Many fans (including myself) bitched about the fact that Rob Zombie's Halloween focused too much on Michael Myers and not enough on his sister Laurie. Well Tim Sullivan, filmmaker (2001 Maniacs - great movie btw) and buddy of Rob Zombie, caught up to the writer and director Halloween 2 to get a read on what the next chapter in the Myers legacy is about.
Zombie begins by clearing the air on why he's back. Most of it having to do with a want to follow through on the world he created in Halloween. Introductions to the characters were made in that remake and now he's allowed to run with them in any direction he feels like.
He also emphasizes the sequel is not a redo of Rick Rosenthal's film.
Scout Taylor-Compton has not read the script, Zombie says, but it will definitely be her movie. "She's not the happy-go-lucky girl, now she's very f**ked up famous person, trying to make sense of this," he explains. "It takes place over some time, but it starts that night [of the murders] and then essentially, I mean...the first one, Laurie has no idea what just happened. But then she wakes up the next day and someone's going, 'Oh by the way, your parents are dead. All your friends are dead. And actually, your brother is uh, Charles Manson.' You know? 'How do you feel about that?' See what I mean?"
Zombie seems unsure if Malcolm McDowell will return as Dr. Loomis and adds that he'd rather not have the character at all if the actor doesn't sign to the film. There's more solid reading to be had, so check out Icons of Fright's full interview below.
Halloween 2 opens in theaters August 28th.
With MY BLOODY VALENTINE kicking ass at the box office and anticipation high for FRIDAY THE 13TH, remakes of 80’s splatter classics (and not so classics) continue; like it or not. As someone who has remade an exploitation favorite, (TWO THOUSAND MANIACS!), it’s hard for me to throw rocks while living in a glass house. For the most part, I wish Hollywood would be a bit more original and allow filmmakers to come up with something new. But if remakes are to continue, then I guess those opposed should hate the game, not the player.
So when a remake (or sequel to a remake) is announced, then we should be grateful that someone like Rob Zombie is behind the lens, and not some TV commercial director hired by a producer who gives more about the “buck” than the project. I have a lot of love for Rob Zombie. Besides the fact that I consider him among one of my best friends in this industry, I think he is one of the greatest American filmmakers alive today- a modern Scorsese. Every time I talk to Rob I wish I had a tape recorder present. The conversations are always that good. Rob is thoughtful. Passionate. Often pissed off. And always REAL. Which could also describe both his music and his films. At first, I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical when I heard about his pending HALLOWEEN sequel. Like most of Rob’s projects at the outset. But in the end, Rob always makes a true believer out of me. Read on and see what I mean.
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Tim Sullivan: I am sure by now you could practically do this interview with yourself, you’ve been asked these questions so many times: “So you said you’d never remake a horror film and then you did, and then you said you’d never do a sequel and now you’re doing it, blah, blah blah. “ But seriously, I was surprised to hear about HALLOWEEN 2, pleasantly surprised, because in many ways, I never felt that HALLOWEEN was done. I felt you were taking on an epic story and just weren’t given enough time to do it! So I’m actually happy because you’ll finally get a chance to fully tell your story.
Rob Zombie: Yeah, it’s a funny thing. When I was done with HALLOWEEN and the movie was in theaters and people would ask me if I would do another, I was like “No way!” And the main reason I would say that is because I was burnt out. Making that movie was… a really hard fucking thing to do. It was one of those movies where everything was a fight, a struggle. So when it was all done, I said, “I’m done”. But ya know, you say that after you go out on every tour. You’re just so burnt out, you brain can’t… you can’t get your head around doing it again. So, I went off and worked on some other scripts, and other movies got announced pre-maturely like T-REX that weren’t ready to go. And then, by that point I’d heard someone else was doing HALLOWEEN 2. Then I found out the job was still open because they hadn’t worked it out with whomever they had gotten. And I was kind of like… suddenly over night into the idea. And everyone I would tell was like, “Why would you want to do that? Don’t do that!” But as you kind of said, I felt like… my world had just sort of been established. And now I can really do something with it.
Exactly. In the same way CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE are really one long movie in two parts.
Bingo. So now we’ve gotten over the hump of “Who’s going to replace Jamie Lee Curtis?” and “Who’s going to replace Donald Pleasance?” I have those people now. It’s kind of the same with THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. I didn’t want to do a sequel to HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, I wanted to do something new. Again, I initially laid the groundwork with these characters in broad strokes. But now you can really do something with them, you don’t have to explain who everyone is. That’s why it may seem like one giant movie, just pick it up and go. Almost everyone is coming back. They still look the same. It just feels right. And I thought of something that I could do with the movie that seemed really interesting to me. It’s not based on anything. Even though I created the back-story for little Michael, I still basically followed the story of HALLOWEEN (with the first one). I was really torn between creating stuff that was new and giving people a little of the old. Now, it doesn’t matter! I can just do whatever the fuck I want. No one will have any expectations. And some people may think they’re going to watch a horror movie with Michael stuck in the hospital, but I’m not doing that. I can do something totally different.
So this isn’t a remake of the original HALLOWEEN 2?
No, nothing to do with it at all.
Very cool. Is it going to pick right up where HALLOWEEN 1 left off?
Well, it’s going to pick up right at the next second. Ya know, when I was making that movie, it was really funny… I had struggled with the Laurie Strode character through the whole movie. Within the sense that, I usually work with darker characters like Captain Spaulding and Otis. Those are the characters I really feel like I understand. By the time I got to the end of the movie when Laurie Strode was all smacked up and covered in blood, holding a gun, and screaming, I was like “THAT’S the Laurie Strode movie I want to make!”
That’s very true because as an audience member, I felt like there wasn’t enough Laurie Strode. And considering how you took such great pains to show us how Michael became Michael, it felt like Laurie finally became herself just as the credits rolled…
That’s kind of how I felt too. Here’s sort of the reason that happened. I originally envisioned it as 2 movies. I wanted the first movie to be little Michael in Smithsgrove Sanitarium ending basically when Michael gets the mask.
That movie would’ve been brilliant.
And then Part 2 would be basically Haddonfield. But unfortunately I couldn’t convince anyone to take the stance and make 2 films back to back. We edited like crazy, we took 4 hours worth of movie and cut it down to 90 minutes. And I tell people this, when I watch it, my favorite part is the first hour, because it’s very detailed and getting into little Michael. Then when we get to Haddonfield, I was feeling “Okay, time to wrap this shit up, kids!”
(Laughs)
And it was just kind of a struggle the whole time. Now, I feel it makes sense.
The other thing that’s great is you can expand it. You can do what Coppola did with his GODFATHER series, where once you get it all in the can, you can even it out so the first movie does end with him putting the mask on. The second movie can be Laurie’s film. Once again, a chance to revisit the film again.
Yeah. For this movie… this movie is really going to be Laurie’s movie. The first one is really Michael’s movie. But that was my goal too. Carpenter’s movie is really about Laurie, and I was more interested in Michael.
Yes, and now we’re going to get your take on Laurie.
To me, when Laurie became… now she’s not the happy-go-lucky girl, now she’s very fucked up famous person, trying to make sense of this.
Scout Taylor-Compton must be thrilled. This will give her a chance to flex her chops in a way she wasn’t able to in the first film.
She hasn’t seen the script yet, so she’s not sure what’s happening. But I put a lot of good stuff into her character. It’s a real kick-ass film.
Is this going to have the sadistic viciousness of DEVIL’S REJECTS?
Well, I want to make a very different movie. It’s not like I’m trying to make that. That’s part of the reason we’re going to Georgia to a wide open place. That was the problem - I had felt the pains of shooting in Pasadena. I don’t know if it makes a difference shooting in the suburbs, but it’ll really open up the movie. Because if you open up too much, you would see Starbucks, there’s Carl’s T, there’s a palm tree. So now we’re going on location and really opening up and feeling that world.
This is your first time shooting on location, outside of LA, right?
Yeah, yeah. Now, it’s a location that I can use as a real character.
Now, we’ve talked in the past of our love of 70’s movies. This sounds like it could really be a 70’s revenge movie. DEATH WISH, TAXI DRIVER with Laurie Strode. It’s very exciting! What are the themes that are concerning you in the 2nd HALLOWEEN?
It’s not any kind of revenge movie at all. It’s more of a… God, what kind of movie is it? (Pause) I don’t even want to say because the whole vibe of it is still materializing. I want people to walk in and be surprised. It’s really hard because if I say this is happening, that’s happening, it’ll give it away. But it’s Laurie’s journey in the aftermath of what is an incredibly horrible way to figure out who she is.
Is it over time, is it in one night?
It takes place over some time, but it starts that night and then essentially, I mean… the first one, Laurie has no idea what just happened. But then she wakes up the next day and someone’s going, “Oh by the way, your parents are dead. All your friends are dead. And actually, your brother is uh, Charles Manson.” (Laughs) You know? “How do you feel about that?” See what I mean?
Wow. See I’m sold already on that.
Yeah! Because that’s really the place that she’s in. She is now… everyone she knows is basically dead, and she is related to the person that did it all and doesn’t even know who the fuck she is. So it’s really the journey of figuring out who she is.
Will Loomis be back?
Most likely. It’s one of those things… I don’t know who’s back until everyone signs their deal! (Laughs) You never know what’s going to happen. I mean, me and Malcolm… Malcolm’s a wonderful guy, and we’re still good friends through this whole thing. We talk about it all the time. I’m pretty sure Malcolm is going to be back. But you never know.
Not so much Malcolm, but the character of Loomis. Let’s say Malcolm isn’t available, would you still have Loomis in it, or would you just not have the character?
I think I would just not have the character, because I think it’d be too weird. I think… I’m really excited to see Malcolm and Scout and all these people can really have the chance to stand freely – We just scratched the surface on the first movie.
Do you think you’ll have any flashbacks? Daeg Faerch has become a little horror icon himself. It’d be kind of fun to see more of him.
Yeah, there won’t be – there’s other weird things planned but there’s no flashbacks in the movie.
Well, I’m intrigued. Are you going to see MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D and the upcoming FRIDAY THE 13TH? I know it’s always hard to talk about other filmmakers because we respect them all, but once again, they’ve been saying “horror’s dead” and now everyone’s predicted a big return to “slasher” fare.
Well, that’s good. I think everyone is banking on 3D to be the ticket.
If BOLT can do it. MY BLOODY VALENTINE can do it.
3D is getting better and it’s always new to somebody.
Would you be interested in doing something in 3D someday?
Ya know, I actually spoke a lot to the guys at Lionsgate, because at one point they brought MY BLOODY VALENTINE to me. And I think it was… I can’t recall if it was before HALLOWEEN or right after, but whatever it was, it wasn’t the right project. But I’ve spoken to them since about 3D. What I’m interested in is to see if you can use 3D without making it a 3D movie. Like just tell a story, but you don’t have to shove anything in your face. Just show the movie and see if it’s compelling & 3 dimensional, as opposed to constantly sticking things into the camera for that wacky effect.
Hitchcock did that best with DIAL M FOR MURDER.
Yeah.
People forget that was a 3D movie because it works so well as a 2D movie. Most 3D movies are awful without the technology.
HOUSE OF WAX was good either way more or less. There’s so many 3D movies in the pipeline already.
Your new record, when’s that coming out?
I’ll probably put that out after I’m done shooting the movie. The record’s done and sitting on the shelf waiting to come out, but I don’t want to put it out while I’m shooting HALLOWEEN 2 because I can’t deal with it too much. I’m really excited about it, though. I actually have a track with a full orchestra. My composer, Tyler Bates, came in and did the whole thing.
So this the start of a trend? Movie, tour, movie, tour?
Seems like that. But I’ll probably put the record out at the end of the summer or something.
Does it have a name yet?
No, not really. We finished the record. Boom, then I literally picked up and left LA to start HALLOWEEN 2.
(Laughs) You gave birth and left the baby in the basket.
Yeah, exactly.
Last but not least, you wrote some really nice stuff about Forry Ackerman on your blog when he passed. He was a guy who influenced us all and I just wanted to leave with some more thoughts on that for those who didn’t get to read that blog. The influence of Forry on you, and his place in horror history.
I mean, it’s funny because I don’t really think of it – As a kid, I didn’t really understand the influence, ya know? Because it’s only when you have some distance from it where you realize “Wow.” That really had an impact on me.
It just always seemed to be around, right?
Yeah, it was just there. You couldn’t really appreciate it when it was there. But when you realize it wasn’t there until he put it there. If not for him, nobody would’ve cared. What he did was incredible and it was only in hindsight that you really appreciate it. You don’t appreciate things as much until it’s too late sometimes.
Exactly.
Even more then that, what I always liked about him, and what now that really bothers me, he always seemed – he always seemed fun! It was like, “Hey, we all like this stuff.” He would treat the Al Adamson movies with the same respect as the classic horror films. And that’s what I liked. It wasn’t about being smarter then the material or being bitchy about it or being a smart-ass. It’s just like we like this and isn’t it great that it’s here. And that’s the thing I miss. There’s no feeling like that anymore. Now it feels like a bunch of smart-ass-one-up-man-ship between everybody. You can feel it in the room. Everyone is just standing around waiting for everyone else to fail! (Laughs) They’re not looking forward to things and hoping they’re good! They want it to fail so they can go, “See? I told you it sucked! See I told ya!” Like I get that feeling all the time and it’s really … If I was younger, I would just accept that side of it, but that’s not what it used to be like…
That’s not how we grew up, man! We were like cheerleaders. Like “Wow, someone made a horror movie? Wow! Look at these pictures! I want to see this.” It’s funny because as a kid I can’t remember not liking a horror movie. No matter what Chiller Theatre or Creature Feature showed, I liked it!
Yeah, that’s funny too! I don’t remember being a critic of things, I remember liking things more then other things, like liking one PLANET OF THE APES movie better than another one, but not really being so critical. And not being vindictive about it. Like I knew I liked one kind of movie more then the other, but I sorta forced myself to like ‘em all! You were just sort of into it and you were just happy it was there! That it existed. And that was Forry’s attitude 100%. That was Forry. And Famous Monsters, God Bless him. And now there’s such a glut of things, nothings special anymore. Everybody’s a critic. I don’t know, it’s just a weird atmosphere and I really don’t like it. I was just remembering how I remember FAMOUS MONSTERS, VAMPIRELLA, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE MUNSTERS, Creature Feature Double Feature. It was great! Now… everyone’s a critic. Now, everyone’s literally rating everything by how many skulls or souls or stars or whatever it gets. It’s like who fucking gives a shit?
(Laughs) Everyone’s a critic because with technology now everybody thinks they can be a filmmaker. When I was younger, it was something that seemed beyond me. There’s a negative side to everything, the more people can think they can go off and make a movie, the more critical maybe they get of other people that do it as a living. I don’t know.
Yeah, I always think that there’s a great statement to be said about cynicism. What people say about other people says a lot about how they feel about themselves. The more vindictive someone is, I just read it and go “he’s so mean-spirited”. It’s like the Woody Allen thing “Those who can’t do, teach gym.” And those who can’t teach gym, blog, I guess!
(Laughs) And on that note!
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