When I was in the 8th grade, I picked up a copy of White Zombie’s La Sexorcista: Devil Music Volume 1. Led by techno-acid-horror-kitsch-retro-art singer, Rob Zombie, it was a take on rock I hadn’t heard before. I still love that album and all other Rob Zombie music projects that followed.
When I was 25, I watched House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects back-to-back under some very strange, sweaty circumstances. *giggity* When I look back on that evening, the circumstances are condemnable at least. However, the movies are not. 1,000 Corpses and Rejects raised the bar for the slasher flick in a way that Hostel and Saw tried at but failed. They played on the basic vulnerable “this could happen to anyone at any time under any circumstance” horror that the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre parlayed. That’s how I saw it anyway. Plus, Hostel was retarded as shit and the Saw series became too formulaic. I’ll take Otis Driftwood quoting Charles Manson and wearing your face over Jigsaw the handicapped sadist any day.
Anyway. Rob Zombie proved (especially with The Devil’s Rejects) that horror is still alive and well if dealt with properly.
Then Zombie did something I wasn’t sure I approved of. He sought to remake Halloween. What the hell, right? I learned about this at the same time that there were talks of remaking Cronenberg’s The Fly (and don’t say it’s a remake of the Vincent Price film, or I will…I don’t know…snap your arm in an arm wrestling match).
Okay, I didn’t just disapprove. I was pissed. Great! They’re remaking The Fly, possibly my favorite horror movie of all time, and now Rob Zombie is remaking Halloween. Fucking great, Rob. Now I have to hate you.
He totally passed, though. What an amazing job. He didn’t just “re-shoot” Halloween like Psycho was reshot but with color in the late 90s. Instead, he paid tribute to the original, reinventing the story from a different and brilliantly shocking angle. A true reimaging. Both Halloweens are now seperate and wonderful entities.
Halloween was amazing. It helped sweeten the soured taste in my mouth of all of the Ringesque movies that promised so much but delivered nothing.
And now, Halloween II is set to chop into the minds of pop horror buffs once again. August ’09, putos. I am so excited about this. I watched the preview, and I am already sold.
I’m not even second guessing the man again. A few years ago I said that Rob Zombie may singlehandedly bring back horror. I’m going to go ahead and retract that statement, especially since Sam Raimi of Evil Dead fame just unleashed Drag Me to Hell. But I think Rob Zombie is going to be a MAJOR driving force in the reinvention of good horror.
Thanks Rob Zombie. Keep it up.
-David C. Garcia “ain’t goin’ nowhere, bitch.”
As long as he continues to feature Sherri Moon Zombie in his films, he won’t be going anywhere.
I came of age watching the Halloween movies and while I was pregnant with Shelby I listened to La Sexorcista in the car at full volume (whoops!). My office mate has the Halloween theme music as his ringtone. Maybe these are all signs…..
I use to love horror films. Then I went and had two daughters in two years and the world suddenly became scary enough. That trailer is tempting though.
I never could really get into horror films. It always feels like the camera man is most likely leering at the action and pawing at his erection.
Gotta say, I felt the same way about his first re-make of Halloween (flashes of that truly horrible Psycho remake). But it was totally badass because it filled in the gaps that Carpenter left behind in his original, he didn’t just re-film the original. That made it so that you could be a fan of the original and the remake without feeling like you were cheating on your special lady friend.
This looks awesome too, but what’s up with showing his face? And Mike Myers in a hoodie? Also, what’s up with so much screen time for his hot ass wife…wait I think I just answered my own question.
Mike Myers is wearing a hoodie to appeal to the sentiments of the huge “urban” crowds who tend to flock to horror movies. Maybe this one will be in 3D, and Michael Myers will pop out of the screen and chop the noisy motherfuckers in the audience up.