By Ian Rapoport
Staff Writer
Horror movies usually contain disgusting, guesome material, but Rob Zombie takes this to a terrible extreme with a repulsive use of sex and gore in his newest release, “The Lords of Salem.”
Rob Zombie made a name for himself with films such as “Halloween” and “The Devil’s Rejects.” In his newest film, “The Lords of Salem,” Zombie forgoes a traditional narrative to attempt to create a film soley focused on shock value, resulting in a series of distasteful images that lack any coherence that overshadow the film’s strong acting.
“The Lords of Salem” follows Heidi (Sheri Moon Zombie), a disc jockey in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. One day at work, Heidi receives a vinyl record from a mysterious band known as “The Lords.” After listening to the album, Heidi begins to have strange visions connected to the actual Salem witch trials of 1692. The visions become increasingly more intense as Heidi discovers that they involve the coming of the Antichrist.
The acting and characters in “The Lords of Salem” are the strongest aspects of the fim. Sheri Moon Zombie’s charcter, Heidi, is a comendable character. Despite her gothic apearance, Heidi is the film’s most reltable character; her relative sanity, in comparison to the rest of the film, allows the viewer to sympathize with her character’s struggle.
The best part of the film is Judy Geeson. as Heidi’s mysterious landlord. Geeson shows a wide range in acting, demonstrated by her ability to quickly alter her emotions. Her authentic performance makes the character’s increasingly evil state believable.
Rob Zombie’s reliance on adding moments of terror to the plot of the film ultimately distracts the viewer from the actual story. For example, Heidi is constantly encountered by large, grotesque beasts that disappear as quickly as they are introduced.
The beasts appear and then are absent for the rest of the film without any explanation of their significnace. This problem is constatntly reaccuring with the only point being to shock the viewer. The enitre premise comes off as idiotically random. These tactics occupy more time in the film than the actual narrative, making “The Lords of Salem” feel pointless.
Rob Zombie fails in his most basic duty as a director of a horror: making the film scary.The monsters and gore are so poorly implemented that they fail to create an atmosphere of fear. A heavy use of gore is certainly an aspect worth pursuing in horror films if the film is already well-done. However, its implementation into a poor movie makes the film seem escpecially cheesy. Since the film is not scary, the brutality in it has no foundation and, therefore, comes off as disgusting and utterly distasteful.
The most crude aspect of the film is the use of sexual imagery and nudity. The film opens with a scene of nude witches with filth- ridden bodies. Ths is followed with the introduction of Heidi, nude, but this time, as eye-candy.
This disparity in the use of the female body continues throughout the film. It appears that Zombie is attempting to create a brutal, sexual atmosphere that is simply disgusting. Furthermore, “The Lords of Salem” contains multiple scenes of the monsters in sexual acts simply for shock value, which is off-putting.
“The Lords of Salem” is a horrible excuse for a film. There is some talented acting in the movie which shows the potential the film had.
The horror aspects of the film, however, are Rob Zombie’s focus, and in attempting to make them startling, they lose any sense of connection and remove the viewer from the experience. The film is not scary, and the terrible use of sex is enough to bring down the film on its own.
“The Lords of Salem” is rated “R” and is currently playing in limited release.
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