For a brief moment in time, I attempted to blog under a different domain and Internet handle to be unencumbered by a "personal brand." These short posts were more documented streams of thought than fully written articles.

Don't worry tech peeps. I'll be weaving some tech thoughts and blog posts in with these horror movie thoughts. It's just that for the last several years I've had a tradition of pumpkin beer and horror movies ever single night in October—to the point where I'm sick of the pumpkin beer by about a week and a half.

Some ground rules. Although I will certainly drink a pumpkin beer each night, for these horror posts, I'll only detail the beer when it first appears. For example, if I drink a pumpkin ale from Aleworks, but have four in the beer fridge, you might only hear me explicitly review it once so I'm not being redundant.

Today is October 2nd, but I'm reviewing the horror movie I watched last night: Lords of Salem. I'm also not really reviewing it. I'm not a film critic. I'm just giving you some thoughts.

Director Rob Zombie has carved himself out a nice niche and a cult following, and as someone who was wealthy way before he started directing, he really doesn't need to please anyone. He just needs to break even of funding.

Most will associate Zombie's original work with schlock horror that pays homage to 70's horror explotation films. He does have more range than people give him credit for (Halloween 2 proves this), and Lords of Salem is one of those non-typical Zombie films where you can seem him experimenting a bit.

None of the ideas in this film are original and none are supposed to be. He's telling a variation Salem witch history with zero surprises. In many ways, it's a mash-up of Salem mythology, H.P. Lovecraft-inspired creatures, and craters into a music video stylized ending. It felt like Zombie was attempting to capture the same atmospheric directing that Roman Polanski employes—less horror and shock, more creepy and slow-paced. He just doesn't quite get to Polanski's level.

The entire film is held together by Sheri Moon Zombie's acting. Honestly, her acting ability overall is underrated, and I think movie historians will look back on her as an unsung gem in modern genre horror. Also, with glasses, dreadlocks, and in her 40's in this film, Moon Zombie is still incredibly attractive without playing a sultry lead. She carries the film and helps bring Rob Zombie's film home.

For beer, straight from the fridge we had Two Roads' Roadsmary's Baby, a rum-barrel aged ale brewed with pumpkin spice and vanilla. At 6.8% ABV, it was actually quite smooth and lacked the overpowering pumpkin spice flavor, which is good because these cans come in a six pack, and overpowering spice wouldn't make for a good drinking evening. Recommended for a quiet October night, but won't be your favorite pumpkin beer.

End of line.