The Lords of Salem
Director: Rob Zombie
Screenwriter: Rob Zombie
Cast: Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Ken Foree, Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, Meg Foster

Synopsis: From the singular mind of horror maestro Rob Zombie comes a chilling new nightmare. The Lords of Salem tells the tale of Heidi, a radio station disc jockey living in Salem, Massachusetts, who receives a strange wooden box containing a vinyl record and a note: “A Gift from the Lords.” Heidi listens, and the bizarre sounds within the grooves immediately trigger flashbacks of the town’s violent past. — Anchor Bay Films

Rob Zombie‘s latest film, The Lords of Salem, is a surprisingly understated slow-burn in the vein of Ti West’s House of the Devil. Zombie attempts to build suspense and create unbearable tension before unleashing a truly bizarre, grotesque hex on the film’s main character, Heidi (played by Zombie’s wife, Sheri Moon Zombie).

This year’s South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) (03/08 – 03/16) features a lineup of 109 films, including 69 world premieres, as well as 14 North American and 5 United States premieres, with 68 of those titles from first-time filmmakers. Every March, the SXSW Film Festival attracts thousands of fans, filmmakers, press, and industry leaders to Austin, TX, to revel in the celebration of cinema by enjoying a gauntlet of new, exciting movies with the best film audiences in the world.

This year I’ll be covering SXSW for Geeks of Doom and plan on seeing around 20 films during my time in Austin. I’ll be updating Geeks of Doom daily with reviews, exclusive Skull-Face Island podcasts, daily journal entries, and filmmaker interviews including director Josh Johnson of the VHS documentary, Rewind This!.

The Midnight Features and Shorts Programs for this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival have just been announced! For 20 years, the SXSW Midnighters section has embraced genre filmmaking from veterans and rookies alike, and this year continues that glorious tradition. Including four World Premieres, three U.S. Premieres, the nine films picked to guide SXSW audiences into the darkness offer an assortment of filmmaking styles and span the gamut of of genre storytelling.

This will be my third year attending the South by Southwest Film Festival and this year’s lineup of Midnight Features looks fantastic. In previous years, the lineup has included movies like Attack the Block, Kill List, The Innkeepers, Iron Sky, John Dies at the End, and V/H/S – and I can’t wait to stand in line for two hours (hopefully not in the rain this year!) and enjoy these late night genre flicks! Here are some of the Midnight Features I’m most excited about: