Lords Of Salem: A Review

The killing joke about a Rob Zombie film is the unpredictability of what's about to happen. Thus far, his movies have been increasingly confident - a term I wholly dislike because it sounds like I know what I'm talking about as a film-maker but in this case, I mean nothing other than how obvious it is that Rob is getting pretty damn good at this sideline of his. Is it a sideline? Perhaps not. In Lords of Salem, Rob has created a rare beast. It's a movie that embraces everything that was great about seventies horror - it pulls and tears at Don't Look Now, Rosemary's Baby, Altered States, The Devil Rides Out, acts like it was made for $8000, looks like it cost more than it probably did and will either leave you with a bad taste in your mouth or feeling like you got clipped by the wing mirror of a passing car.

More arthouse than multiplex, its success lies in how unsettling it is. The plot is solid (if not well trodden) and simple enough to allow RZ to do what he's done to it. If it were any more complex, it would have lost an awful lot of its visual appeal that's for sure. It's certainly not a movie to rip to shreds in the search for a reason why either - more something to live through and experience - and that's what makes it far superior to the dirge normally dished out in the name of shock and awe.

Worthy and of note here - which makes a change as this usually comes as an afterthought - is the casting and the soundtrack. Both are pretty damn flawless. Sheri Moon puts in the best performance of her career but she is far from the only one - both Bruce Davison and Judy Geeson form solid lynchpins within the movie, Geeson particularly so with her superb performance as a landlady.

The soundtrack on the other hand, is absolutely not something you'd listen to at home - spellbindingly crafted by John 5 (no surprises there), it sits in the movie like a member of the cast. It must have been thirty years since that much thought was put into a soundtrack. So strong is it that the aural experience of the movie is just as important as what's going on visually. I swear, if the man could have found a way to drop taste and smell into the movie, he would have - it's that kind of sensory overload.

When they come to write the history books, Roman Polanski and Ken Russell are unlikely to be alone when mentioned. There will be somebody else lurking in the darkness. He probably doesn't believe he belongs there, but that would be a lie.

I have nothing bad to say about Lords of Salem. I loved it from one side of hell to the other. If you get a chance, you should do this. here's the trailer if you have absolutely no idea what I've been talking about:

Vdio Killed The Rdio Star

Something like six months ago, I subscribed to rdio - if you don't know what it is, you should check it out. It's by far the best music subscription service out there - there's very little that they haven't got. Honestly speaking though, it might not be the best - I don't know because I've never looked at the others. I have plenty of friends who moan a lot about their services but with rdio, I haven't had much cause for complaint at all. There's a few things I'd like to see done differently in the interface but it's early days and they'll figure it out. If you're already a member, you can find me here - for £10 a month, I seriously hammer it but it's without doubt the best £10 a month I have ever spent on music since the digital revolution. A few weeks back as a bi-product of this, I found myself with a free trial subscription to their new movie streaming service called vdio (natch) - along with a £20 sweetener so that I could test the beta out. Again, I have to tell you - it's pretty freaking solid. Absolutely zero glitches in the streaming. Excellent quality. There's an awful lot of material there that netflix don't have (I watched Marathon Man a couple of days ago - superb as ever) and even though I think it's a little on the expensive side, it's certainly a far superior experience to going to a rental store. All they need to figure out is how to let me buy the damn film on my iPad (as opposed to buying it on the Big Machine and then it appearing on my iPad) and we just might be in long term business.

Tonight though, all is forgiven because I've just seen that they have Rob Zombie's new movie Lords of Salem available for advanced viewing. So for the next couple of hours - that's me all figured out...

Reap The Whirlwind.

Via the magic of cross pollination somewhere on the web, I came across this today:

The Tiny Wife is one of the greatest books ever written. It should only take you a few hours to whip through it but what it says will stay with you for the rest of your years.  I've already bought two copies of this in the last year and given them both away. I have no doubt at all that the one I still have will go the same way eventually. It's an Andrew Kaufman masterpiece that quashes even the incredible All My Friends Are Superheroes. Tom Percival's art only adds to the experience.

One thing I didn't know was that Tom also does the cover art for Skullduggery Pleasant - on which note, if you're not familiar with, you need to get in the car sometime today and get the hell on with it. One day, when I get myself some money, Tom's is one of the first doors I will be knocking on.

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Also on my travels this morning, I see that Rob Zombie's new movie Lords of Salem is almost upon us:

The guy is a genius film-maker. If you've never seen his reworking of Halloween, it totally grounds the original premise into the ground - and as he moves forward, he only gets better and better. The reason for these two things appearing here is 'inspiration'. So long as there are always people out in the world raising the standard all the time of what's achievable, I'll always have something to push against.

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Which brings me neatly onto what the hell is going on here. Last night, as stated, the tumblr feed began to be whittled away at, the eagle eyed amongst you will see that the 'social' widget has also disappeared. It doesn't make me anti-social, honest! I think I have seen the light though. The temptation with building an online HQ is to reach as many people as possible in the hope that your name will spread and help you along the way, but it doesn't work how you think it does.

Having given it a push for a good few months, I found myself trying to feed smaller and smaller parts of myself into the grinder - and that's not what I do. There's a few scraps still lying around that need addressing but over the following weeks, I look forward to eeeking them out as well. It's surprising how you can get dragged into the psyche of the world and what it thinks is a good idea.

Anyway, that decision is made. It's a good decision too. Let me tell you why. Take a look at this graphic.

Every single one of those orange rectangles is time taken away from spending it with people I love, time for writing big things - or small things even. Hell, there are eleven rectangles there and you can probably add a few more for every year that goes by. The last sentence on that slide is a lie. People are inherently lazy and don't back track - certainly not from a space like flickr. People are also easily distracted and every single one of those places will pimp something sexy at you to keep you within their own space at the single click of a button. This is business for these people.

I feel better having written that.

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Being as I've already posted two clips for you to watch while you pretend you're doing something else today, figured this would be a fine place to pull in an old tumblr post.

The great Robert McGinnis - all of which have been used as classic pulp covers - I kinda like how they look in their original form, so here they are… I believe Robert is still working - for Hardcase Crime.

Good work Mr Smith. More later... maybe.