Editorials
The 5 Rob Zombie Films From Worst To Best!!!
Rob Zombie is most certainly a talented visualist, but he’s an inconsistent storyteller. That being said, I’ve found something to appreciate (and dislike) in almost all of his films and I figured now would be as good a time as any to take a look at his filmography. If anything, he does deserve some credit for having his own vision.
His upcoming The Lords of Salem hits limited theaters (New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, DC, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Detroit) on April 19th from Anchor Bay Films, and I also thought it would be interesting to discuss my thoughts on the film within the larger context of his overall filmography.
The film “tells the tale of Heidi (Sheri Moon Zombie), a radio station DJ living in Salem, Massachusetts, who receives a strange wooden box containing a record, a “gift from the Lords.” Heidi listens, and the bizarre sounds within the grooves immediately trigger flashbacks of the town’s violent past. Is Heidi going mad, or are the “Lords of Salem” returning for revenge on modern-day Salem?”
Head inside for The 5 Rob Zombie Films From Worst To Best!!
5: HALLOWEEN
This is obviously Zombie’s worst outing, and I think most of us can agree on that. While I appreciate the fact that he was trying to do something new with the franchise, the intent behind his departure rang false. You simply can’t explain why Michael Myers is evil, he’s evil incarnate. Zombie tried to remove the “incarnate” part by setting up a nature vs. nurture argument (in which nurture clearly wins) and trafficking in the white-trash iconography that had served him well in his previous work. It doesn’t serve him well here, though. Nor does the protracted amount of time we spend in the asylum or the 3rd act that tries to remake the events of the 1978 original at hyper-speed.
4: HALLOWEEN 2
While not an entirely successful film, Halloween 2 at least has the courtesy to be interestingly bizarre. Malcolm McDowell’s Loomis is an entirely different character than in the first movie, which is entertaining if you can get onboard with it. I have no idea what the white horse business is about, but there you go again. If anything, it just feels like a hallucination of a Rob Zombie movie – which I’m almost okay with. Even if I have almost no idea why I’m supposed to like Laurie, the kills are sufficiently brutal.
3: HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this movie but my overall impression of it was that it was rather fun. After a gonzo opening, it struggles mightily with its tone and visual aesthetic, but it never really becomes boring. This is Zombie still finding his voice during his transition into film, and the parts of it that do click work well enough.
2: THE LORDS OF SALEM
This movie is an utter failure on the narrative front, but it looks amazing. Maybe it’s the breath of fresh air effect after having been in Haddonfield for so long, but it’s nice to catch up with Zombie’s growth outside of the Halloween films. There are many legitimately creepy moments and some astoundingly cool shots that make this endeavor worthwhile in some regard. Like I said, the story fails to engage and Sheri Moon’s performance as Heidi isn’t consistent – but it’s good eye candy. In fact, some of it is downright beautiful.
1: THE DEVIL’S REJECTS
Far and away Zombie’s strongest film, The Devil’s Rejects transforms the tentative beginnings of House Of 1,000 Corpses into something far more assured. This is an ugly, menacing, visceral and funny movie – and it’s certainly the best approximation of the Rob Zombie aesthetic (as I understand it) currently committed to celluloid. Rejects is the only film currently eligible for this list that punches you in the gut and makes you feel something.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.