Lords of Salem 2013 - REVIEW

Rob Zombie is at it again.  You either love his movies or you hate them.  I am a fan for the most part.  I don't think that he is the best horror director out there but he definitely is unique in his style and film making.  One thing I can say about him is he is an incredible writer but I think when he does both writing and directing something gets lost in translation.  That is kind of what I think happened here.  Such a fantastic idea for a movie but it was so fucked up and just plain out there that its fan base is pretty small.

Heidi Hawthone (Sherri Moon Zombie) is a radio personality at a Salem, MA rock station with her cohorts Whitey (Jeff Daniel Phillips) and Herman Jackson (Ken Foree).  She receives a record in the mail from a metal group called The Lords.  They play it on air but everytime it is played Heidi starts feeling ill and her behavior starts getting more and more bizarre.  She becomes detached from reality and is falling under the spell an evil that she is connected to more than she realizes.

This is one film that is really hard to write a synopsis for considering I have watched it 3 times and only vaguely know what it is about.  I don't necessarily dislike this film but it is definitely out there and at times really does not make a whole lot of sense.  Specially towards the end of the movie, it almost seems like a pile of scenes were put together and were meant to leave you wondering what the fuck did I just watch.

I'm not a huge fan of Sherri Moon Zombie but I think this is probably one of her better performances of all the movies she has been in which coincidentally are her husbands movies.  The supporting cast are alot of horror actors and actresses from the good ole days like Ken Foree, Dee Wallace, and Meg Foster.  All of which do a stand out job in this film with their roles.

To conclude I do like this movie just not that much.  If it had made sense just a little bit more then I may have been totally on board.  A lackluster finale and just weird imagery really leaves me teetering on this one.  I would give Lords 5 out of 10 stars. I could not bring myself to give anything more on this one.  Stay twisted everyone!

The Devil's Rejects 2005 - REVIEW

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Horrorhound Convention in Cincinnati, OH.  Like many conventions this year the 10 yr anniversary of House of 1000 Corpses is making their rounds.  Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Jennifer Jostyn just to name a few.  This inspired me after the day was over to go home and watching The Devil's Rejects.  I chose the sequel because I am not really a huge fan of the original and there are not many movies you can say that about.

The Firefly house is quiet and everyone is sleeping until a herd of police surround the property ready to take force and bring down the family.  Rufus (Tyler Mane) is already downstairs in his armor ready for battle.  Otis (Bill Moseley), Baby (Sherri Moon Zombie), and Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook) join him downstairs were the gunfire ensues.  Otis and Baby get away while Mother Firefly attends to a dead Rufus, she is taken by the police squad led by Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe).  Baby and Otis quickly get a car and contact the real leader of their group, Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig).  They agree to meet up at a hotel and get a game plan together so they can make their getaway.  On the other side Sheriff Wydell is preparing for revenge for the death of his brother in the hands of the sick Firefly family.  To him this is personal and he will not stop until they are all dead.

In my opinion this is Rob Zombie's best film to date.  In this film Rob really was able to harness what he was trying to do with House of 1000 Corpses.  House's story was all over the place were here it is much less clustered and gets the point across quickly.  One of the big reasons for the success was bringing back the main crew of Bill, Sid, and Sherri.  They really do make a good team.  Karen Black did not return as Mother Firefly but Leslie Easterbrook did a fine job of taking on the role.  While no one really compares to the likes of Karen, Leslie looks very similar and can act just a crazy as Karen can.

Like most Zombie films this included many cameo's and smaller roles by well known actors and actresses such as Ginger Lynn, Geoffry Lewis and Danny Trejo.  Zombie has his regulars he likes to use in his films and it usually works.  The best performance in this film however was from Moseley.  Not since Chop Top for me has his character been more disturbed.  Sid give his good performance as usual and Sherri, well she is Sherri and acts as good as she can I guess.  I really do not dislike her but as someone told me recently "she does not emote her emotions!"  After hearing that I now pay closer attention to her face rather than the rest of her body and that person is right.

Rob Zombie, if you notice, likes to pay homage to the 70's exploitation films.  While never outright saying this movie was set in the 70's or present day, the soundtrack tends to give a different impression.  I really like the classic rock as the soundtrack.  Specially "Freebird" at the end of the film.  It's just fantastic placement for a dramatic ending.  To me, I'll say it again, this is Rob Zombie at this best.  He may not be able to top this  2005 gem.  Stay twisted everyone!