House of 1000 Corpses...opinions?

I loved House of 1000 corpses and The Devil's Rejects. Unfortunately, Lords of Salem was complete garbage and I can't honestly recommend watching it lest it taint the greatness of his first two movies.

originally posted by: Urantia1111
a reply to: TrueBrit

Flattered that youre responding here mate 👍

Flattered? There is no need for that. I am but mortal flesh and bone after all!

I agree that Zombie and whomever assisted him with this particular effort had some quality insight on the human condition and knew exactly how to push the buttons required to elicit a strong horror response, which many of us are genuinely looking for in films of this type, and which we see missed comically in spite of obvious efforts so often.

It is one of the things that made horror movies a little bit of a laughing stock for a while, in my opinion, especially the slashers. I mean, the Scream movies are a great example. There is nothing really horrific about them, and when you watch the parody movie series Scary Movie, you get about the same shock factor that you do from the Scream series, despite one being a serious attempt at slasher horror, and the other being a pastiche of the same, and other movies of its sort. I think Mr Zombie has been on something of a mission, to bring horror movies back to where they ought to be, in terms of their ability to dig around in ones guts like a deranged medical examiner, and find things inside a person that might have otherwise been hidden.

The cinematography, sound effect and soundtrack combine to reach deep into the primitive fear centers of the brain and skillfully pluck the strings of what scares us somehow.

Im thinking of doing a Captain Spaulding costume this year...

That is a great point. Not only are the visual elements of the films he makes very well constructed, but his experience in creating atmospheres using only audiological cues in his music, prepared him very well for using those techniques to provide a backdrop in a movie setting. I am a massive fan of both his music, and his movies, and I hope that he continues to make both with the same gusto he has shown already.

a reply to: trollz

Trollz,

While I would be the first to agree that Lords of Salem is very different from his other films, in terms of what it was trying to accomplish, and the atmosphere it was trying to generate, I would not agree that its being different to the others marks it out as being rubbish. He was simply trying to approach a totally different kind of horror, a more psychological horror than he normally deals with in his movies. There were clear thematic references to Kubrick in the way certain scenes were shot and certain sequences of shots composed. Also, the scoring in that movie was, although simplistic, VERY atmospheric. In fact, with regard to pure atmosphere, that movie had far more going for it in terms of its ability to produce emotion without overt visual stimulation, than any of his others.

If anything held that movie back, it was that although his wife, who played the lead in the film, is quite accomplished at performing the roles he normally creates for her, this one was perhaps a little beyond her abilities. Not to say that she did not do her best, as I am sure she did, but there are actresses out there who might have lent more credibility to the role, more subtlety to it, than she did. All of this being said, I still enjoyed the movie for what it was, a homage to an old school ethos of horror movie making, with a modern edge.

a reply to: Urantia1111

I've seen it a couple times. Including its sequel The Devil's Rejects.

Yes. I like it. However, i'm a horror aficionado and I also love extreme horror. I've seen many even more disturbing.

Check out Frontier(s) and Borderland for example.

I'm a fan of Zombie's work. Not sure how I felt about the newest one 31.

*edit: I enjoyed Lords of Salem. Kind of had a Suspiria vibe? On that note check out Starry Eyes

it was definitely his best movie, 3 stars if youre a fan of the genre, otherwise 2 and a half.

I love his music, but his films are terrible. I mean House of 1,000 Corpses has its moments, but overall unwatchable. And he ruined Halloween. Just my opinion....