498: The Lords of Salem

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 205, let's get to The Lords of Salem which came out in 2012 done by Zombie

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: stars Sherry Moon Zombie, Meg Foster, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Judy Geeson

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Patricia Quinn and a few others

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and the synopsis is

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Radio DJ Heidi is sent a box containing a record, a quote-unquote gift from the Lords.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: The sounds within the grooves trigger flashbacks of her town's violent past.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Is Heidi going mad or are the Lords back to take revenge on Salem, Massachusetts?

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Quite the synopsis there.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: So I had seen this one once before many years ago didn't remember a whole lot about it but

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Then and now that I've watched all of his films, this is still my favorite. I don't think it's a five out of five

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: but I think it is a

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: very underrated film especially in the scope of art house indie horror.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like if this film had been

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: released under

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: 824 or

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Neon one of the more

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: reputable

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: indie production companies, I think this one would have a much better and bigger audience and reputation and

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: the fact that it's done by Zombie with his normal crew, his normal companies from what I could gather

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: it seems to be considered lesser than by many or not as on many lists as I feel like it could be or should be.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: One of the best things about this and why it works so well and it shows

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Zombie's talent is that it is by far

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_00]: at least when it comes to his horror films, it is by far his most restrained

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: stylistically like there's almost no screaming in this whole movie, which is uncommon.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Aside from the flashbacks or dreams with The Witches everything else is very quiet. There's a very underlying brooding score.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: consistent atmosphere and mood.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It's shot really well. A lot of nice slow zooms and zoom outs

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of fixed cameras in other ways and so it's not

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: constantly handheld and all over the place in your face.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: There's actually

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: variety there. He seems to pick his spots with that.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a distance between you and the characters in terms of where the camera is.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's immediately a more thoughtfulness to this and care from his other films both before and after

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: this one and

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: bouncing off of the

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: aspect of how characters are and how they act and how loud they are or lack thereof.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone in this for the most part feels like a regular person

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: which is why I think this is Sherry Moon Zombie's best performance of

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Rob Zombie's films. She is very low-key and

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: both she and Rob Zombie are through a number of means are to me able to show a very in

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: some ways realistic grounded look at someone who goes through some sort of transformation.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Especially if it's internally, if it's in your mind, maybe you're

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: exposed to something or if it's a trauma coming back into your life and it

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: suddenly causing you to have a decline both

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: professionally, emotionally. You disconnect from people because you don't know how they're gonna handle it.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: You don't know how to talk about it. You don't even know how to really talk about it with yourself and then

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: she gets into substance abuse or back into abuse in that way in order to

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: suppress it and

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_00]: then there's an eventual spoilers here. There is an eventual

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: release I guess of all that and shows

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_00]: someone purging that evil and that

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: as at least as best you can that inner turmoil from your body and then that giving you some sort of peace.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So I was really surprised

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: even when I saw this for the first time how well that worked despite all of the other supernatural witch stuff.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: The look of the movie or the color palette rather is very washed out to where almost looks

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: black and white, but there's just enough color to give it a very distinctive look

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and then he really

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: exaggerates certain

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: color moments like for example the Red Cross in the dark room looks amazing.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Just the look of

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Sherry Moon Zombie I really like in this with the blonde dreads, the tattoos and then the iconic

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: striped shirt that she wears and more so in the second half of the movie.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: All the witchcraft stuff in terms of the flashbacks are very zombie, Rob Zombie-esque where it's very brutal like the

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: hand-carved C-section so to speak.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: The

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: scene or the dreams where she's having the or another

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: C-section by the undead doctors that's another great

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: visceral image

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: and with the

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: DJ as well as the look of

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: zombies apartment with the very elaborate

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: wallpaper.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: It definitely is calling back to movies like The Fog, the John Carpenter film as well as The Shining is probably the most

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: obvious one.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: The sound of the record with that really droning

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: unsettling underground vibe to it.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: The performances across the board I don't really have any issues with anyone. They're all very

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: understated and even the witches, the modern-day witches.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not too long it's only about 90 minutes and then the third act really goes

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: crazy with all the priest, demon priest imagery and one of the best images is

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: towards the end with her standing on top of the

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: body-made hill not to give too much away, but that is definitely one of the best

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: probably the best images that Rob Zombie has ever done and that whole third act really is one of his best.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: But I feel like as opposed to his other movies going back into the

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: overall vibe of the film it just takes its time.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00]: You're able to linger with certain shots with characters in a certain moment when they're going through hell

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: whatever it might be you give

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_00]: breathing space to these moments to really let them sink in as opposed to something like

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: let's say House of a Thousand Corpses which looking back now, it's just a

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: mishmash of different styles whereas this I feel like there's so many things that I remember vividly about it.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: One odd thing though that I just have to point out every time whenever it pops up is

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: there is a scene, it turns out to be a dream sequence, but

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a scene where Sherry Moon Zombie has to give a forced blowjob to a priest and then

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: there's also another scene where she's sleeping with her butt up in the air and then her boxers pulled halfway down and

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: of course we have to see her butt crack the top of her butt in

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: full frame and then follow it as she walks to the door. I'm like thinking it's just weird.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry to I don't want to be repetitive but like it just feels weird that Rob Zombie is

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: asking his wife to do all those things time after time after time after time and so that always sticks out to me as just

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: strange, can't help it.

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe others don't care or notice that but it's burned in my brain

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_00]: for better or for worse or that that trope is.

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I really couldn't recommend it enough.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: This might be a good one to start with if you haven't seen any Rob Zombie films

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: will probably always remain my favorite zombie film. I don't know how much more

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: filmmaking he has left in him, but as of now this is the crowning jewel.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh and another quick visual actually

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: the

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: images of the witches, the naked old witches standing in Sherry Moon Zombie's apartment, which is that

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: nightmare reality. I don't know which one it is

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: but the two shots, the one where she walks by the bathroom and the witch is standing in the room there

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and then the best one to me is

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: when she comes into the apartment and is playing with her dog and

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: there's the witch on the kitchen counter and it's a very it's not making a point of focusing on that

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but you when you see it, it's like oh my god.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a very effective

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_00]: shocking moment in the movie.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: That one is a light four and a half out of five.