Rob Zombie’s next directorial effort, 3 From Hell, begins rolling out in theaters next week. The film will feature the return of the Firefly Family from the director’s previous movies, House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, and while fans are happy to see the continuation of the series they thought finished, it wasn’t that long ago that the heavy metal icon had his hands on a different horror franchise: Halloween.
In the later half of the 2000s, Zombie was brought onboard to spearhead a remake/reboot of the property. This interpretation would end up spawning a pair of movies. The first was a decent hit, modernizing the story and stripping it down, removing the supernatural elements and making it more personal, though most agree it didn’t live up to the hype.
The second, however, is considered a mess. It convoluted the story and got hammered by both critics and fans. What’s more, it made less than half at the box office as its predecessor. And while there are likely a lot of reasons for the franchise’s sputtering out and the second film being such a disaster, most were content to just sweep it under the rug.
During a recent interview with Forbes though, the musician turned filmmaker opened up about the experience and specifically, he pointed the finger at the Weinstein brothers, who financed the project, stating:
Making Halloween with the Weinstein’s was a miserable experience for me. And so, I was very reticent to do the second one. I did do the second one, and I thought, ‘Okay, well the first one was a miserable experience, but it did well, so maybe it’ll be easier the second time?’ It was worse. Oh my God. I felt like they weren’t trusting me on the first one because they wanted to make sure it was a hit and now, they weren’t trusting me not to f*** up their hit.
It seems that there were too many voices during the creative process, and, as a result, the remakes fell flat. While it would be nice to remember these films fondly, the Halloween franchise is now in the capable hands of David Gordon Green and Danny McBride, who produced a well-received new iteration last year and are gearing up for a sequel as we speak.
And as for Rob Zombie, he’s now returned to his music, currently touring with Marilyn Manson, as well as to his self-created Firefly universe. So, perhaps it’s best that his time steering this particular horror series is best left swept under the rug.
