Rob Zombie (or ‘he who ruined Halloween’, as many of you call him) proves that he peaked too early with ‘The Devil’s Rejects’ as this latest dull and long-winded affair about some witches in Salem goes nowhere fast. It’s not a total loss however.
Sheri Moon Zombie (whom I love) plays Heidi ‘Laroc’ Hawthorne, a radio DJ who discovers a mysterious record (imagine the Necronomicon in vinyl format) which she plays on her late night radio show. She begins having nightmares and things soon take a turn for the worse. Could The Lords be back?
This film looks great. I really liked the cinematography – it’s moody and atmospheric. There are some awesome shots of Salem here and similarly, the sets and some of the lighting work are superb. What let me down was the plodding pace and lack of story. I also found some aspects ridiculous! I know Mrs Zombie has a nice ass but did we really need it to be hanging out during her nightmares? Similarly, I would be embarrassed to ask genre vets such as Dee Wallace Stone to be in my film and have her shouting the C word. I know I must sound like a prude, but I’m getting a bit sick of Rob’s trailer trash shtick. He’s a highly intelligent man – I wish he’d stop trying to be cool with all of his psychedelic wacky carny rubbish and get on with telling a good story.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The Lords of Salem has a neat vibe and some nice imagery going for it but not a hell of a lot else. I wouldn’t buy it.