Horrorfest Review: The Lords Of Salem (2013)

Cast: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips
Director: Rob Zombie
Country: USA | UK | Canada
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Official Trailer: Here

Editor’s Notes: The following review is part of our coverage for the 3rd Annual ThatJaime Horrorfest put on by Next Projection’s own Jaime Burchardt, which runs from October 1st to October 31st. For more information this online horror film series visit thatjaime.com/horrorfest and follow ThatJaime Horrorfest on Twitter at @ThatJaimeHF.

There are many examples of style over substance when it comes to cinema and unfortunately The Lords Of Salem is one such film. The story centres around Heidi Hawthorne (Sheri Moon Zombie) who plays a late night radio DJ. She is anonymously sent a box containing a strange record; a supposed “gift from the lords”. When played on the radio the strange sounds trigger a series of flashbacks showing the violent past of her home town. As the visions intensify Heidi begins to wonder if she is going mad but the truth could be far worse than she could have imagined.

There are many examples of style over substance when it comes to cinema and unfortunately The Lords Of Salem is one such film.

There are things with The Lords Of Salem that are impressive, elements that show what an original and inspired filmmaker Rob Zombie can be. The cinematography is beautifully dark and brooding giving a real sense of foreboding terror and imminent violence. The oppressing sound is unrelenting in its invasiveness, penetrating your brain as if you really were listening to a record from the former denizens of the town of Salem. The performances are suitably understated and over the top at the same time giving a real feeling of lack of control when under the spell of The Lords.

The problem is that the film is just a bit dull. Despite all its strengths The Lords Of Salem never really rises above being simply an artistic experiment, as if a challenge for its makers to produce something that is troublingly atmospheric and as black as possible in nature but in doing so they seem to have forgotten to make the story interesting. It quickly becomes evident where the plot is going and as soon as this realisation kicks in it becomes impossible to muster too much enthusiasm for the baggy and indulgent story.

The cinematography is beautifully dark and brooding giving a real sense of foreboding terror and imminent violence. The oppressing sound is unrelenting in its invasiveness…

Rob Zombie has done good things, and bad things in the past. The Devil’s Rejects was an interesting and inventive take on the backwoods killer theme but the Halloween remakes were simply awful. One thing that can be agreed on is that aesthetically he has a good eye, an ability to convey thoughts and ideas through artistic imagery but without the support of a strong script this becomes simply secondary and just cosmetic packaging. Simply put, Zombie can direct but can he write?

The Lords Of Salem is worth checking out as late night viewing after an evening out but is little more than that, and will probably be forgotten about in the morning. It may become one of those films that everyone knows they have seen but struggles to remember exactly what it was about and what happened. Zombie will probably do good work in the future, and will certainly be worth watching, but how successful his films are will surely depend on whether he writes the screenplay or not.

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John Townsend

Staff Film Critic

My interest in film originated from the excited anticipation of waiting to find out which new film would be shown on television as the Christmas Day premiere, which probably says more about my age than I would like! I am a lover of all things cinematic with a particular interest in horror and began writing and reviewing as an excuse to view and discuss as many films as possible, with as many people as possible.

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