TALKING HALLOWEEN AND MORE WITH ROB ZOMBIE

**MattBrady** · 08-31-2007, 08:11 AM

By Walter Orsini

You can make all the sequels, prequels, and franchise cross-overs in the world, but once you throw in the word remake, horror fans get a little overprotective. When the lights go down, and the new Halloween flickers to life on theaters across the country today, hopefully fans will appreciate Rob Zombie's thought-out, layered, and impressively directed take on the original boogeyman slasher. At the very least, be thankful that the 9th addition to the franchise comes from a fresh filmmaker who genuinely loves the character, instead of being a glossy mess with Michael Myers battling Chucky or some such ridiculous thing. We caught up with Mr. Zombie in NYC, and the bearded one shared his thoughts on tackling a beloved favorite, his dream of directing a violent, 70s crime drama, and the pride of creating the filthiest animated movie of all time.

Newsarama: Were you impressed with the original Halloween when it was first released?

Rob Zombie: Yeah, I saw that at the drive-in of course. I was blown away because there was nothing like that at the time. It was like, Psycho would be the other movie you would always reference I guess. I just thought that movie was amazing, and having grown up in a neighborhood that looked like that neighborhood, having babysitters that seemed like those girls at the time, you know? It was awesome.

NRAMA: Were you wary about remaking such a huge classic?

RZ: Yeah, I mean at first when the first opportunity to do something with Halloween came up I wasn't interested at all. It took awhile. In the first meeting it wasn't brought to me to remake Halloween, it was just, oh we have this thing called Halloween. They're talking about a sequel. Or a prequel. Literally if I had said, "I don’t know, Michael Myers in space fighting Predator," they would've said like, "Hmm, maybe." They didn't figure out what to do. They just had this thing that they didn’t know what to do with, and I kind of was not interested because to me I love Halloween, and like everyone else watched it degenerate over seven sequels into something I just didn't care about anymore. Then I thought about that, and then I thought what a rotten attitude I have, and went away and thought, well the story of Michael Myers is so cool and the character's so iconic, and the one funny thing is that he never ages. So, it's like, you have John Wayne in your movie, but he didn't get old, and you're remaking Stagecoach with young John Wayne. So that's what was cool. It's like he was the same. And I thought, let's make him the lead character instead of Laurie Strode. Make everybody else secondary to the life of Michael Myers.

NRAMA: Have you met John Carpenter?

RZ: I've known John since Escape from L.A. because I did a song for that movie based only on the fact that I wanted to meet John Carpenter and hang out on set. That's why I did the song. So I went down on set and hung out with him and stuff. He was super cool, because I hung out there forever and he walked me around. We talked. He could've just kicked me out. I'm sure he had better things to be doing than dealing with me. But yeah I've always bumped into him over the years and stuff, and when this came up he was the first person I called. I wanted him to know before anybody. He was cool. You know. He didn’t care. He was like, "Oh, great. Go for it."

NRAMA: What did he think of the film?

RZ: He hasn't even seen it yet. I was going to show it to him a couple of days ago, but he was going out of town so he hasn't seen it yet.

NRAMA: Was it surreal in a way, recreating scenes you loved as a kid?

RZ: It's totally odd. It's real strange, especially being in South Pasadena on the exact same streets that really don't look any different. We didn't use the same houses or anything because, I mean the original Myers house is still there but it's like an insurance office now or something. It's all like fixed up and it's all nice, but I threw some stuff in there like when Laurie Strode looks out the window and sees Michael on the street, the house behind her is the original Strode house from the first film. Then when the girls are walking home from school and there's that long stone wall, that's the same. I mean I kind of used bits and pieces of locations, and it is weird. It's totally surreal.

NRAMA: For every Halloween franchise, there have been dozens of B-grade films and attempts at franchises that have crashed and burned. Why do you think Michael Myers survived as a horror icon decades later?

RZ: It's funny because they try so hard to create something that'll be that. They try so hard to create a catch phrase, you know, like "I'll be back" and it never works. I think that Michael Myers just stuck around because, I mean the movie was awesome! It was a great movie for one thing. You need that first. Then the character's so simple. Simple characters just seem timeless. They always forget that and they make these characters that are so over the top and way too over done. It seems stupid. Whereas like, even Freddy Krueger, it's so simple. It's just like this burnt guy in a striped sweater, which seems so dumb, but it's not somehow. It just seems classic and the classic ones are always very simple. That's why I didn’t want to change him or jazz him up. I mean I wanted to kind of dirty him up a little bit, so it's a little more real. It always bothered me how clean he was. He stole the world's cleanest mechanic's uniform. [laughs]

NRAMA: Did you cast the actors in the cameo roles or did you write the parts specifically for them?

RZ: Sometimes both. Like certainly people that had cameos I knew I wanted to put in there. What was great is that the guy who plays Michael Myers is so big, but Ken's [Foree] huge too, so I was like, "Well he's going to have to steal his clothes from someone huge, or he's going to be walking around in high waters." So yeah, most people I think I wrote for them.

NRAMA: What about Malcolm McDowell?

RZ: Malcolm McDowell is one of the reasons I thought it would work, because early on people were like, "Well there's nobody who could possibly replace Donald Pleasance." And you know, it wasn't really a matter of replacing him, but I mean there's a lot of great actors. And then Malcolm McDowell is the first person I thought brought that same kind of quality. Donald Pleasance brought that thing to Halloween that like Peter Cushing brought to Star Wars. You know you get one of those guys that bring a certain thing, and Malcolm had that vibe. He was the only person on the list actually.

NRAMA: Being a huge fan of A Clockwork Orange, what was it like meeting him?

RZ: He's so friendly and so good. I was leaving the production office and suddenly my phone rang and it was Malcolm, and I didn’t even know he had my phone number. Two seconds later, "Rob! It's Malcolm!" He talks to you like he's known you his whole life. You're like, okay, now so much for that breaking the ice. By the time we got to the restaurant he's like hugging me like we're best friends. Now it's like…I'm surprised he hasn't called while we've been sitting here.

NRAMA: Is it tough directing your wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, in your movies?

RZ: No, actually it's really easy. I mean, the days with her on set are the easiest days because I know that, at least there's going to be one person who's very prepared, because I'll know what she's done. You never know if people are going to show up knowing their lines or not, and I always know she's ready to go. So, she makes my life easy.

NRAMA: Do you annoy her with constant rehearsals at home?

RZ: No, I'm the one who gets sick of going over it. She's like, "Let's go over this one more time.” And I'm like [a sigh of exasperation]

NRAMA: Your movies, your comics, and your music all show a variety of influences from your earlier days. What movies had an impact on you growing up?

RZ: The first film that I ever saw was King Kong. So that was the first thing that made me go like, "Holy Crap! Movies!" You know I think I was probably in like kindergarten or something. And then the first movie I ever saw in an actual theater, because you know it's funny when you're a little kid thinking like you don't even know movie theaters exist, and then some day you go to a movie theater and you're like why are we sitting in these seats with all these other people, and that was Willy Wonka, the first movie that I ever saw that I was like, "Oh my God!" Then from there we always went to the drive-in for some reason. My parents. Then I remember everything was at the drive-in. Blazing Saddles. French Connection. So it's a big blur, I mean I would watch movies all day long on TV. TV was better when there was no channels. You know? Because there was always good stuff on TV, and now there's just nothing. Then once VCRs popped, then I just watched everything constantly. It's just a big blur.

NRAMA: Do you think the critics are going to favor your film? Thre wasn’t an advance screening, and that usually raises flags…

RZ: I don't know, I mean I don’t know what critics like or don’t like. It's really weird because with Devil's Rejects, it's so unpredictable because the person you thinks going to love it goes, “Eh,” and then the person you think for sure is going to hate it, like, Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, love it! And they still talk about it, like they're reviewing something else and, "Well I really like Devil's Rejects more!" They keep quoting this, I thought they would hate this movie. Totally unpredictable.

NRAMA: That said, do you care about reviews?

RZ: You care about some, but I try not to pay attention because you kind of have to draw your own conclusion. Do you like your movie? You see it before anybody and you have to go, "Look, I like it." I don't believe the bad stuff, and I don't believe the good stuff either. If I have a problem with something and someone tells me they like it, I go, "Well, you're wrong."

NRAMA: In your film, would you say Michael Myers is more a product of his upbringing, or simply born evil?

RZ: You know the way I looked at it was, I tried to base it as much on real things as I could. I was researching kids that have killed other kids. What would be their motivation? Whatever came out of it? I set him with kind of a lousy back story. I thought, oh, good kid from nice family goes bad is just a big snooze. You know? With a nice dad. I figured that's Laurie Strode's life. But I didn't want to play it as if that mattered. He's just born bad. That was essentially the thing with these kids when I was researching psychopaths. It was like they're born that way, and can you help them? The answer always seems to be no. There are kids we probably all know. You want to pet the dog, this kid wants to shove a firecracker up its ass and kill it. Psychopaths was basically how they always described Michael Myers. No sense of other people. No feelings. No emotions. Just dead. They're like robots. On the other hand, sometimes they're strangely charming, friendly, and very manipulative all the time. They'll suck you in.

NRAMA: Do you have any interest in directing possible sequels to this film?

RZ: This is it for me. I mean the next one he'll probably be in space.

NRAMA: Will you do another horror picture next?

RZ: I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. Haven't figured that out yet. I mean after Devil's Rejects I didn't know this was next.

NRAMA: Would you ever do a sequel to Rejects?

RZ: I would love to, but I think that would probably be bad. It's a good ending and I thought something like, oh wait they survived, would be kind of like a cheat.

NRAMA: There was talk of possibly telling the back story with a prequel…

RZ: Yeah, but then it’s the actors who inhabited those characters and then to make a prequel it's hard to bring back people that are now much older to play themselves as their younger selves. There's certain people like Sid Haig that just is that guy. To try to cast a young version of him would probably be lame.

NRAMA: Can the fans look forward to any new comic book work from you?

RZ: I don't do that anymore I had to give that up. I was doing the comics leading up to The Devil's Rejects and it just became like…there was just not enough time. I had to just put that away.

NRAMA: What's the status on The Haunted World of El Superbeasto?

RZ: It's finished finally. That was a long process. The way companies keep merging, it's gone through like five different companies. Now, strangely enough, it's ended up with Weinstein Company. Through all those twists and turns it ended up there. I watched it the other day for the first time, and it's awesome! It's so insane! Even I was watching it thinking, I cannot believe someone put millions of dollars into this. It's the most bizarre, filthy animated movie ever.

NRAMA: Are there any other genres besides horror you would consider?

RZ: I mean the type of movies I really love that I'll probably make at some point, I like that sort of like violent crime dramas. You know, the 70s style crime dramas. The last movie, recently that I saw that had that vibe was Narc. Things like that I really like. Devil's Rejects was almost that type of movie. Like even when I was making Rejects I thought, God, I could've made the whole movie with just them holding the people hostage in the hotel room. Although it probably would've been unbearable to watch after awhile.

NRAMA: What about adapting a comic property?

RZ: I don't know. Maybe. I would love to; I mean there's so many things I like. Like when I hear, oh, somebody's doing Thor, I'm "Oh, that'd be cool. Missed my chance." But you know, those things are weird too because I'm in discussions over there and it doesn't seem like you could be that creative and free with those things, because you really have to hold true to what they are. Unless it was something like Werewolf By Night or something.

coldwarmyth · 08-31-2007, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

By Walter Orsini

NRAMA: What about adapting a comic property?

RZ: I don't know. Maybe. I would love to; I mean there's so many things I like. Like when I hear, oh, somebody's doing Thor, I'm "Oh, that'd be cool. Missed my chance." But you know, those things are weird too because I'm in discussions over there and it doesn't seem like you could be that creative and free with those things, because you really have to hold true to what they are. Unless it was something like Werewolf By Night or something.

Nice interview, a bit different in some respects.

Really enjoy Rejects myself (Bill Moseley can do no wrong in Rob's films). Wish Rob all the best with Halloween, but I sure as heck would love to see him on Werewolf by Night, Moon Knight or another dark Marvel property. Man, the mind just explodes at the thought of Rob doing Moon Knight as a fuse of the 70s and the Bottom arc that Huston and Finch did.

I'd see Halloween if I was more of a fan of the original (gods Dario Argento has spoiled me as far as that type of film goes), but I'll wait until Rob does something of his own again. 70s crime would be amazing, as would an actual western, but then I could also see him doing a sort of John Waters-Rock n' Roll High School comedy musical thing too.

cncoyle · 08-31-2007, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBrady

NRAMA: What about adapting a comic property?

RZ: I don't know. Maybe. I would love to; I mean there's so many things I like. Like when I hear, oh, somebody's doing Thor, I'm "Oh, that'd be cool. Missed my chance." But you know, those things are weird too because I'm in discussions over there and it doesn't seem like you could be that creative and free with those things, because you really have to hold true to what they are. Unless it was something like Werewolf By Night or something.

Rob Zombie doing Werewolf By Night would be too cool. He'd also be great for a character like Brother Voodoo or a Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins kind of movie (like Creepshow or Tales from the Crypt).

vbartilucci · 08-31-2007, 08:35 AM

Rob Zombie is a great musician. His choruses are memorable and head-bangable, even if his verses tend towards the...similar.

He's also a great animator. His art and cartoons have a real Ed Roth feel to them, and he obviously loves his horror.

But so far, as a filmmaker, his stuff is more homage than it is new and innovative. He's making popcorn movies, and they deliver, but so far it's nothing I haven't seen before, turned up to 11 or not.

cncoyle · 08-31-2007, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vbartilucci

But so far, as a filmmaker, his stuff is more homage than it is new and innovative. He's making popcorn movies, and they deliver, but so far it's nothing I haven't seen before, turned up to 11 or not.

Great point! Rob Zombie should also be writing comics for DC & Marvel!

tyopot · 08-31-2007, 09:13 AM

ok, lets see it and then judge the movie. for as long as its a fresh take on the original, it might offer some cool new stuff.

and i'd rather watch a rob zombie flick than a mark steven johnson or joel schumacher movie.

Kody · 08-31-2007, 09:29 AM

Truly looking forward to a new take on Halloween. It was one of my favorites as a kid and it went off the deep end along the way. Zombie has mad skills behind the camera and a very unique visual style, so I'll certainly be there on opening night to support the effort.

Spartan · 08-31-2007, 09:32 AM

Huh, Werewolf by Night would be absolutely perfect for Rob Zombie. Kind of a strange thing to mention at the end. Make it happen!

mrhelm · 08-31-2007, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vbartilucci

Rob Zombie is a great musician. His choruses are memorable and head-bangable, even if his verses tend towards the...similar.

He's also a great animator. His art and cartoons have a real Ed Roth feel to them, and he obviously loves his horror.

But so far, as a filmmaker, his stuff is more homage than it is new and innovative. He's making popcorn movies, and they deliver, but so far it's nothing I haven't seen before, turned up to 11 or not.

I really enjoyed Devil's Rejects, which was far more than an homage to the 70's horror films. Rejects is honestly the most original horror movie of the last decade.

vanillacyke · 08-31-2007, 09:44 AM

Somebody get Vaughn off Thor and give it to Zombie! I would kill to see a Rob Zombie directed Thor film.

jcpetersen · 08-31-2007, 09:53 AM

I got to see a preview screening of this movie last night.

It's a good popcorn movie, and the cameo roles are really well done - you truly get a sense of the character having a backstory, which makes their violent deaths more meaningful.

The film is a bit uneven in spots - you don't get a good bridge between the child and adult Michael, for example, and some of the stuff was unintentionally funny. But that may have been because the theater was full of people who just wanted a free movie, not necessarily a horror movie.

Agent Wax · 08-31-2007, 10:07 AM

I actually got a chance to view an advance screening of this last night, and I have to say, Zombie did a pretty good job with it.
Let me preface that with the fact that I am a huge fan of the original Halloween and I didnt think it needed to be remade in the least. I was also downright angry when I heard Zombie was doing it because i absolutely hated his last two movies. Hated them!
But I will say, he embraces a lot of things that made the original great. The excellent uses of shadow and background darkness, having Myers hidden in it, all except for a barely focused mask at times, made for some very scary images. Awesome job in that department, as well as the music. The score for the original was very simple and that made it scarier, Zombie sticks with that whenever possible, of course its a little different.
The origin stuff was a little bit too long in my opinion, but we're talking about someone who didnt want any origin at all, but after seeing it, I was fairly happy with it.
Tyler Mane as Myers worked out great, having him that big added an additional shock value to some scenes, where he towered over people. Mcdowell as Loomis was an excellent choice too.
Some awesome death scenes, some very violent and shocking, and Micheals mask looked amazing, possibly the best its ever looked.
All in all I will say if you are a fan of the original, or horror flicks in general, get out to the theater and support it. If you're looking for the usual Rob Zombie film crap that he's put out in the past couple years, you won't find it here.
=wax=

turk9 · 08-31-2007, 10:11 AM

Well, being a horror movie fanatic, I'm definitely going to see this. But, I'm pretty wary given the critical lashing it's taken. And I'm not talking the traditional critics that always hate on horror movies, but the genre sites like Bloody Disgusting (1.5/5), Dread Central (2/5), CHUD (F**k You out of 10 and "worst movie of the year"), and Fangoria (2.5/5). Just doesn't instill a lot of confidence.

turk

JAZANWILD · 08-31-2007, 10:19 AM

Rob is an inspiration! He refused to be put in the boxes normally a musician is. He is great at doing several things. I admire what he's done with his life!

KEEP ROCKING, JAZAN WILD!

Last edited by JAZANWILD : 08-31-2007 at 10:27 AM.

Fronkey776 · 08-31-2007, 11:18 AM

OK, I saw Halloween earlier this week. It's surprisingly good. The first 45 minutes of the movie is Myers as a kid. And Rob just did a great job building it up to when he goes back to his hometown to kill a bunch of people. I suggest giving this movie a shot. It's deffinetly worth seeing.

JRATT · 08-31-2007, 11:18 AM

i saw a few days ago i loved it i love the fact that we have a whole new crop of directors that are just horror fans movies like devils rejects alos movies like slither black sheep
they dont have to be inovative its ok to be derivative of the classics but man it is a good time to be a horror fan these last 5 years or so a good time

Earth2 Robin · 08-31-2007, 11:23 AM

I've seen the movie.

It's funny, I see the sequels blasted a lot to excuse why Zombie "had" to do a remake. And it is true that none of them lived up to the original. Some were enjoyable to varying degrees and others were just plain bad. However, even the bad ones usually had some moment, some scene that I enjoyed. But there's nothing in this film I liked. Nothing. I've been wracking my brain trying to think of something good to say about it and about the best I can come up with is some of the scenes were lit well and established a good mood. The script couldn't maintain that mood though. None of the characters are likeable. None. There's nobody to route for or empathize with. The narrative is a disjointed, contradictory mess.

I don't know, if the movie had been advertised as the Devil's Rejects sequel it feels like it might have come across better. But when you use the name "Halloween," one of the few horror classics of the past few decades, you're definitely holding yourself to a higher standard. I just really hope this "re-imagining" craze ends soon and we get back to people at least trying to do something original.

davester · 08-31-2007, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earth2 Robin

get back to people at least trying to do something original.

I agree fully with this. It seems Hollywood can't come up with new ideas, recycling movies and TV shows.

Staying on this topic, the ads for Halloween look good-it appears RZ based it on the novelization, which had lots of Michael as a kid in it. But, I am too big a fan of the original; I'll wait for the DVD.

Dave

ArcLight · 08-31-2007, 02:24 PM

If Zombie does a werewolf movie it needs to be

Werewolf Women of the SS

Been wanting to see that since I first heard about it before "Grindhouse" came out.

Kenro · 08-31-2007, 02:52 PM

Terrible movie. He should have been better off not doing a slasher based on Carpenter's orignal classic. I've seen it (both versions) and while both are terrible I think he'd have been better off releasing his original version as it makes more thematic sense. He was the wrong guy to begin with. Aja Alexander would have been perfect for it.

______________
"I feel it's the worst thing any filmmaker can do. I actually got a call from my agent and they asked me if I wanted to be involved with the remake of Chain Saw. I said no ____ing way! Those movies are perfect- you're only going to make yourself look like an asshole by remaking them." - Rob Zombie on Remakes (2002)

JLAJRC · 08-31-2007, 06:51 PM

I just saw the original Halloween on IFC for the first time ever, and unlike alot of old horror films labeled "Classic" (The remake of "Hills Have Eyes" TOTALLY decimates the orignal) this does live up to it's reputation. I wasn't planning on seeing the remake until a friend called wanting to go tomorrow, so I'll see how it does.

Awake1313 · 08-31-2007, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyopot

ok, lets see it and then judge the movie. for as long as its a fresh take on the original, it might offer some cool new stuff.

and i'd rather watch a rob zombie flick than a mark steven johnson or joel schumacher movie.

Right on hommie, right on.

And Spartan has the most badass banner EVER.

NedPepper · 08-31-2007, 07:53 PM

I'm so torn...I love the original Halloween, yet Zombie is very endearing in his interview. I find the Devil's Rejects to just kind of sit there as an exploitation film, like Wes Craven's Last House on the Left. I appreciate it, but I don't want to watch it over and over again.

Like Bill Mosely said, "these characters kind of get to you after a while and bring you down."

To which Zombie replied, "Art isn't meant to be safe."

I get that. I appreciate that. But this is, to me, the mother of all modern horror films. I didn't go watch the remake of Black Christmas. It didn't need to be remade.

And Halloween wasn't an exploitation film. It was a sheer study on what evil is that captured everything that is great about the horror genre. Forget about the sequels for a minute and just hold Halloween up by itself.

I'll probably see it, but my exectations are low.

DanteHicks1972 · 09-01-2007, 01:07 AM

Let's be real, Zombies movies so far are all unoriginal or remakes with more gore. I "won" pre-release passes and our impression was 1.) Piss poor choice of release date. 2.) Why in the world did anyone feel the need to remake Halloween?? Then the answer!!! Since all of White Zombie's songs sound like all of Rob's solo stuff just less inspired and just as the formula, why not just use the same pattern for the movies!!! Viola!!! The sheep fall into place. In the end Zombie was fresh at one point but now it's just cookie cutter. Werewolf By Night? Moon Knight? Forget it fellow sheep that would take originality!!!

btjs · 09-01-2007, 01:10 AM

This film was a grotesque retread and abortion, just like all his others.