The goth metal rocker and horror filmmaker discusses his latest scary movie, Halloween II
GIANT: So you were apparently still in the editing room as late as two weeks ago. Is Halloween II finally wrapped and ready to go?
Rob Zombie: Yes, we pushed it to the last minute but we’re finished. We had a post schedule that was psychotic and were trying to use every possible second of it. Because nobody makes movies anymore-they make budgets and schedules. It’s this new way of setting release dates before you have a script. It’s great for everybody except the filmmakers.
GIANT: The film isn’t screening for critics before it opens, which is a surprise considering your first installment got solid reviews. Was that your call or the studio?
Zombie: There haven’t been press screenings because there was nothing to screen. Normally when we’d have press screenings, we were on a soundstage mixing the movie. Everyone thinks it’s a diabolical plot, but I love the movie so I’d be happy to screen it. Schedule-wise it just wasn’t possible.
GIANT: Most horror films aren’t screened for critics these days. Does that give the genre an unfair rep?
Zombie: I think there are certain things that are bulletproof and this genre is bulletproof. If you’ve got an indie movie like (500) Days of Summer you need people to review it and love it so it has strong word of mouth. But for most big movies people are going to jam the multiplex regardless. I don’t know if anyone cares about film critics anymore. I don’t mean that in a bad way-there used to be very prominent film critics that people paid attention to but now it’s so fragmented that anyone with a blog or a website is a film critic. You don’t even know what anything means anymore.
GIANT: Halloween II opens opposite the latest Final Destination movie. Do you feel any rivalry with those guys?
Zombie: I don’t have any ill will towards any other horror projects, because it’s so hard making one of these things. It’s unfortunate that both movies are opening on the same day because they’re obviously going to eat into each other’s fanbase. But a lot of comments I’ve seen online are along the lines of “I’m going to both!” So maybe it’s good for both movies. The films are very different. Final Destination seems to me like a movie where you’d hoot and holler and our movie is serious business. It’ll fuck people up.
GIANT: Based on the trailers, it looks like you were able to put more of your own personal stamp on this film than its predecessor.
Zombie: I always had free reign on the first Halloween; I just felt the responsibility to revisit some of John Carpenter’s original material. Looking back maybe it was a good idea, maybe it was a bad idea, who knows? Even though the movie was a huge success, I still question everything I did. But this time around it was a no-brainer to go 100% different.
GIANT: Were you always contracted to make a sequel or did the producers have to convince you to return?
Zombie: I made it real clear after the first one I had no intention of doing a second one so they didn’t even ask me. For awhile, I wasn’t paying any attention to news about the sequel and then I found out a year and a half later that they hadn’t done anything with it. They didn’t have any scripts or directors-just 10 page treatments. At that point I had put out a record and gone on tour, so I had some free time and felt that any reasoning I had before had changed. Basically I felt protective of what I had started and wanted to finish it myself.
GIANT: So you feel like you’ve finished it now?
Zombie: Yes, definitely. It’s all good now.
GIANT: What did you want to do differently this time around?
Zombie: I wanted Halloween II to be a much grittier and darker film and the last one was not that so much. I wanted to approach it as if the events of the last movie were true events. What would be the fallout of such events in the lives of these characters? We just approached it like it was a very dark drama. Very rarely in these franchise movies does the same director return with the same cast and pick up the story where it left off. Usually, everyone is gone and they decide to just retell the same story with a different number on it. I didn’t want to do that.
GIANT: Since you’re not returning, could another filmmaker pick up where you leave things off for a third movie?
Zombie: It doesn’t really leave itself to another film, but Hollywood is so sequel crazy, it doesn’t matter what you do. You could end the movie with the planet Earth blowing up and killing everyone and people still go “It’s a set-up for a sequel!” [Laughs]
GIANT: What’s next for you on the film and music fronts?
Zombie: I don’t know what the next film will be, but I don’t want it to be in the horror genre. I love dark material so I’d love to do something of that vein. There’s a bunch of things floating around but I don’t know what is next. I finished an album before Halloween II and we’re going to start our tour in Japan on October 15. Touring is a totally different experience. With filmmaking you need intense focus 24/7, but with touring, you only need intense focus when you’re onstage. It’s the difference between looking through a microscope and punching somebody in the face-very different activities. Filmmaking is a precise, tedious process where being on tour is complete insanity.
Halloween II opens in theaters nationwide tomorrow.
