Trailer Trashin’: Rob Zombie Returns with The Lords of Salem

Happy Valentine’s week, everyone! Whether you’re spending the day with your special someone, going to see A Good Day to Die Hard on opening day, or anything in between, I hope you enjoy your February the 14th. This week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’ is completely inappropriate for Valentine’s Day, as I examine the second trailer for Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem.

Premise: Heidi (Sheri Moon Zombie) is a DJ at a radio station in Salem, Massachusetts, and together with her friends Whitey (Jeff Daniel Phillips) and Herman (Ken Foree) forms part of the “Big H Radio Team.” A mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record arrives for Heidi, labeled “a gift from the Lords,” and she assumes it’s from a rock band trying to get their name out. When Heidi and Whitey play the record, it starts to play backwards, and Heidi experiences a flashback to a past trauma. Later, Whitey again plays the record, dubbing the band the “Lords of Salem,” and to his surprise, the record plays normally and is a massive hit with listeners. The arrival of another wooden box from the Lords presents the Big H team with free tickets, posters, and records to host a gig in Salem. But soon, Heidi and her cohorts find that the gig is far from the rock spectacle they’re expecting – the original Lords of Salem are returning, and they’re out for blood.

My take: For some years now, some of my favorite music has been the work of Rob Zombie. However, I have to somewhat ashamedly admit that I have never seen any of his films – although that is more due to my own cowardice when it comes to watching horror movies, rather than because I don’t think his films might be good. After two attempts at reviving the Halloween series, Zombie has returned to original material with The Lords of Salem. This is the second trailer for the film, and while I think it looks kind of cool, there are enough issues to keep me from seeing it at the theater.

Like all of Rob Zombie’s films The Lords of Salem has an eclectic cast, featuring many familiar faces from horror and exploitation films of the past. Sheri Moon Zombie, Rob’s wife, who has appeared in all his previous movies, has the lead role of Heidi Hawthorne. While I’m not in a position to make any comment on her abilities as an actress, I do find it refreshing to see a woman in her early forties being the lead in a film like this. The great character actor Bruce Davison – most recently seen on the excellent but short-lived TV series Last Resort – plays a character named Francis Matthias, who seems to be fulfilling the role of the older character who knows about the supernatural happenings. Other members of the cast include Jeff Daniel Phillips, who previously worked with Zombie in Halloween II (2009); Ken Foree from Dawn of the Dead (1978), Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects (2005), and Halloween (2007); Dee Wallace from The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Howling (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Zombie’s Halloween; Patricia Quinn from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975); Barbara Crampton from Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986); Andrew Prine from The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) and Grizzly (1976); Michael Berryman from The Hills Have Eyes and The Devil’s Rejects; Sid Haig from numerous blaxploitation films and Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil”s Rejects, and Halloween; and Lisa Marie, from many of Tim Burton’s earlier films.

I have to say, I quite like the look and feel of the film. I’m not sure what things are sets and what are the actual locations in Massachusetts and California, but it all looks convincing to me. A lot of it looks like mundane, ordinary places that just have something off about them, which I think is one of the best ways to create a feeling on unease and creepiness. That mundane feel is also nicely contrasted with the nightmarish look and feel of the flashbacks to the old witch trials. And knowing Zombie’s reputation for going all-out with the gore in his films, we can expect a lot of blood and guts to be spilled.

But ultimately, the biggest strike that The Lords of Salem has against it is how rather derivative it feels of other movies. Many previous films, most recently last year’s animated horror-comedy ParaNorman, have used the Salem witch trials as the basis or inspiration for their stories. The Lords of Salem also appears to be using the tired plot of the innocent woman being used as the unwilling vessel for a demon child, which was done so perfectly in Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and done badly in so many subsequent films. Of course, featuring elements that have been used before doesn’t mean a movie can’t be good, but it does make it harder for a film to stand out.

In the end, I would say this is a mixed bag leaning toward the good. It’s got an awesomely eclectic cast and a great creepy atmosphere in its favor. But it also has a fairly unoriginal story working against it. However, I feel that anyone who wants to do original genre films, rather than just sequels and remakes, should have our support. I’ll wait to see what other people have to say about it, but as a fan of Rob Zombie, I’m definitely interested in checking out The Lords of Salem.

ANTICIPATION: My interest is piqued, but maybe not enough to see it at the theater.

Release Date: April 19th, 2013 in limited theaters

Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Ken Foree, Dee Wallace, Judy Greeson, Ernest Lee Thomas, Patricia Quinn, Torsten Voges, Meg Foster, Maria Conchita Alonso, Barbara Crampton, Andrew Prine, Michael Berryman, Sid Haig, and Lisa Marie
Director: Rob Zombie
Writer: Rob Zombie

P.S. Did anyone else watch the BAFTAs on Sunday night? I quite enjoyed them, although that largely has to do with Stephen Fry being the host.