Rob Zombie's horror movies stand out from typical fare, and his 2012 film The Lords of Salem is no exception. Written and directed by Zombie and produced by Jason Blum, The Lords of Salem offers up a new take on Satanic rituals. Zombie's wife Sheri Moon Zombie stars in many of his projects, including this unique film.
The Lords Of Salem has shocking characters, intense visuals, and a depiction of Satanic worship. There's a lot going on in this Rob Zombie horror movie. There's no doubt that the story will stick with audiences long after they have turned off the film.
What Happens In The Lords Of Salem?
When ranking Rob Zombie's movies, some love The Lords of Salem, and others aren't so into it. The movie is about Heidi LaRoc (Sheri Moon Zombie) who listens to music by a Satanic band called The Lords and then has an eerie and scary hallucination of Satanic worshipers performing a ritual involving a baby. The plot doesn't follow a conventional horror movie trajectory with good and bad characters. That's not what Rob Zombie does and his fanbase appreciates his work because his characters can't be put into the usual categories.
The Lords of Salem follows Heidi as she gets deeper into Satanic worship. The movie also features a flawless performance by Meg Foster as Margaret Morgan, a witch who is at the center of the story.
What Happens At The End Of Lords Of Salem?
Like the ending of House of 1000 Corpses, the ending of The Lords of Salem is wild, violent, and mysterious. After Heidi has realized that something is definitely off about the Lords, Lacy Doyle (Judy Geeson) murders Francis Matthias (Bruce Davison) along with her siblings. The Lords of Salem ending involves The Lords performing and several concertgoers, including Heidi, taking part in a ritual.
Heidi's story comes to an end in a shocking and terrifying way. Her hallucination seems to come true and she gives birth to a creature at the concert. Then audiences learn from a radio broadcast that Heidi is now missing and many people took their own lives at this performance. And similar to The Devil's Reject ending, the ending of The Lords of Salem puts the characters in a horrifying and dangerous position that they can't come back from.
While audiences follow Heidi's journey throughout all of The Lords of Salem, it's always clear that she will get lost in the Satanic ritual that she began having visions of. Rob Zombie's characters aren't typical examples of the final girl horror trope or people who make good choices and get out of harm's way. They give into their base instincts and shock every step of the way.
What Are Rob Zombie's Other Horror Movies?
Rob Zombie's Firefly trilogy includes the horror movies House Of 1000 Corpses which was released in 2003, the 2005 sequel The Devil's Rejects, and the third entry 3 From Hell from 2019. Zombie also made the 2022 remake of The Munsters, which didn't have a great trailer.
Rob Zombie also wrote and directed the 2016 horror movie 31 about characters working at a carnival in the 1970s who come across "The Heads," which is a group of clowns who kill people. Sheri Moon Zombie also stars in the film. Like Zombie's other horror movies, 31 is extremely violent.
Rob Zombie also made his own Halloween movie in 2007, which horror fans have mixed feelings about. Scout Taylor-Compton played the ultimate horror final girl Laurie Strode and Tyler Mane played Michael Myers.
What Did Rob Zombie Say About The Lords Of Salem?
In an interview with Complex.com, Rob Zombie explained that it was "stressful" to make Halloween and he wanted to do something fun, and that's when he came up with The Lords of Salem. The filmmaker said "That's the way I look at my movies: You can't please everybody with this kind of material. And in order to please everybody, it seems like you have to water it down so much. I don't care to do that."
Rob Zombie said that Jason Blum approached him about collaborating and said that they were interested in working on a supernatural horror movie together. While Blumhouse made some non-supernatural horror movies, they do a great job with that subgenre.
Zombie also talked about his horror movies being different from each other and said, "House of 1,000 Corpses pretty much stands alone. I just needed to get that kind of horror movie out of my system, and with each subsequent film I've wanted to make it grittier and darker. Lords is definitely the most downbeat film of them all, whereas, compared to Lords, House of 1,000 Corpses is like a wacky cartoon."