Countdown to Halloween: The 'shape' of things to come

[Brian Damage]

Rob Zombie's arms are inked with cartoonish images of gruesome carnage - skulls with dangling eyeballs and the like. But when it comes to horror films, says the musician-turned-filmmaker, "I'm not a big fan of gore. Bloodier might be more disgusting, but that's not what scares people."

So what does scare people? Zombie (who was given the less-colorful birth name of Robert Cummings) thinks he has a pretty fair idea, and puts it into practice this Friday in his remake of John Carpenter's horror classic "Halloween," the 1978 movie that gave the world the unkillable, mask-wearing maniac Michael Myers, as well as seven sequels. (The silent, lumbering Myers was known simply as "The Shape" in the credits for the trendsetting first one).

But, as the 42-year-old rocker points out, it's not the blood that makes people scream.

"There's a scene where Michael pulls a victim into a house and closes the door - and people started screaming," Zombie recalls of a test screening of his film. "And they're screaming at what is just an exterior shot of a house.

"Sure, this movie is very violent - how could it not be? But it's not gory or bloody. There aren't any exploding heads or popping eyeballs. When you go too over the top with special effects, the characters get lost in the shuffle. And you can't have that."

Zombie originally turned down the offer to reboot the "Halloween" series: "With each sequel, I thought the franchise had degenerated," Zombie says. But when he looked again at Carpenter's original (which starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence), he began to get ideas.

"I thought it would be possible to keep the same story and retain the elements that people loved without hitting the same familiar beats," he says. "That's why people don't like remakes - because they feel pointless."

Specifically, he wrote a script that spends a healthy chunk of time exploring the early life of a young Michael Myers, after his first murder but before the killing rampage that was the focus of the original film. Zombie also wanted to devote more time to the relationship between Michael (played as an adult by ex-wrestler Tyler Mane) and psychiatrist Sam Loomis, the role Pleasence played from "Halloween" through 1995's sixth entry, "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers." Here, Loomis is played by Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork Orange," "Time After Time").

Some things never change, however. The adult Michael - wearing, yes, a blank rubber mask, which in 1978 was actually a bleached-out William Shatner/Capt. Kirk mask - still stalks his victims at a measured pace, slowly and unstoppably.

"I didn't have him run because I thought that would look funny," Zombie says wisely.

Adds the 6-foot-8 Mane, "People will see the same slow movements - but when I catch people, it's more explosive. There's a lot more realism. We kick it up a notch. Michael earns his kills."

Before news of the remake became public knowledge, Zombie did talk to "Halloween" originator Carpenter, whom he'd met when Carpenter was shooting 1996's "Escape From L.A."

"There was no weirdness - he was cool," Zombie says. "He said, 'Great. Make it your own.'"

"Halloween" is Zombie's third feature as a director. He had directed several videos for his former rock group, White Zombie, before shooting his first movie, 2003's "House of 1000 Corpses," a horror film so graphic that it's original distributor sold it for fear of an NC-17 rating.

Since then, he's directed "The Devil's Rejects," as well as one of the tongue-in-cheek fake "Coming Attractions" in last spring's "Grindhouse" (his contribution was the ad for a lycanthrope dominatrix epic called "Werewolf Women of the S.S."). He also co-wrote an animated sex comedy (the nearly completed "Haunted World of El Super-Beasto"), based on a series of comic books he wrote.

While he's identified as part of the "Splat Pack," which includes Eli Roth ("Hostel") and James Wan ("Saw"), Zombie says his roots are in classic - and nonbloody - horror.

"I remember seeing the original 1933 'King Kong' as a kid and being blown away," he says. "I might even have thought it was real! I think the first live-action movie I ever saw was 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.' I don't think my young brain could comprehend what I was seeing."

Still, he recognizes that audiences have expectations of horror films today that they didn't have in the past. "It definitely takes more just to get their attention," he says. "There's so much of everything out there. People are jaded. I mean, you can go on YouTube and watch some guy actually break his arm skateboarding."

Having devoted the past year to the film, Zombie is ready to rock again. Getting onstage to pound out music that blends heavy metal and industrial influences will, he notes, feel like a holiday in comparison.

"Making movies is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together in the dark," Zombie says. "Touring with my band will be a vacation."

[coffield3]

I actually think that this re-make looks good, i hope i wont be disapointed i love the original.

[Number 9 Dream]

I really like Rob Zombie's horror movie style, so I'm thinking this won't let me down I can't wait 'til Friday!

[coffield3]

We here in the uk have got to wait till october!