Halloween and Rob Zombie

The press release has been issued, Rob Zombie, musician and filmmaker, will be writing and directing a new Halloween film, the 9th in the franchise. The film is being called a "re-imaging" by Rob, meaning that it is a pre-quel of sorts and a remake tied in one. Since John Carpenter's original 1978 Halloween film is by far The Beast's favorite film of all time, I have been getting asked my thoughts on the upcoming Zombie interpretation.

First of all, I like Rob Zombie. I was a fan of his original White Zombie album that was released in 1992 and have followed his music ever since. I also have enjoyed both of his films, House of 1000 corpses and The Devil's Rejects. The former, I believe, was the superior film, but they both had something offer.

So, as he enters the world of Halloween, I am optimistic. However, the standard has gone way up. He is entering dangerous ground now. Even long time Rob Zombie fans like myself who are also hardcore Halloween (John Carpenter) fans will see any attempt to "remake" Halloween as a major threat and hostility will begin to rise fairly quickly. I have already read on the Halloween message boards the fans of Zombie who just wished he would have never agreed to the project.

Zombie says he wants to put away the current direction of the Halloween sequels and begin with a fresh start. Apparently, he is going to take a closer look at the problematic beginnings of Michael Myers, before he murdered his sister Judith on Halloween night. Now, I have nothing against the concept. The last two Halloween films have been failures. I am a fan of parts 4 and 5, but even they fall tremendously short of the original. (just for the record, I like Halloween 3, which has nothing to do with Michael Myers. The film gets a bad rap. Dan O'Herlihy plays one of the most sinister villains of all time, and delivers one of the greatest horror movie lines of all time in the process.)

I did read tonight that Zombie was quoted as saying he was not going to touch one frame of Carpenters classic. That is good news. I am hoping this film will be similar to the Ultimates in the Marvel comics universe. Everyone knows they are not the original deal and the writers don't try to copy the original. Just the opposite. They take a classic superhero and give them a new beginning. Those have worked very well for Marvel and have started a new generation of comic fans, while not doing away with the veterans who enjoy the classics. I think the same thing can happen here, just so long as Zombie minds his p's and q's.