With Blumhouse’s sequel to the original Halloween flick currently tearing it up at the box, I’m sure that nostalgia has kicked in for many moviegoers and they’re revisiting past entries into the franchise of late. Actually, with it being the appropriate season for doing so, one could say that was bound to happen anyway.
While we each have our favorites – and the 1978 classic still reigns supreme for me, in case you were wondering – I’m going to be honest in saying that I did enjoy what Rob Zombie had to contribute to the legacy. To be more specific, I’m referring to 2007’s Halloween remake, which is also among those I adore most. But, believe it or not, his 2009 followup Halloween II is actually my least favorite overall, so go figure.
As it so happens, the filmmaker/musician chimed in on this very subject during a recent interview with SFX magazine, revealing his second effort to be his preference:
“To be honest, I would rather be doing my own thing. But I am still proud of both Halloween movies. I prefer the second one, which might surprise people. But the problem is that when you do a remake you can never get a true judgement on what it is you have done. I think it’s the same deal when someone remakes A Nightmare on Elm Street or anything else – it’s just too hard to completely break the formula. Everyone knows Michael Myers and a lot of the fans want the same thing again, but maybe with a small twist – like when they did the eighth one and he’s part of a virtual television programme or something [laughs]. One thing that I got a lot of was, ‘This is what it should have been,’ or, ‘He should have done it like this,’ but if that is the barrier we set then you cannot ever do anything. I really wanted to rework what Halloween was.”
Hey, even though he and I differ in opinion on the matter, I can fully understand why Zombie, as a creator, would make that choice. In the end, a director’s more likely to fondly remember something that was more of their own.
Funny enough, one of Rob’s next comments pretty much paraphrased what I just said, so I’m glad to know that I’m in the ballpark:
“I kept being asked, ‘Hey, should we show this to Carpenter or so and so from the original and see what they think?’ And my response was just, ‘What the fuck do I care?’ When I get asked what my advice is in this business I tell people to just focus on what they want to do because if you start worrying about what other people think you are screwed [laughs]. I am oblivious to all that. I love Halloween and I wanted to do my own thing with it. Whether people like my Halloween or don’t like it is irrelevant to me. At least it has my own personal stamp on there.”
Tell us, which of Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies do you enjoy most? Sound off in the usual place below!
