moon's character's life. Other actors include always pleasant Ken Foree and Patricia Quinn, who still in her older age manages to create a rather mesmerizing antagonist (or rather, one of them).Stylistic stuff Rob Zombie is so known for fits into this film like Satan to Halloween night after few beers. The movie is unbelievably pretty to look at in it's nicely grungy way, and for once the visuals serve the story and the mood, and not the other way around.By no means am I saying this is new The Devil's Rejects - in terms of quality or otherwise; the middle section staggers a little, the writer character gets pushed to serve his part of the story kind of stupidly and some scenes go a tad into the direction of unintentional comedy. Though, of course, Satan is one of those things that are nigh impossible to put in anything with any kind of seriousness - the whole concept is of course quite ridiculous. But even in that the film does a good job, as it draws you into it's world so that even the rougher edges don't really spoil the over all mood.I honestly can't understand the negativity people have about this movie - especially if by the same breath they support nothing-in-particular, ready made, over generic stuff as The House of the Devil. For over all, Lords of Salem is beautiful, small-scale but effective film with a lot of elements well put together, that one could ask for films to utilize more often.If not one of the best movies of the recent years, definitely one of the coolest.

As I do, then this movie is a fantastic treat. I originally rated this baby 10 stars, but after reading a few reviews I agree on one thing, the story is a bit predictable. Take away that, and this movie to me is everything perfect about cinema. I love movies most when I am attacked with numerous unsettling images and sounds. The scenery, cinematography, atmosphere, color schemes, is overwhelmingly magnificent. Plus, it has more of a plot for the average movie watcher to enjoy then something like House of 1000 Corpses. This movie is dark and beautiful, and the little details are what make it an outstanding achievement. I love Rob Zombie's style, and this movie succeeded on pretty much every single aspect. It did more to impress me than most of the big blockbusters, and Zombie did it on a tiny little budget. How can you not applaud this work of art? Disturbing, creepy, but never less than sadistically brilliant. Loved it.

I had wanted to view this film for some time as I had heard from a fair amount of people that it was good. I have also heard from a good many that this film was bad. Some said the only thing good about it was the ending and others who said it was good up until the ending. When a person who had seen it at the theaters told me how bad it was I asked her, "So I should probably wait to rent it out of Red Box?" To which she replied, "It would be a waste of a dollar." Well, it came on and I was able to watch it and the only thing it cost me was time, and quite frankly, I would like that time back! This was not a very enjoyable movie experience at all. Just random scenes flashing here and there to make it seem more artsy than it really was. Do not get me wrong, the premise was intriguing and I was sort of enjoying it for a bit at the beginning, but the intrigue dissipated rapidly and I was left wondering when it would get to the end as many people touted the ending as the only good part. Then it came and I was treated to more random shots and an absurd ending and then a cheesy voice over as the credits begin to flash across the screen. Suffice to say, anyone who thought that ending was good must have been high on something. Perhaps one was expected to be high when watching this thing and then it would have been a moving experience.The story starts out showing us witches in the woods performing a ceremony and then they get naked. This is by far the most disturbing scene in the film as these are some nasty looking witches. Then we are introduced to these three DJs who put on the most popular radio show in Salem and considering their show there must not be much competition. It is fun seeing Ken Foree of the original Dawn of the Dead though. This is another good aspect of the film, seeing all the people who have appeared in horror films packed into this one. Well the female member of the group gets a record from a group calling themselves, The Lords. She and her boyfriend or maybe he isn't, but yes he most likely is plays it and the sounds that emanate from it are reminiscent of Mayberry's band. It seems to have an effect on the female DJ, Heidi and other females as well when they play it on the air. Never to fear though, as the Bruce Davison character tries to put a stop to the horror! Not really, he is kind of pointless as he really is not trying to stop anything, but tell that to the three elderly women who take it upon themselves to watch over Heidi.Too many problems to really mention them all, but one of the main things I had a problem with is Sheri Moon as Heidi. She looks horrible and nasty, before she is possessed by the record! She and a fair number of the cast look as if they could use a shower! Think Rosemary's Baby had none of the cast washed or bathed a month before shooting. The film is also too long as there are a number of scenes in this one that are completely irrelevant. Heidi being a recovering crack addict being the main one as it added nothing to the plot which is full of holes like when the other two DJs are simply left outside during The Lords concert. So, they didn't question being locked out? The ending when they were showing just random stuff too looked bad as at one point it is animated and looked like something right out of a Monty Python sketch. Just not a whole lot worked, I could cite more problems, but then I would go over the maximum word count! So, no, this movie was not for me. It played out a lot like one of those devil movies from the 70's which I also usually dislike, so if that was Rob Zombie's intent…well done. Though he did add his own flair and added copious amounts of yucky female nudity (unless of course, you are in to really nasty looking old women naked), lots of dirty nasty looking people, and random scenes of things happening while the only hero of the piece was less effective than the cook in Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining. I thought Rob Zombie did a pretty good job with the Halloween sequels, but here he was trying to be too out there, trying too hard to make this film seem more intelligent than it was and he also had to put his wife in it making me think that is the only reason he made this one. Unfortunately, the only thing she brought to the table was the fact every time she was on the screen I was disturbed at how nasty her hair looked. Not a movie I can recommend at all and not a horror film I ever wish to peer at again.