Movies
Rob Zombie Reveals More on ‘Lords of Salem’
I’d say for every person that loves Rob Zombie’s films, there’s one who absolutely hates his works. For better or worse, the shock-rocker-turned-director is a big name in horror, and I’d dare you to name 5 more modern day genre directors that pique your interest as much as he does.
Zombie, who helmed House of 1,000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects and the previous two Halloween films, is developing The Lords of Salem for Haunted Pictures (the team behind Paranormal Activity), while also keeping Tyrannosaurus Rex in the cards. Fortunately, he’s decided against remaking The Blob. Inside you can see the latest on all things Zombie.
What we’ve learned is that Lords of Salem takes place in contemporary Salem, where the inhabitants receive a demonic visit from a 300-year old coven of witches. Apparently, the story follows a DJ in Salem who unleashes a horde of demonic minions after she plays a cursed record. Zombie tells Empire a bit more:
“Inspired by the Salem witch trials, the film won’t be a period piece, but will sport a prologue set in 1692. “There were twenty people that everyone knows about – obviously all innocent – executed as witches in Salem,” explains Rob. “The basic premise of the film is that there were a further four who actually were witches, who were killed secretly, and vowed one day to return to wreak havoc on Salem’s descendants. That’s when the movie jumps ahead to the present day and things start to go wrong…” ”
“Lords of Salem is probably the bleakest of all my films,” Rob adds. “It’s only gonna get worse!”
Shooting starts, if all goes to plan, on April 18th, as soon as he gets home from the tour.
Speaking on the two aforementioned films, Zombie still hopes to make Tyrannosaurus Rex, but has backed out of directing The Blob: “I didn’t want to do another remake,” he tells Empire. “You just can’t win. If it’s too similar to the original, everybody wonders what the point was, but if it’s too different, everybody complains that it’s… too different! I found especially with Halloween II that everyone talked about what it wasn’t and not what it was: ‘you can’t do that with Michael Myers; you can’t do that with Loomis…’ It’s like people have a set of rules in their minds about how these things should function, and you can’t work like that.” Smart man.
Two-time BAFTA winning filmmaker Joe Wright (Hanna, “Black Mirror“) is set to direct the feature adaptation of post-apocalyptic thriller novel, Juice, Deadline reports today.
Emmy winner Abi Morgan (Shame, “Eric”) will adapt Tim Winton‘s novel for Working Title Films.
In Juice, “A young husband and father is recruited into a top-secret resistance organization, to join the ranks of militia men tasked with targeting the isolated and wealthy culprits responsible for this global catastrophe. When a mission goes wrong, he finds himself on the run, having to fight to the end to survive in this hostile world.”
It’s set in a world ravaged by climate-change disaster.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled that Tim Winton has entrusted us with his extraordinary epic,” Wright told Deadline. “The story is both a thrilling modern family saga and an urgent call to action. I cannot wait for audiences to experience it on the big screen.”
Winton added, “I’m pleased to know a filmmaker of Joe Wright’s calibre has chosen to adapt Juice for the screen. His capacity to portray the turmoil and the turning points of nations and peoples as well as private individuals distinguishes his work as a director and I’m confident that Juice is in good hands.”
Juice was initially published in October 2024 and longlisted for The Climate Fiction Prize 2026.
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