LIVING DEAD DIRECTOR:Rob Zombie returns…

Due sometime this year now hopefully, FANGORIA magazine site tells us that the heavy metal rock icon-turned-horror director ROB ZOMBIE has his new film LORDS OF SALEM nearly done with some definately bizarre unusual characters and plotlines. This time the horror comes from legendary witches, in the infamous Salem area.

Again, so far the visuals and poster campaign look close to the grindhouse,  cheap snuff ‘video nasty’ aesthetic. But is he in danger of repeating his now established fear film output style?

Having begun with the hugely problematic but insanely entertaining TEXAS CHAINSAW influenced HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES which finally was released in 2003, he stepped away from his known identity as lead singer of WHITE ZOMBIE and solo rock/metal artist. From that first film with it’s unending hype and controversy over cuts, editing, rating problems his following few movies have continued to be released within a fog of media scandal and rumours. Much of his success and criticism has been gained from his return to and respect for the more stripped down, low budget raw films of the seventies such as TEXAS CHAINSAW, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, BLOOD FEAST, SUSPIRIA, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and more.

As ZOMBIE’S movies continued to come, they arrived alongside the 00’s prblematic sub-genre in horror of ‘Torture Porn’ horror, with movies like HOSTEL and the SAW sequels. ZOMBIE may have shared some of the visual style accidentally, but aimed for but disturbing effect.

With his infamous remake/revision of HALLOWEEN and then it’s sequel, and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS before that, he has always seemed to want to provide undiluted honest genuine no-holds’barred shocks such as those from times before big mainstream gloss and film franchises. But how long can he continue in this same path before it feels tired?

Myself, I was not a huge fan of THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, and some of 1000 CORPSES, not personally enjoying the snuff style extended sequences. The HALLOWEEN films were interesting-not eclipsing the original, fine JOHN CARPENTER classic, though the second ZOMBIE one was more thoughtful.

Now, after his return to rock/metal with a fantastic double tour with ALICE COOPER, and other projects including comic books  and bad taste horror animated movie,  he comes back to LORDS OF SALEM and other films he has planned. Impressively, it does seem that balancing music, comics, touring, and filmmaking has not diluted or weakened the quality generally of the films. I do hope, that with LORDS OF SALEM, Mr ZOMBIE continues to shock and surprise us again, but that he also might drop some of the extended violence in place of stronger horror thrills. The spook show director will certainly return soon enough with a new movie of good gruesome fear and terror once more…

Spare Words and Paranoid future thoughts…

Alright people, it has notably been a few days since I left some thoughts. Well, there are other jobs to be done, but here is a shameless plug-my new science fiction novel is most likely now…finished. It is, in its own way, some kind of cross between 2001 Space Odyssey and possibly 28 Days Later. Yes, they are fim references-well the latter- so I’d say it probably has expected Ballard influence right through in some sense too.

So, thinking about sci-fi(or as many now term it SF), I find myself just considering which films and books right now possibly resemble or appear to be close to a kind of near future for us in this tense, technologically confused world…

I am a huge fan of J.G.Ballard, and so rightly many of his great books and short fiction are disturbingly very close to a kind of tomorrow. Some of the best being CRASH, SUPER CANNES, HIGH RISE, CONCRETE ISLAND and then his final novel KINGDOM COME. But most likely it was his many collected short tales which shocked and facinated with amazingly original unique future visions more realistic and disturbing than most sci-fi.

Some fear that we might be coming close to living in a world close to that of books and films like A Clockwork Orange, with its malcontent angry young Droogs, the totalitarian pen pushing, file sorting control of Orwell’s 1984. For such a long time Philip K Dick was labelled a mad paranoid loon, but the more time passes so much more of his books and work seem creepily relevant. The books of William Gibson and their cyberworlds, virtual realities influenced films like The Matrix, and now could tell us much about our addiction to apps, internet, social media and the problems there.

The Alan Moore classic political graphic novel turned movie V For Vendetta had much to say along similar lines to 1984, about controlling facist governments and corrupt politicians distorting news media. Might it be not too long before we live in a present close to that of Ghost in the Shell anime, or the many books of Issac Asimov with his specific rules of man and robot co-existence?

I may be seeming highly paranoid here, or simply a great fan of many classic forms of science ficion in film and in written form. I think I might now go and find myself lost among more tales of future paranoia, robots with dark secrets and realities yet uploaded…