Throwback Thursday: House of 1000 Corpses

The movie that started it all for Rob Zombie's film career. Love him or hate him the man definitely has a look and feel that is all his own and has been one of a few --even with remakes of "Halloween-- that has had an original take on the horror genre.

 Initially shot in 2000 on the Universal Studios back lot (Zombie used the house from the Burt Reynolds' classic "Best Little Whore House in Texas"),  however, what was embraced in the beginning, Stacey Snider the then new head at Universal shelved the  film in fear that it would only garner a NC-17 rating. After several months Zombie was able to wrestle the film back and was then ultimately sold and released by Lions Gate Entertainment.

Zombie draws from the pool and genre he knows best setting "House of a Thousand Corpses" late 1970's during a time when films of this nature where all the rage.

On October 30, 1977, Jerry Goldsmith, Bill Hudley, Mary Knowles, and Denise Willis are on the road in hopes of writing a book on offbeat roadside attractions. When the four meet Captain Spaulding, a vulgar but friendly owner of a gas station and "Museum of Monsters & Madmen", they learn the local legend of Dr. Satan. As they take off in search of the tree from which Dr. Satan was hanged, they pick up a young hitchhiker named Baby, who claims to live only a few miles away. Shortly after, the vehicle's tire bursts in what is later seen to be a trap and Baby takes Bill to her family's house. Moments later, Baby's half-brother, Rufus, picks up the stranded passengers and takes them to the family home.

There they meet Baby's family, Mother Firefly, Otis Driftwood, her adopted brother, Grampa Hugo and Baby's deformed giant half-brother, Tiny. While being treated to dinner, Mother Firefly explains that her ex-husband, Earl, had tried to burn Tiny alive, along with the Firefly house. After dinner the family puts on a Halloween show for their guests. Baby offends Mary by flirting with Bill. After Mary threatens Baby, Mother Firefly makes the couples leave, since their car is repaired. As they leave, though, Otis and Tiny disguise themselves as scarecrows in the driveway, attack the couples and take them prisoner. Otis kills and mutilates Bill's body for art, while Mary is tied up and Denise is bed-bound while dressed up for Halloween. Jerry is scalped because he failed to guess Baby's favorite movie star.

After Denise doesn't come home, her father Don calls the police to report her missing. Two deputies, George Wydell and Steve Naish, find the couples' abandoned car in a field with a torture victim in the trunk. Don, who was once a cop, is called to the scene to help the deputies search. They arrive at the Firefly house and after finding other bodies, are quickly killed by the family. Later that night, the three remaining teenagers are taken out to an abandoned well. They are dressed as rabbits in reference to Otis when he earlier stated that "Scared kids run like rabbits, run little rabbit, run!". Mary attempts to run away, but is stabbed to death by Baby moments later.

Meanwhile, Jerry and Denise are lowered into the well, where a group of feral figures pull Jerry into the water and leave Denise to find her way through an underground lair. As she wanders through the tunnels, she encounters Dr. Satan and a number of mental patients. Dr. Satan has Jerry on his operating table, vivisecting him. Dr. Satan tells his mutated assistant, who turns out to be Earl, Mother Firefly's ex-husband, to capture Denise. Denise outwits him and escapes the chambers by crawling to the surface. She makes her way to the main road where she is picked up by Captain Spaulding and passes out from exhaustion in the front seat. Otis appears in the backseat with a knife. Denise later wakes up to find herself strapped to Dr. Satan's operating table, where she begins to scream in terror

Although compared a lot to "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" except as an acid trip, "House of a Thousand Corpses" became a cult classic despite the critics slamming the film as a "cheesy ultra gory exploitation flick, strangely devoid of thrills, shock and horror."

While failing to impress the critics "House of a Thousand Corpses", however, did become a box office success. Generating 16 million plus in box office returns on a 7 million dollar budget.

Rob Zombie's "Lords of Salem": An Atmospheric, Trippy 70's Mash-Up

Since he transcended from the realm of Rockstar to Film Auteur with “House of a 1000 Corpses”, Rob Zombie has had mostly a love-hate relationship with his fans. And with his latest release, “Lords of Salem”, Zombie, proves that this will be much of the same. Despite the fact that this time around, [Rob] Zombie is completely thinking outside the norm of what has been his filming style and technique. Where before he set out for a certain shock value, with “Lords” Zombie has given us a very atmospheric, almost trippy film that borrows elements from such other masters of horror as Cronenberg, Polanski and Lynch.   

If “Lords of Salem” was made in the 1970’s (perhaps even as late as 1981) then it would have been hailed as an iconic horror film, much in the same way as such other greats of the genre of that time, as Dario Argento’s “Suspiria”, “Rosemary’s Baby” or even that of Stanley Kubrick's “The Shining”. Sadly, however, the film finds life in 2013 where most of the audiences that will go and see it will neither understand or have the patience for Zombie’s latest creation.

We find ourselves following along the life of DJ Heidi Hawthorn (aka Heidi LaRox), played by Sheri Moon Zombie, living life in Salem, Massachusetts, as night time radio’s hottest DJs. When One night after a show with her cohorts and hosts Herman ‘Whitey’ Salvador (Jeff Daniel Phillips) and Herman Jackson (Ken Foree), Heidi receives an old wooden box containing a vinyl record and a note saying it is from the band The Lords. Heidi takes the box home, and while she and Whitey are hanging around Heidi’s apartment, Whitey plays the record. The music is mostly made up of string instruments being played in some strange rhythmic beat. The music, however, invokes a vision of days past for Heidi (and that of Salem) who sees what happens to a coven of supposed “real” witches back in the days that would get you killed for practicing or even being accused of witchcraft. The next night Herman puts the record up for the typical radio gig of Smash or Trash, dubbing the band The Lords of Salem. However, those women that are descendants of Salem that are listening to the show are hypnotised by the sound; stopping what they are doing entranced. Much in the sameway Heidi was the night before. Unaware at the time, the music triggers something inside Heidi that sends her spiraling out of control as she begins to see and deal with things that can not possibly be real.

Like many 70’s films of the like, and while the film is set in modern day it has a definite 1970’s feel to it, Zombie does as little as possible in the way of character development. Just giving you the bare essentials (Early in the film we see Heidi taking shots with her co-hosts after the job only later to find out that she is a recovering junkie. A fact sort of come into play later in the film.) of backstories for them. Replaced instead with more backstory when it comes to plot. Although, that does not take away from the film. Zombie gives just as much as needed and doesn’t get bogged down in useless or over dialogued scenes. Which is good. While I do not mind (as others) that Zombie puts his wife Sheri in all his films, her acting is quite limited, and at times with this film it is painfully so. As Zombie stretches Sheri Moon’s acting ability and is a far cry from what she has done before. Zombie also has abandoned the shaky, handheld almost documentary style of camera work from his previous films. Replaced now with thought out scenes shot on steady cameras using 35mm film; fantastic lighting and set designs with a moving, moody score that draws the viewer inside this strange world where a sect of ancient witches are hell bent in bring the Devil’s child into our world. The plot is nothing new when it comes to this style and genre but Zombie makes it his own.

I can see the influences that Zombie has when it comes to horror. “Lords” is much in the way of “Rosemary’s Baby” was when it comes to subject matter; “The Shining” where the tension builds through the slow pace of the film helped with a heavy score; scenes that highlighted (while not of the 70’s, but just as insane) “Twin Peaks”. Though if it were made by Argento instead of Lynch.

“Lords of Salem” took me a little while to absorb. I was lucky enough to have seen it in an empty theater with no distractions that plague today’s movie going experience, because in my opinion (an opinion that Rob Zombie will only half agree with) is that this film, to get the true experience, needs to be seen in the theater. Although a mostly, if not fully, empty theater. I believe the impact of the visuals will be lost when it comes to BluRay, and won’t lend the same stimulation of the cortex of the mind that of the big screen.

Like with Sheri Moon, we find the usual Rob Zombie stand ins. Although, timeout if you blink you will miss Sid Haig and Michael Berryman. The real standout, acting wise, is Jeff Daniel Phillips (aka the Geico Caveman). Phillips brings forth a certain reality and believability to his character.

Love it or hate it, Zombie, with “Lords of Salem, does exactly what he sets out to do with the audience with the visuals, the sound and added factor of a creepy-ass, empty theater: the film sits with you long after it is finished. Leaving to think and discuss with others about what the hell you have just sat through.

I give, even though most will disagree, “Lords of Salem” 4 out of 5 severed heads.

Until Next time...            

Rob Zombie’s “Lords of Salem” Finally Gets A Release Date

Rob Zombie’s long awaited return to the big screen (his last 2 endeavors where the sad cartoon film “Superbeasto” and that sorry mess of a film “Halloween 2” back in 2009) as his latest film “Lords of Salem” gets a release date.

Anchor Bay (along with Alliance & Haunted Films) is shooting for late April. April 26th, 2013 to be exact. Also in the works will be a novelization of the film penned by Zombie (along with B.K. Evenson) from the script & is slated to hit book shelves a month prior (March 2013).

Zombie has been touting “Lords” as being his biggest project to date and it is starting to look that way.

Until Next time…

Prince of Darkness (1987): My Fifth Must See Pick for the Halloween Seasson

Decades before Rob Zombie started making horror films and using a small pool of recurring actors -one of which is his wife- John Carpenter was doing just that with his own small pool of actors -one of which was his wife at one time. So in honor of Donald Pleasence’s birthday (Oct. 5th) my fifth pick for Halloween must sees is John Carpenter’s “The Prince of Darkness.”

All is not well in the world as the a dying priest who has been keeping a sinister secret locked away in the basement of an unused church in one of the shitty parts of LA for a mysterious sect of the church only known as “The Brotherhood of Sleep”, who send another Priest (Donald Pleasence) of the sect the church and opens the basement and discovers a large vat of weird swirling green liquid. The Priest -who has no other name than that- contacts a group physic grads from a local college to help him investigate just what the hell it is that has been locked away.

It turns out that this weird green liquid may hold the essence of Satan himself and that the Priest (Pleasence) is just a pawn for “The Brotherhood of Sleep” that watches over the liquid. But little does the Priest know that a prophesy holds the upcoming apocalypse and the coming of darkness with the re-birth of Satan and now it is up to the Priest and his rag tag team of students to keep it from happening.

“Prince of Darkness” is one of Carpenter’s more psychotically disturbing films with it’s slow moving build up to impending doom along with a great Carpenter score to set the mood. And when things start to go bad they go really fucking bad. Students one by one start to be possessed and turned into fucked up zombie-like versions of themselves and let us not forget about the weird crowd of homeless freaks -one of which played by horror-rocker Alice Cooper- drawn to the scene by the siren song of the devil.

A definite must see for Carpenter fans and fans of the horror genre. Then again you probably already know this.

Until next time…

Eaten Alive (1977), My Second Must See Pick for the Halloween Season

Tobe Hooper's follow up to his cult hit "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Eaten Alive" sets the tone that will define Hooper's legacy as a horror director and is my second pick for the Halloween season.

Judd, a  psychotic redneck, runs the Starlight Hotel,a dilapidated hotel in rural East Texas out in some sort of swampy place and is unfortunately a few slices short of a loaf. Judd has a pet crocodile conveniently placed on the other side of the hotel's front porch railing that he happens to feed with various people who upset him or his business: A reformed hooker, an unlucky family, and the father and sister of the hooker all suffer various rates of attrition as Judd tries to implement damage control.

'Eaten Alive" is loosely based on the story of Joe Ball (also known as the Bluebeard from South Texas or the "Alligator Man") who lived in  Elmendorf, Texas sometime after Prohibition ended. Ball owned a bar with an alligator pit serving as an entertainment attraction. Several murders of women ensued, but it was never proven that the flesh found in the pit was human. However, Joe did commit suicide upon possibility of capture.

You might recognize a young Robert Englund who was a largely unknown actor at the time.

Until next time...

“Lords of Salem” reviewed: Rob Zombie’s Most Ambitious Yet? & Who Gets it?

Looks Like “Anchor Bay” is the winning bid for distribution as word begins to leak out from those who have been lucky enough to catch the screening for Zombie’s new flick “Lords of Salem” @ TIFF‘s Midnight Madness, unfortunately, I am not one of them, but I’ll give you a general overview of what I have read, and thus far, while reviews are mixed (what Zombie isn‘t?), it seems to be getting fair reviews.

I have to say that I was a little on the fence early in the year about “Lords”. I hate both the “Halloween” sequel & and that fucking moronic cartoon of his, “Haunted World of Superbeasto”. But from what I have been seeing (still wise from) from “Lords” and what I have been reading, I am beginning to think I might be putting “Lords Of Salem” back at the top of the list of things to see.

For those of you who have yet to know what the film is about:

Radio DJ Heidi (Sherrie Moon Zombie) hosts a show along with her two cohorts she dubs the Hermans (Ken Foree & Jeff Philips) called the “Big H Radio Team”, when they receive a mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record, a gift for Heidi from a band called the “Lords”. The record starts to play backwards when it is played causing Heidi to experience flashbacks from “happier times” & that of a past trauma, that trauma is the Salem Witch Trials themselves. The arrival of another wooden box from the “Lords” presents the “Big H Team” this time with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon, Heidi and her compadres find themselves far from the rock & roll spectacle they had been expecting. Where the original “Lords of Salem” are hell-bent on returning and they are out for blood.

In other words “Lords of Salem” has that total 70’s vibe that he is so famous for when it comes to his films. Which is cool -to me anyway- because I think some of the best horror really came out that decade.

As the movie progresses it turns out that Heidi’s life pretty much revolves around her work & her going to AA meetings to help her to on the path of the straight & narrow. But after her flashback with the “Lords” record & how the music, not only, effected her but all the women that heard it, Heidi begins to withdraw again into drugs & alcohol. However, that isn’t the only problem Heidi has to face. Turns out her world is becoming more & more intruded upon by her landlord, Lacy Doyle, played by Judy Gleeson (“Horror Planet”), & her two cousins, Sonny (Dee Wallace) & Megan (Patricia Quinn), who all have a secret agenda of their own. But you are gonna have to go see what that my be.

As usual, you can the same gaggle of Zombie cronies in “Lords”, from Sid Hag, Udo Kier, Michael Berryman, to Richard Lynch (1940-2012), along with a few fresh faces; creepy-ass Billy Drago being one of them.

I hear (or should I say: read) that the third act looks like an old Polanski film gone awry; resembling more of “Rosemary’s Baby” meets “Supriria” than anything else, that I just have to see.    

Is there a Deal in the Works For Rob Zombie's "Lords of Salem"?

Rob Zombie should be waking up in Toronto this morning a happy man.

It appears that he has a little bidding war on his hands for his newest featured film “Lords of Salem” that premiered at Midnight Madness on Monday.

So far Anchor Bay is at the top of the running with a 1.5 million dollar (guaranteed) minimum offer for distribution. Image & Millennium are also in the mix along with Lionsgate and Open Road of trying to get their greedy little hands on what is being touted as Zombie’s biggest & most mature film to date.

Yes, I said mature.

If you’re expecting of along the lines of the craziness of “House of a 1000 Corpses” or the gallons of blood spilled by Michael Meyers in “Halloween” or the handheld 70’s grittiness we saw in “Devil’s Rejects” you are going to be greatly disappointed. Zombie this time around has gone from gore to  actual scare with “Lords”.

In an interview hours before the premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival for “Lords of Salem”, Zombie said: “All the movies I have made in the past are these sort of very raw, handheld, physically violent type movies, where the violence is really in your face. And this movie [LORDS] is not violent at all, or bloody, or anything like that.”

HUH? Is Rob Zombie starting to get mellow in his age?

“I wanted to make something that was sort of slow paced, psychological mindfuck,” [Rob] Zombie went on to say.

For those who have had the pleasure of seeing “Lords” are saying that this may be his most darkest, most unnerving film yet.

Back in the day when [Rob] Zombie was more commonly known as Rob Cummings, growing up in Haverhill, Massachusetts (A town not to far from Salem) his elementary school used to take the students to see the reenactments of the witch trails for field trips. (how awesome would that been? The best I ever got was a trip to the JAY’S Potato Chips & got to watch them being made) So I guess we have to blame the education system of Massachusetts for giving us the likes of Rob Zombie.

However, the story for “Lords of Salem” still reminds from something out of  1970’s big budget horror we would find with guys like Cronenberg  or even in the 80‘s with the likes of Lynch (reportedly Zombie had a 2.5 million dollar budget, incidentally Zombie’s  smallest budget thus far for a film) with the premise of a DJ named Heidi (Sharrie Moon Zombie)  receives a mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record, assuming (one should never assume…lol) that the box has come from the band “Lords” as part of their promotional package, but as Heidi plays the record to her surprise it starts to play backwards -and we all know where that leads, right?

And things just go bad from there as the next arrival (another wooden box) from the “Lords” presents Heidi and her team with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon, Heidi and her cohorts are far from the rock spectacle they're expecting. The original Lords of Salem are returning and they're out for blood.

I guess will just have to wait and see when it comes to this new, kinder, gentler Rob Zombie…lol.

Up next for the horror master? A little movie about hockey & the 1970’s Philadelphia Flyers.

"THE LORDS OF SALEM" News

THE LORDS OF SALEM is finally done! The world premiere is Sept. 10th at the TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL