The Lords of Salem is roughly 9/10th of a good, bordering on great, film. For most of its running time, this film gave me a lot of what I liked about some of Zombie’s earlier film without a lot that I hated. Maybe it’s because it’s set in Salem, Massachusetts, but Lords has a greatly reduced amount of the filthiness and sleaziness of his previous efforts...and there’s only one kinda, sorta White Trash character, and she’s played partially for laughs (and when she’s not played for laughs, she’s satisfyingly creepy). For most of the running time, the violence and gore is pretty subdued.
...and most importantly, Zombie’s script gives us a couple of great characters I got invested in. Sherri Moon Zombie shows a lot of subtlety in her portrayal of the main character, Heidi, and the script cleverly doles out information about her that makes her pretty damn vivid. It would have been easy to make her some hipster ideal, but he takes the time to let us in on things that shape and endear her to us. Her relationship with her co-worker/love interest is very subdued, so we don’t feel like their interactions are forced. She carries most of the movie and does so well; it’s a shame that she apparently dislikes acting, because I’d love to see what she can do in someone else’s movie.
There’s also a great turn by Bruce Davison, playing the Van Helsing type, Francis. Zombie spends time with Davison’s character at home with his wife (Maria Conchita Alonzo), giving him a sense of living outside of the film. There’s no sense of the trio of Lacy, Megan and Sonny Doyle, the villains of the piece (played wonderfully by Judy Geeson, Patricia ‘Magenta’ Quinn and Dee Wallace), but the they’re rather compelling presences that switch from mundane to macabre at the drop of a hat.
It’s why this film works so well for the bulk of its story--the sense of characters like Heidi and Francis being lived in, with an emotional back story that isn’t spoonfed to us but is identifiably there. And for roughly eighty-five minutes, these characters allow us to accept the surreal stuff that seems to be going on inside Heidi’s head and forgive the one or two moments of tasteless sleaze (I’m looking at you, Priestly Blow Job Rape Sequence).
But then the climax hits, and Zombie is apparently possessed by the wacky spirit of Ken Russell, and the good will this movie earned struggles to stay with me. It’s at turns too goofy and too weird for me to get behind, and just drags me out of the film. By the time Heidi is surrounded by ecclesiastical types in ill-fitting cobweb masks miming masturbation with fluorescent purple dildos while lights play behind her as a sort of halo, I practically threw my hands up in defeat. It’s a ludicrous end to a film that spent most of its time being quiet, subtle and scary. The last ten minutes or so actively diminish the film’s greatness narratively and tonally.
I think I’m going to recommend this film because of its script, Zombie’s progression as a director and the generally good acting. It is a pretty damn good movie overall. But Ye Gods, you’re going to have to brace yourself for the misfiring lunacy of that denoument.
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