AUSTIN - A few minutes ago, I concluded the "Conversation With Rob Zombie" panel that I moderated by physically premiering the new one-sheets for the film in the room, and now we've got them here for you online as well.

Zombie is in town to show and discuss his new film "The Lords Of Salem," and the conversation we had about the film today was a good one.  I think it's interesting that they asked me to moderate the panel, as I've been very frank in print about my reaction to each of his films. Some of them I like, some of them I don't, and I was concerned at first that it was going to create some tension between us as a result. Nothing of the sort, as it happens, because Zombie genuinely doesn't seem to care about critical reaction. He seems to be the sort of filmmaker who had realized at this point that he's got to be happy with the work, and once he is, anything else that happens is almost irrelevant.

We talked about the development of the film, and he's continued to work on it even after I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival in the fall. There was one more round of editing to tweak the opening of the film and some individual moments within it, and the version that played here is the same one that will open in April. We also discussed his other work, including the new album he has coming out in April, the book version of "Lords" that arrives in stores today, and even his plans for what could have been a feature version of "Werewolf Women Of The SS" if only "Grindhouse" had made some money.

Overall, Zombie strikes me as a filmmaker who knows the value of making original work, and who also has grown very frustrated with the business side of movies. He made sure he had a certain degree of freedom on "Lords," but he also made it for less money than any of his other features, including "House Of 1000 Corpses." Considering how lush and ambitious "Lords" is, he must be getting better with each film, because he makes it look like one of the biggest things he's ever done, and yet he only had four weeks to get it all in the can.

Here are the two new one-sheets, part of a triptych of this image rendered in different hues. The yellow version is already out there.

 

"The Lords Of Salem" opens in theaters April 19, 2013.