Title: The Lords of Salem
Year: 2012
Director: Rob Zombie
Writer(s): Rob Zombie
Producer(s): Rob Zombie, Jason Blum, Andy Gould, Oren Peli
Costume(s): Leah Butler
Cinematography: Brandon Trost
Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Ken Foree, Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, María Conchita Alonso, Judy Geeson, Andrew Prine and Meg Foster
Out of all of the films that Rob Zombie has done or at least had his hands on, The Lords of Salem is one of the few that a) I like and b) is very, very colorful and in your face with said color. I’ve always thought this with Zombie’s works, and we can debate about his abilities of directing but I will say that his music videos (from what I remember and it has been a while) are predecessors to what his movies look like and I think you get it mostly with The Lords of Salem, House of 1000 Corpses and maybe Halloween, a little bit of it in that.
The eye, the aesthetic, the use of colors and why we’re using said colors, it’s been there from the beginning.
Thanks to the cinematography of Trost, he and Zombie create a very interesting “looking” movie. As lush and full of bright colors like red, yellow (mostly) and some pink and stark white, the movie has these moments of toning down the movie that makes it look almost gray-ish. Perhaps you can analyze it in a way of this new “world” that Zombie is taking us into (and his wife Sheri Moon playing lead Heidi experiences) a moderately normal, average, everyday kind of life where the colors look very drab and not so exciting. It’s a reflection of Heidi’s life. And it isn’t until little things start infiltrating her life and we see the “introduction” of color pouring in.
Lots of neon light, physically neon lighting that makes the noise cues for an audible, sensory experience.
I think visually, Zombie makes the watching movie experience easier. You don’t have to understand what is going on within a script format but he will show you what you need to be paying attention to. The imagery used is to grab your attention, I mean, sitting “priests” with their d*cks out, masturbating kind of reminded me of the party scene In Jacob’s Ladder where you’re so confused at whether or not he’s seeing things because it seems so fast paced and frantic.
As it has been about 2-3 years since I’ve seen this film, there are moments that I do remember still etched in my brain.
The Lords of Salem is available on prime.
Shots of Horror 