Rob Zombie is perhaps the only performer to successfully master both shock rock and the kindred parallel universe of horror cinema. But while he’s enjoyed fair commercial success in Hollywood, Zombie took a lot of fan flack while in the director’s chair – both for being too gratuitously brutal in films like The Devil’s Rejects, and for being too corporate by agreeing to helm two Halloween remakes. In the wake of the very mixed response to his most recent horror movie – last year’s bold and bizarre Lords of Salem – Rob very publicly announced he was done with directing horror for the foreseeable future. Until now…

Zombie’s plan had previously been to take a radical new direction with a film based in the harsh world of pro ice hockey entitled Broad Street Bullies. But in a recent interview with 3News, while on tour in New Zealand with his band, the singer revealed he was now returning to horror, after struggling to find enough backing for the sports drama he’d been developing. The director predicts that the new film will connect most with fans of his most provocative film, the Devil’s Rejects, while expressing puzzlement over the cult popularity of his directorial debut, House of 1000 Corpses, which he dismissed ‘a calamitous mess…

 

‘Well, people like it, but when it came out it seemed like everyone hated it,’ shrugged Zombie. ‘Now everyone acts like it’s beloved in some way. All I see is flaw, upon flaw, upon flaw, upon flaw… It’s so odd how people judge things, so I’ve stopped trying to figure it out. The one thing I’ve noticed is that as time goes on, nobody likes anything when it’s new. As soon as it’s old, it gets this weird, established gloss to it: “Oh, it’s a classic!” Really?… and it’s always like as long as it’s old, it’s good. They hate it now, in six months they love it, in ten years it’s a classic, so who gives a shit?”’

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 in Reviews.