Heidi, a radio DJ, is sent a box containing a record - a "gift from the Lords". The sounds within the grooves trigger flashbacks of her town's violent past. Is Heidi going mad, or are the Lords back to take revenge on Salem, Massachusetts?
Considerable care goes into establishing the premise, but the film eventually abandons psychological subtlety for hallucinatory garishness, which is too bad.
– Neil Genzlinger,
New York Times,
18 Apr 2013
fresh:
Movies by Rob Zombie, the goth rocker turned cult filmmaker, aren't for everybody. But he couldn't care less.
– V.A. Musetto,
New York Post,
19 Apr 2013
rotten:
It's all meant to be monstrous, unspeakable, blasphemous horror but it comes across more like a slightly dirty drawing, passed in seventh-grade religion class.
– Stephen Whitty,
Newark Star-Ledger,
19 Apr 2013
rotten:
It's a credit to Zombie's interest in growing as an artist that he's drawing from more mature inspirations here, but it's also part of why the movie doesn't work.
– Ian Buckwalter,
The Atlantic,
19 Apr 2013
fresh:
Polished and calculated, this is a nerve-shattering fright fest bolstered by immaculate technique.