I firmly believe that you should always watch a movie at least once. You get more information that way, more things you may have missed on the first go. You also give a second chance to movies that perhaps didn’t have a big enough budget, or are first-timers in the industry. Most of the time I give second chances to movies, but this time I’m giving a second chance to a person: Rob Zombie.
We all know Rob Zombie as the king of 70s grindhouse with a modern twist. His casts always seem to consist of (at the very least), his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, and screen veteran Sid Haig. He has a penchant for rotten characters that only seem to get more despicable as time goes on. Blood, guts, and lots of “fucks” are 99% of the things that come to mind when someone mentions Rob Zombie movies. Truth be told, all of these things are not my favorite things.
My first experience with Rob Zombie was watching House of 1000 Corpses, which I saw probably way too young. Granted, I’ve only watched that film once so I don’t remember much, but what I do remember is fond — putting my newly rented VHS tape into my bedroom TV and wasting my summer afternoons away with gore and debauchery. I thought, “Oh cool, this guy made an interesting movie. Let’s see what else he has!” I picked up Halloween (2007) next.
Lord have mercy. I’m sure there are many people reading this right now that know exactly what I’m about to say.
The mix of confusion and anger was a new feeling for me. OK, Michael is scary, but why is he The Hulk? Who is this little blond kid? Why is everyone so disgustingly terrible? It’s like the only reason Michael Myers kills is because his family is a bunch of douchebags. Now don’t get me wrong, a lot of real-life serial killers start off with that kind of life — I’m more confused at why Michael needed a reason to kill. It’s much scarier to know there’s no actual reason someone is killing, just that they enjoy it. Giving Myers this background gave him an excuse to murder, something that wasn’t needed.
The more movies I watched, the more I focused on the characters. Sheri Moon as a hippie lady. Sig Haig as an angry clown. Three other long-haired crazy people doing crazy-people things. I’m starting to notice a pattern here. It got to the point that I had left Rob Zombie films for dead. They weren’t my style and I was very bored with it all. I distinctly remember sitting in a theater in 2012 when The Lords of Salem trailer played, thinking “Eh, Rob Zombie? I’ll pass.”
That is, until I came across The Lords of Salem on Shudder. Reading the synopsis, I remembered seeing the trailer and thinking it looked cool, but was unwilling to waste an hour and a half of my life with another 70s grindhouse piece. But my curiosity got the better of me and I gave it a try. We open to a coven of 17th century witches, writhing their dirty, naked bodies as they place a curse on the town. Then we’re transported to a surprisingly put-together Sheri Moon in modern day Salem. Back and forth we go as Sheri, a radio DJ, is given a mysterious record that transforms her into the birth mother of a demon that will lead Salem’s witch coven once again. Is it all a fever dream of her past as a drug addict, or are these witches for real?
Even today, I am amazed at how this movie made me feel. In all honesty, it is beautiful in sound and picture, enough to be one of my top 10 favorites. Every scene transported me to a Salem autumn day (which was nice, considering I watched it in Virginia’s mid-summer heat and humidity). The score, meant to put the movie’s women of Salem in a trance, felt like it was trying to do the same to me. A simple, four-note melody dug into my core and latched itself to my bones. I was mesmerized by the imagery of witchy demons coming to take Sheri’s (Heidi, in the movie) soul. How could I have missed this gem?!
Rob Zombie is not completely off of my No-Watch list, but he is in a better place than he was a few years ago. Every director is like every movie — different, if you can look past the glaring annoyances. Zombie, at least as far as his movies go, is an acquired taste. But like root beer or pigs feet or bugs, it can grow on you if you get that one good morsel. It’s clear that Rob Zombie has a following whether you like him or not, as evidence in cult fanfare as a house and scare-zone were announced at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights this year. But no matter how you feel about a filmmaker, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you cast away their whole life’s work.
I gave Rob Zombie a second chance and am glad I did. The Lords of Salem was a breath of fresh air and one you shouldn’t miss out of Zombie’s repertoire. If you’re not a fan, you should give him another chance too — if not Rob Zombie, than another director or composer or actor or even production assistant. Second chances are deserved, and it doesn’t apply to just movies.
Article previously written for Morbidly Beautiful. This article has since been updated.
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