Sightlines · reception

How The Lords of Salem was received

2013 · Rob Zombie · The Lords of Salem on Sightlines

The arc

Booed-and-baffled on arrival in 2013 — too slow for the grindhouse crowd, too Rob Zombie for everyone else — it's since been steadily reappraised as his most personal and artful film, with 'actually, Lords of Salem is his best' now a respectable take.

What’s debated

The eternal Zombie fight in miniature: is this his hypnotic arthouse masterpiece or a tedious slog, and is casting Sheri Moon Zombie devotion or nepotism?

Its footprint

Its neon-soaked satanic imagery and the recurring use of The Velvet Underground's 'All Tomorrow's Parties' made it a mood-board staple, and it gets name-checked as proto-'elevated horror' from the least likely director imaginable.

Where it stands

A genuine cult object and Letterboxd dark horse — the Rob Zombie film people urge skeptics to try.

Did you know? Made for a tiny budget under Oren Peli and Jason Blum's banner, Zombie got complete creative freedom and final cut — he's said it's the only film he made with no studio interference.

Named by the director

• Rosemary's Baby (1968) — Zombie repeatedly cited Polanski's slow-burn satanic paranoia as the film's template.
• Ken Russell — Zombie invoked Russell's delirious, blasphemous imagery as the register he was aiming for.
• The Shining (1980) — Zombie pointed to Kubrick's stately dread and a woman unraveling inside a haunted building.