#1 – The Lords of Salem (2013)
I love this film. I’m fully aware that many don’t, but it plays so heavily into many of my favorite horror subjects that it’s impossible for me to not be enamored with it. Zombie himself once described it as “Ken Russell directing The Shining”. While I don’t disagree, it feels more like Dario Argento directing Rosemary’s Baby to me (even moreso than The Sect). Witchcraft, Satanism, Lovecraftian terror, religious fanaticism, apocalyptic prophecy, curses, hyper-stylized cinematography, luscious production value, phantasmogorical imagery, etc. Take me now! I’m hot, ready, and willing!
While such things often cause me to be an easy mark, I’m also quick to crucify a film that utilizes any of these elements in an unsatisfying way. Some would argue that The Lords of Salem does just that, but I don’t agree. It’s always admirable when filmmakers try something new, even when they aren’t successful at it. I have to admit that I was initially wary to see this. Zombie was saying all the right things and citing all of the right influences (Kubrick, Russell, Lynch, Polanski, Jodorowsky, etc.) in the lead up to release, but there was no way of knowing that he would pull it off. After all, while he flirted with such things a bit in Halloween II, this was wholly unlike anything he had attempted before.
In my eyes, he pulled it off. The Lords of Salem has since not only become my favorite Rob Zombie film to date. It has become one of my favorite horror films of the 21st century. Like I said, if I felt like cheating, I’d give the #1 spot to both Lords and The Devil’s Rejects as a tie. I love the latter and consider it to be a masterwork, but my dark heart truly lies with Lords. I have to go with my heart, so in my devilish eyes, The Lords of Salem reigns supreme.
