The Lords Of Salem (2013)

"And out of the darkness, the Zombie did call
True pain and suffering he brought to them all
Away ran the children to hide in their beds,
for fear that the devil would chop off their heads"

 Hellbilly Deluxe - Call of The Zombie

During my time in history class in both high school and college, I was always quite fascinated with the Salem Witch Trials. Although briefly coved in both venues, they seemed to stick with me even after my time in the educational establishments. The thought that people where being prosecuted and killed for something so outlandish seemed to resonate deep in my subconscious. These events caused a mass hysteria, and as a result women who didn’t fit the preverbal mold of the 1690’s God-Fearing Massachusetts woman were subsequently targeted.

Written & Directed by Rob Zombie, The Lords of Salem uses the events of The Salem Witch Trails as a catalyst for its story. Set in present time Salem, a local Radio DJ receives a mysterious Edison vinyl record from The Lords. Thinking this record is nothing more than some local band, the DJ plays the record on the air while coining the name The Lords of Salem for the group. The strange musical score on the record awakens something evil and the women of Salem start acting strange

The film stars Sherry Moon Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, Devils Rejects, Halloween), Bruce Davison (X-Men, Harry & The Henderson’s), Jeff Daniel Phillips (Faster), Ken Foree (Dawn of The Dead, Devils Rejects, Halloween, From Beyond)  Meg Foster (They Live, Leviathan, Masters Of The Universe), Judy Geeson, Patricia Quinn (Rocky Horror Picture Show), and Dee Wallace (The Howling, Cujo, E.T., Critters).

The Acting is very good, Sherry does an excellent job as Heidi, The film is predominantly revolving around her and her mental transition. The supporting cast all do a great job as well, all putting forth solid performances and making the film very entertaining.

The film is a relatively slow burning film with the final 15 – 20 minutes being like a psychotic acid trip, and generally creeping you out with extreme imagery that undoubtedly will stick in your head for a couple days after you watch the film. While the images of the finale are great I feel the story was completely lost at that point. They did such a good job crafting this creepy story and the conclusion, while visually awesome, was quite lackluster. So much so that it took me out of the film.

The film is decently light on gore and red stuff until the finally. You get some burnings, C-section births, demon baby, and a bludgeoning. The film is also full of nudity, full frontal nudity from many women, and some women that should not have been nude. Sherry shows off her booty yet again as well.

I really like Zombie’s films, this one was not an acceptation. I do feel the films finale was cool but didn’t really resolve. This actually took the wind out of the sails for the film. I felt that it was leading to something more, and it never really did. GLP give the effort a 3.5 stabs out of 5. Zombies movies are always very entertaining, and I like that his love for early 70’s and 80’s cinema show through in his shooting style. The find out more about The Lords of Salem visit the Official Website, Facebook, or Twitter pages. This film is currently still in theaters with a VERY Limited release, but if you have a all region DVD or Blu-ray player you can import the DVD from Amazon UK for about $16. View the trailer below.

GLP Rating: