The Lords Of Salem

   


     The Lords Of Salem - Rob Zombie With B.K, Evenson    4/5


                                                     

     For fans of Rob Zombie’s The Lords OF Salem there’s a lot more to love with the novelization. While some films allow authors to adapt their films into books Zombie has taken a new approach and allowed the book to compliment the film. What that means is that seeing the movie and then reading the book are two different experiences. The book is more detailed than the film and you get another aspect to the story. There are some scenes that are in the book that don’t exist on film. While it’s okay to watch the film and not read the book,  if you’re a fan of the film you’ll want to read the book.


     It widens the history of the witches and you see what happens and why they’re seeking their revenge. The book gives more detail to the characters in a way that the film couldn’t and sometimes because of this the book does drag a bit The book may not even be written by Zombie himself, but B.K. doesn't do a bad job with the outline that Zombie has given him. The problem may just exist in translating Zombie’s ideas into a book that fans want to read. There is a great deal of detail here and I think that this overabundance of detail to make the book an extension of the film makes it hard to keep it a reasonable length. I enjoyed the book, but sometimes wished it were shorter.


     I saw the film first and didn’t even know that a hardback existed and as I sat down to read it I was immersed in the story and it showed that having a novel that bridges the gaps that your film creates is both good and bad. If you’re a fan of horror The Lords is a pretty good novel, but if you hated the filml odds are you’ll hate the book. There’s no way to urge people to this buy this book unless they haven’t seen the film. The one thing that’s missing is the violence that permeates through Zombie’s work. There is a bit of violence here but not as much as I was expecting. The film is a lot more violent than the book and a lot of things that the fillm does the book can’t duplicate.



     Don’t get me wrong. Despite the laggy parts of the book I still enjoyed it. The Lords Of Salem is one of my favorite horror films and in my opinion the best thing he’s ever done. The book has a lot to live up too. I think that’s what the book itself is. A preview of the film. It wants you to see the film and once you do the entire story is presented. It all makes sense and you see just how amazing this film is. As a horror fan there’s a lot that Zombie and Evenson do right. They don’t sell out and go the modern horror route. They stick to classic horror that no one even touches anymore and the undertones of dark horror mix in well with Zombies tale of revenge. We all know what Zombie is capable of but sometimes it just doesn’t translate well written down.