Rob Zombie is irrefutably linked to the horror genre, whether through his musical work with White Zombie, his solo career, or his "other" job as a film director. Yet he says recently, he's become less of a fan of the horror film genre. "Now, I don't even know if I like it as much as I used to, as I spend so much time doing it, that if I actually sat down to watch a movie that would probably be the last thing I'd choose to watch!"
In keeping in line with that philosophy, Zombie – usually partial to directing horror films - was working on a film about hockey. "I was working on this thing called Broad Street Bullies, which was a hockey film, but that got put on the backburner because something else popped up."
In true Zombie fashion… that film is a horror. Sometimes things never change.
"I'd been working on this hockey film for over two years, it took so much research and work, and I was literally sitting with someone going, 'You know, I have this other idea…'
And I said the idea and they go, 'We'll make that!' And I put together a one-line pitch, because I didn't want to go to pitch meetings and do all that. I'd call them on the phone and go, "Here's my idea, blah blah blah,' and they're like, 'We're in!' So you slave over something for years and it's still difficult, and you say some crazy thing off the top of your head and they say 'Where do we sign?'. And that turned into a weird bidding war. And that became the next film."
He says fans of his horror work will love it.
"I think it's something fans of the other stuff will like. Probably fans of The Devil's Rejects will enjoy the most. It's not connected to that film but it's more on that headspace".
Zombie says the least favourite film he's made was his first. "The first film [House of 1000 Corpses], which people seems to love, is just a calamitous mess. Well, when it came out it seemed like everyone hated it. Now everyone acts like it's beloved in some way. All I see is flaw, upon flaw, upon flaw… upon flaw."
Zombie says that according to fans and critics, it appears to be time that makes things good.
"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, is that 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? I mean, same thing with my band White Zombie, all the reviews for all the records were horrible! Like, 'Worst Band Ever' type reviews. Now that's all the classic stuff. When I first started, everything I did was pale compared to that. Now everything I do now is pale to the early stuff… 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?"
The final night of WestFest takes place tonight at Vector Arena.
3 News
source: newshub archive
