the Lords of Salem

Was very excited to see this movie. Was not disappointed. The Lords of Salem showed another very fucking talented side of Rob Zombie as a Director. Goddamn.

Marie was in the bedroom on the other side of the house when I was watching this. She was terrified just from listening to the soundtrack. She would have died if she watched the flick. Or at least left the room prior to imminent vomiting from nervousness.

I was on edge the whole time. But enthralled. I wanted to see what happened next. Zombie always has excellent photography in his films. But I feel like he took it to a higher artistic plain on this flick. Not sure who the DP was, but again, they fucking ruled. The film was shot so beautifully, and edited with just as much nuance and artistry. A great looking flick. Plus, the soundtrack....it was perfect. And brutal. It hit all the right notes. There were a couple cheap shock parts but that goes with the genre, I guess.

The most interesting thing for me was how Zombie was spreading out into a different area of Horror. This movie is 1/3 Rosemary's Baby, 1/3 Stanley Kubrick and 1/3 Rob Zombie's extreme touch and Directorial stamp. He takes anything Polanski and Kubrick would have done and dials the "fucked up" to 11. It's a different time and a different viewer threshold for psychological terror.

Parts of the flick also come across like a music video for Nine Inch Nails. Or if Marduk were to do a video with Rob Zombie. And that music video style isn't accidental, considering the concept of the film.

Is this as good as House of 1000 Corpses or the Devil's Rejects? No. As good as the first Halloween he did...maybe actually. Not sure. Definitely better than the second Halloween. But all that's besides the point because Zombie has set his Directorial bar so goddamn high that whether this is better than a masterpiece of horror like the Devil's Rejects doesn't matter. You can't look at Hitchcock's oeuvre and say that "this wasn't as good as Rear Window" or "that wasn't as good as Vertigo." They're great in their own right (most of em).

This was a side-step for Zombie. This showed his depth as a horror Director.

The insane part to me is that Hammer of Doom told me Zombie's leaving the Horror game! His next flick is a sports drama. I'm all for Zombie doing other genres, but considering he's probably the only Director around right now that gets me geeked for horror flicks I really hope he doesn't depart from the genre for too long. Cinema needs him. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he should have been directing films decades ago. Cuz White Zombie suck.