American Horror Story and The Lords Of Salem- A Review
Which witch is which? I’m getting confused now. Is it me or has there been an increase in films and television shows about witches? I think back on the television series Bewitched….that was a long time ago, and when I was watching that I was a kid and the show was already a rerun (I’m no t THAT old…) but then a return took place with the television show Charmed. That was in my view a very diverse show. There was everything there from witches, to angels to demons to God knows what. Now we have films like The Craft. Even the recent installments of Paranormal Activity had elements of witches and covens tied in to explain the possession of poor Katie. Witchmania is sweeping the nation. We can’t get enough of it.
Now we have American Horror Story-Coven. It just started under two weeks ago and already I’m hooked. What I’ve loved about the American Horror Story series is that they put in various elements of horror in one show that you almost forget what the center issue is…and then in a shot it reminds you. Like a rush. A good rush. We have amazing actresses like Kathy Bates (Misery, Titanic), Angela Bassett (Contact, and every other feel good girlie flick), and don’t forget Jessica Lange, the American Horror Story Staple who has mesmerized me with her characters of the past two seasons. She is not going to disappoint the third time around. Other great ones include Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Evan Peters, a regular of the series (Kick Ass). Great actors put together make great series. As far as I have seen, it’s been great writing.
What’s with the witch thing? Granted, there is a popularity nowadays which trumps the witchmania of the late 1600’s in Salem, Massachusetts. There was a craze there that affects that small town even to this day. Starting with two small girls who started acting strange one night in Salem in gave rise to a fear that the Devil had entered Salem and that his servants were hiding among the community to destroy it from within. Keep in mind the Puritan state of the people of the time….they were Calvinists in doctrine…meaning that everything from dancing to wearing certain kinds of clothes were strictly forbidden. They’re preoccupation with demons trumped their preoccupation with Jesus. Soon various people were being convicted of witchcraft, and they truly were not witches. It was a hysteria that affected even the highest posts of the community. Nineteen of them were hung on Gallow’s Hill in the year 1692. Giles Corey was crushed to death with stones for not renouncing witchcraft. Many others were imprisoned and sentenced to die there. Yep…it looks like the Devil did indeed come to Salem….we just identified the wrong people.
Three centuries later, Salem has become quite a tourist attraction regarding the witch hysteria. There are museums, galleries, and every October there is a fest of sorts that makes it look like Halloween all month long. My family and I do our best to go there for Columbus Day weekend every year. It’s quite fun. The food is good and I even got to meet Tony Moran (Michael Myers, Halloween) there once. People dress up in costumes all the time. It’s pretty cool.
Yet how serious do people take witchcraft? There are many different forms of witchcraft today, enough to spawn a series of television shows and movies these last few decades. True wiccans will tell you that what we see in the media is nothing like the real wiccan religion, which is more based on nature and life cycles. Many of these true wiccans have actually found real homes in Salem where they have stores and other businesses. People are drawn to the mysterious and the dark. Salem has that in its many historic landmarks like the House of Seven Gables and the Witch Museum.
Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem was a great horror film. It was gritty, it was telltale, and it was very weird. The premise is that in spite of the false accusations of witches in the 1690’s, there were in fact a small ragtag group of real Satan worshipping witches whose curse still haunt the town, especially through our main character in the movie, struggling drug addict and town radio DJ Heidi (Sherri Moon Zombie). She was apparently the descendant of Reverend Hawthorne who condemned the witches to death, but not before given a curse by one of them that it would be through his bloodline that the Devil would walk the earth. As far from the truth as that may have been ( or was it?) Horror fans love making associations with settings in the cinema. The film was actually filmed in Salem, at least for the most part. I recognized many of the settings in the film from my yearly family excursions every October. For the most part, it was a film filled with dread and how no matter what you try to avoid, we have to give the Devil his due. Definitely blasphemous for the religiously weak at heart….I was actually amused Zombie would go that far with it. What got to me was little demon shorty rock who apparently
She eventually goes to the concert of the Lords of Salem, where it turns out to be a satanic coven of sorts by which she gives birth to little creepy baby on a heap of corpses of other women who had some kind of bloodline connection to the Salem witch trials. The prophecy fulfilled, little creature baby will inherit the earth….my question is, how? I for one wouldn’t let a little creature like that take over anything. Who would?
Catch this film. It’s a good view. But remember, you don’t have to have an extensive knowledge of witchraft to appreciate it. You can simply walk into the world of Salem, or New Orleans for American Horror Story and witness firsthand what witches are capable of. You will see that it’s really not that much…
Now we have American Horror Story-Coven. It just started under two weeks ago and already I’m hooked. What I’ve loved about the American Horror Story series is that they put in various elements of horror in one show that you almost forget what the center issue is…and then in a shot it reminds you. Like a rush. A good rush. We have amazing actresses like Kathy Bates (Misery, Titanic), Angela Bassett (Contact, and every other feel good girlie flick), and don’t forget Jessica Lange, the American Horror Story Staple who has mesmerized me with her characters of the past two seasons. She is not going to disappoint the third time around. Other great ones include Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Evan Peters, a regular of the series (Kick Ass). Great actors put together make great series. As far as I have seen, it’s been great writing.
What’s with the witch thing? Granted, there is a popularity nowadays which trumps the witchmania of the late 1600’s in Salem, Massachusetts. There was a craze there that affects that small town even to this day. Starting with two small girls who started acting strange one night in Salem in gave rise to a fear that the Devil had entered Salem and that his servants were hiding among the community to destroy it from within. Keep in mind the Puritan state of the people of the time….they were Calvinists in doctrine…meaning that everything from dancing to wearing certain kinds of clothes were strictly forbidden. They’re preoccupation with demons trumped their preoccupation with Jesus. Soon various people were being convicted of witchcraft, and they truly were not witches. It was a hysteria that affected even the highest posts of the community. Nineteen of them were hung on Gallow’s Hill in the year 1692. Giles Corey was crushed to death with stones for not renouncing witchcraft. Many others were imprisoned and sentenced to die there. Yep…it looks like the Devil did indeed come to Salem….we just identified the wrong people.
Three centuries later, Salem has become quite a tourist attraction regarding the witch hysteria. There are museums, galleries, and every October there is a fest of sorts that makes it look like Halloween all month long. My family and I do our best to go there for Columbus Day weekend every year. It’s quite fun. The food is good and I even got to meet Tony Moran (Michael Myers, Halloween) there once. People dress up in costumes all the time. It’s pretty cool.
Yet how serious do people take witchcraft? There are many different forms of witchcraft today, enough to spawn a series of television shows and movies these last few decades. True wiccans will tell you that what we see in the media is nothing like the real wiccan religion, which is more based on nature and life cycles. Many of these true wiccans have actually found real homes in Salem where they have stores and other businesses. People are drawn to the mysterious and the dark. Salem has that in its many historic landmarks like the House of Seven Gables and the Witch Museum.
Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem was a great horror film. It was gritty, it was telltale, and it was very weird. The premise is that in spite of the false accusations of witches in the 1690’s, there were in fact a small ragtag group of real Satan worshipping witches whose curse still haunt the town, especially through our main character in the movie, struggling drug addict and town radio DJ Heidi (Sherri Moon Zombie). She was apparently the descendant of Reverend Hawthorne who condemned the witches to death, but not before given a curse by one of them that it would be through his bloodline that the Devil would walk the earth. As far from the truth as that may have been ( or was it?) Horror fans love making associations with settings in the cinema. The film was actually filmed in Salem, at least for the most part. I recognized many of the settings in the film from my yearly family excursions every October. For the most part, it was a film filled with dread and how no matter what you try to avoid, we have to give the Devil his due. Definitely blasphemous for the religiously weak at heart….I was actually amused Zombie would go that far with it. What got to me was little demon shorty rock who apparently
impregnated Heidi with the Devil’s spawn. I would have kicked the little creep.
She eventually goes to the concert of the Lords of Salem, where it turns out to be a satanic coven of sorts by which she gives birth to little creepy baby on a heap of corpses of other women who had some kind of bloodline connection to the Salem witch trials. The prophecy fulfilled, little creature baby will inherit the earth….my question is, how? I for one wouldn’t let a little creature like that take over anything. Who would?
Catch this film. It’s a good view. But remember, you don’t have to have an extensive knowledge of witchraft to appreciate it. You can simply walk into the world of Salem, or New Orleans for American Horror Story and witness firsthand what witches are capable of. You will see that it’s really not that much…
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