143 - The Lords of Salem

    A DJ receives a mysterious record, which leads to a strange modern coven, and the legacy of witches in Salem.
    A peculiar movie.
    I've had some mixed feelings about Rob Zombie's work as a director.  His enthusiasm for 70s horror is something I share with him, but it's his modern elements that I have a harder time getting behind.  I liked House of 1000 Corpses, but I had a really hard time with the darkness of The Devil's Rejects.  I never saw Halloween or Halloween II.
    The Lords of Salem is a little more toned down than what I've seen.  It's better paced, and it's not quite as bleak as Rejects was.  I don't mind downer endings, but he seems to revel in them a little more than I'd like.
    His direction is good, and he has a nice eye for framing memorable shots.  I'm not a fan of how the picture was colored.  The shadows are actually distracting, which takes away from setting the story in the real world.  Over the credits, there's a montage of shots of streets and buildings, and those are lit very well.  In fact, I think all the exterior shots were exactly the way I would like them.
    The story is a mix of good and bad.  I think I like the moderate pace of development, but it all seems a little too predictable.  That isn't a serious problem, since the direction is generally interesting, and there are still a few sequences that I didn't see coming.  The biggest problem is the quantity of material that seems to be weird for weird's sake.  I'm more likely to tune out when I see things like the reference to A Trip to the Moon, which doesn't seem to have any particular meaning.
    Even so, there are some remarkable visuals.  I'm glad to see that IMDB claims that there are no digital effects.  It's good to see that.
    I'm not sure what I'll think of this as time goes on.  If anything, it's made me more interested in rewatching The House of the Devil, which covers similar ground, but I have stronger feelings for Ti West than I do Rob Zombie.
    Regardless of my reservations, I like that Rob Zombie is out there making horror movies that are throwbacks to other time periods.  It's pleasing, and kind of comforting to see works that look this way.