The Lords of Salem (2012) - Zombie's disturbing satanic radio witch horror lacks a compelling center

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+ Most Sinister Movie of the Year

Sheri Moon Zombie in satanic goth emo getup on this decay-tinted poster for Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem

A woman rock radio host in Salem, Massachusetts receives a record with a mysterious melody, which awakens something sinister in her and other women, which hails from the witches of Salem's past...

The Lords of Salem is written and directed by Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses (2003)). Zombie denies us conventionality in the form of murders and relatable characters here: Instead Bruce Davison (Return of the Killer Shrews (2012)) researches around, (he is a Salem witch trial expert), while Sheri Moon Zombie (Halloween (2007)), the filmmaker's wife, gabbles with her maybe-boyfriend with occult stuff in her surroundings.
It never becomes really exciting or scary; the plot is simply too feeble-minded for that. It is a shame, because The Lords of Salem features strong and highly unpleasant imagery; the sabbath in the beginning is enormously hideous; the mystical melody does sound like something straight out of hell, and there is no shortage of strange and disturbing images overall, springing from a concert hall of a religious variety. The Lords of Salem is blasphemous or more accurately satanical, which makes it especially tough diet for Christians. 

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Rob Zombie: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
Halloween (2007) - Zombie's remake is a bloody stinker
The Devil's Rejects (2005) - Zombie's crazy serial killer Americana

Watch an interview with Rob Zombie about the film here

Cost: 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 1.5 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1 time the cost)
[The Lords of Salem premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Ontario) and runs 101 minutes. Zombie was given free reins with a low budget from horror producer maestro Jason Blum to do something supernatural. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in Salem, Massachusetts from October - December 2011. Zombie toured with his band, while the film was edited. It opened #16 to a 642k $ first weekend in 354 theaters in North America, where it decreased from there, playing a total of 4 weeks, grossing 1.1 mil. $ (73.3 % of the total gross). The only 2 foreign markets accounted for are Italy with 373k $ (24.9 %) and Spain with 5k $ (0.3 %). Rob Zombie returned with a video promo, a concert film of his own metal band Rob Zombie and theatrically with 31 (2016). Sheri Moon Zombie returned in said promo and theatrically in 31. The Lords of Salem is rotten at 46 % with a 5.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Lords of Salem?

Halloween (2007) - Zombie's remake is a bloody stinker

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A mask that seemingly holds back a mass of bothersome memories lights up this well-made poster for Rob Zombie's Halloween

Escaping after 17 years in a sanatorium, murder convict lunatic Michael Myers escapes and returns to Haddonfield and his little sister Laurie...

Halloween is written and directed by Rob Zombie (The Devil's Rejects (2005)), remaking John Carpenter's great slasher classic Halloween (1978). Zombie adds content to tell of Myers' almost comical childhood and his mask fetish, but seemingly only because most other areas of the Halloween universe have already been covered in the franchise's 8 preceding films.
Halloween features no real sense of character development or scene building, as everything is shot shakily and ultra-close in gritty images with a continually stressful quality. There is lots of blood but little in the way of actual, dazzling special effects. Worst for the film is that we are not made to care about a single one in it. This is an awfully bad remake.

Related posts:

Rob Zombie: 2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Devil's Rejects (2005) - Zombie's crazy serial killer Americana

Hear the theme for the film here, - which naturally reuses Carpenter's legendary original 1978 ditto

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 80.2 mil. $
= Big hit (5.34 times the cost)
[Halloween was released 31 August (North America) and runs 110 minutes. Carpenter is a friend of Zombie, and when Zombie informed him of the remake plans, he urged Zombie to "make it his own." Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles and in the neighborhood Carpenter shot in for the original film, from January - March 2007 with reshoots in June. 4 days before the release, a workprint, which Zombie stated was an older version of the film, was released online. The film opened #1 to a stellar 26.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#5) and grossed 58.2 mil. $ (72.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 3.6 mil. $ (4.5 %) and Italy with 3.4 mil. $ (4.2 %). It is the highest-grossing Halloween movie to date, unadjusted for inflation. Zombie returned with the much less successful Halloween II (2009). Halloween is rotten at 25 % with a 4.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Halloween?

The Devil's Rejects (2005) - Zombie's crazy serial killer Americana

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+ Craziest Movie of the Year

One of the more (appropriately) ludicrous posters for Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects

QUICK REVIEW:

The sheriff of a small Texas town raids the corpse-littered home of an infamous family, but the three main suspects flee, and a bloody chase commences.

The Devil's Rejects is the follow-up to writer-director Rob Zombie's (The Lords of Salem (2012)) horror hit House of 1000 Corpses (2003). It is a brutal cocktail with a plot that lies in the slipstream of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Helter Skelter (1976, TV movie). The Devil's Rejects seems to be genuinely thrilled with these types of ultra-psychopaths, which is obviously too upsetting for a lot of people to enjoy.
At the same time the film's style pays homage to 1970s exploitation cinema with slow-mo sequences and other gimmicks, SPOILER and the shoot-em-up ending (to Lynyrd Skynard's Freebird), which is outlaw romance in the vein of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Audiences who are unaware of these cultural origins may just think Rejects a gruesome picture, (which it also is.)
Horror fans will also delight in its featuring legendary horror stars like Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead (1978)) and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes (1977)). Of the actors' performances overall, Kate Norby (The Mentalist (2011), TV-series) as victim Wendy and William Forsythe (Southern Gothic (2007)) as the sheriff should be singled out.
Like other Zombie films, Rejects features excessive swearing. All in all it is an okay and pretty crazy movie.

 

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2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, here's a tutorial to create Rob Zombie's makeup, which he wears when he is touring with his heavy metal band White Zombie

Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 19.3 mil. $
= Box office success
[The Devil's Rejects was released July 22 and runs 109 minutes. The film was submitted 8 times for rating to the MPAA, who, according to Zombie, had a problem with the film's overall tone, before an R-rating was secured, after two minutes were cut from the film, (which are reinserted in the DVD version.) Rejects ended up more successful than 1000 Corpses, SPOILER but to distributor Lionsgate's detriment, Zombie killed off the main characters in the film's end, and made a point of rejecting any talk of another sequel. Rejects opened #8 to a 7 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 17 mil. $ (88.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets for it were the UK with 1.5 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Italy with 1.1 mil. $ (5.7 %). The Devil's Rejects is rotten at 53 % with a 5.4 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Devil's Rejects?