House of 1,000 Corpses
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Distributed by: Lions Gate Films
Release date: April 11, 2003
Running time: 88 min.
Language: English
Filming locations: Chicken Ranch, Backlot, Universal Studios -
Universal City, California, USA; Santa Clarita, California, USA: Veluzat
Motion Picture Ranch, Saugus, California, USA
Budget: $7,000,000
Gross revenue: $16,829,545
The film is set in late 1977, where Jerry (Chris Hardwick), Bill
(Rainn Wilson), Mary (Jennifer Jostyn), and Denise (Erin Daniels) are
two couples out on the road in hopes of writing a book on offbeat
roadside attractions. When the four meet Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig),
the vulgar but friendly owner of a gas station and "museum of the
strange", they learn the local legend of Dr. Satan (Walter Phelan). As
the four take off in search of finding the tree from which Dr. Satan was
hanged, they pick up a young hitchhiker named Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon
Zombie), who claims to live only miles away. Shortly after, the
vehicle's tires burst in what is later seen to be a trap, and Baby walks
to her family's house along with Bill. Only moments later, Baby's
half-brother, Rufus (Robert Allen Mukes), picks up the stranded
passengers and takes them to the Firefly family house.
Soon following, the four friends meet Mother Firefly (Karen Black),
Baby's mother, Otis B. Driftwood (Bill Moseley), Baby's adopted brother,
Hugo Firefly (Dennis Fimple), Baby's grandfather, and Baby's deformed
giant half-brother, Tiny (Matthew McGrory), while being treated to
dinner and discover that the family lives on weird Halloween traditions.
Mother Firefly then explains that her ex-husband Earl had previously
tried to burn Tiny alive along with the Firefly house. After the dinner
is over, the family puts on a Halloween show for their guests, where
Baby offends the four friends by acting flirtatiously. After Baby is
threatened, Mother Firefly tells the friends to leave, and that their
car is repaired. As they try to leave, though, they are attacked by the
other members of the Firefly family and become captured. Not long after,
Otis creates a work of art out of Bill's body, Mary is tied up in a
barn, Denise is dressed as a doll, and Jerry is scalped.
After Denise does not return home, her father calls the police to
search for her. Two police officers find the friends' abandoned car in a
field with a tortured victim in the trunk. Denise's father is called
and arrives at the scene to go with the two police officers to search
for information. They arrive at the Firefly house, and upon finding
bodies, the three are quickly killed. Later that night, the three
friends are taken to an underground well, and Mary manages to escape,
only to be killed by Baby moments later. Meanwhile, Jerry and Denise are
lowered into the underground chamber, where a number of undead figures
pull Jerry away, and leave Denise to find her way through the
underground lair. As she journeys through the mysterious chambers, she
encounters Dr. Satan and a multitude of mentally handicapped patients.
Dr. Satan has Jerry on his operating table, horribly torturing and
skinning him alive. As Dr. Satan yells for his mutated assistant,
revealed to be Mother Firefly's ex-husband (Jake McKinnon), to capture
Denise, she outwits the monstrous figure and escapes the underground
chambers. Moments later, she is picked up by Captain Spaulding and
passes out from exhaustion in the front seat, only for Otis to appear in
the backseat. she wakes up, strapped to Dr. Satan's operating table,
where she meets her doom.
Alternate version:
The film was originally 105 minutes long, but was edited to 88 minutes in order to receive an R-Rating.
A completely alternate version of the end sequence was filmed, but
has yet to be released in any commercial format. Zombie briefly alludes
to this version on the director's commentary track of the DVD, and
stills from it were used in press releases upon the film's release. The
movies are virtually identical up until the costume party sequence;
here, Grandpa Hugo is revealed as Dr. Satan. The film then continues on
as it does in the theatrical version, up until the point that Denise is
buried alive. In this version, the catacombs beneath the cemetery lack
any laboratory equipment, and are simply filled with the aimlessly
wandering, brain damaged victims of Grandpa Hugo's experiments. They
drag Jerry away to a chamber and eat him before a horrified Denise.
Zombie's main reasoning for this change is that he felt that twist
concerning Hugo and Dr. Satan would be too anticlimatic, and that it
would be better to see the real Dr. Satan instead.
Pre-production:
Rob Zombie had a very small list of credits in film at that point. He
had done animation for the 1996 film, Beavis and Butthead Do America,
tried to write a script for the 3rd "Crow" sequel, and directed some of
his own music videos but little else. He had little directing experience
but he wanted to get involved with film. Zombie designed a haunted maze
attraction for Universal Studios which lead to a friendship with them.
Bill Moseley presented Zombie an award for his design in 1999. Moseley
would later star in Zombie's film.
Writing:
Zombie had discussed his idea for a film with his friends and they
all seemed to like his idea. Zombie starting working on his idea after
White Zombie disbanded and after his debut solo album. Zombie took his
script for House of 1000 Corpses to Universal with his manager Andy
Gould to pitch the project.
Production:
Universal Studios loved Zombie's script and greenlighted the project.
Zombie would serve as writer and director. The film was shot on a 25
day shooting schedule in 2000. The starting budget was $3–4 million, but
finished at $7 million.
Release:
The film was completed in 2000. Stacey Snider, who was head of
Universal at the time called Zombie up for a meeting. Zombie feared
Snider would give him money and say "go re-shoot everything". Snider
feared the film would receive an NC-17 rating. Snider told Zombie that
they were not releasing the film. In a way Zombie was relieved. He would
rather have them dump the film than having him going back and
re-shooting his vision. The film hung out for a while but soon found a
distributor. Lions Gate Entertainment picked up House of 1000 Corpses
because they were interested in getting into the horror scene.
Box office:
The film pulled in $3,460,666 on its limited opening weekend and
$2,522,026 on its official opening weekend. The film grossed $12,634,962
domestically and $4,194,583 in foreign totals. Altogether the film made
a worldwide gross of $16,829,545. It was successful compared to its $7
million budget.
Critical reception:
The film opened on April 11, 2003 without being pre-screened for
critics. Those who viewed it gave it generally negative reviews. Frank
Schrek of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film "lives up to the
spirit but not the quality of its inspirations" and is ultimately a
"cheesy and ultragory exploitation horror flick" and "strangely devoid
of thrills, shocks or horror."
Clint Morris of Film Threat slammed the film as "an hour and a half
of undecipherable plot" and found the film to be "sickening" overall.
James Brundage of Filmcritic.com wrote that the film was simply "hick
after hick, cheap scary image after cheap scary image, lots of southern
accents and psychotic murders," and was "too highbrow to be a good cheap
horror movie, too lowbrow to be satire, and too boring to bear the
value of the ticket."
Though not popular by critics, the film has developed a rather large
cult following. It was followed by a sequel, The Devil's Rejects.
Release dates:
| Argentina |
13 March 2003 |
(Mar del Plata Film Festival) |
| Belgium |
21 March 2003 |
(Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films) (premiere) |
| Canada |
11 April 2003 |
(limited) |
| Netherlands |
11 April 2003 |
(Fantastic Film Festival) |
| USA |
11 April 2003 |
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| France |
15 May 2003 |
(Cannes Film Festival) |
| Russia |
21 June 2003 |
(Moscow Film Festival) |
| Russia |
3 July 2003 |
(limited) |
| Australia |
25 July 2003 |
(Melbourne International Film Festival) |
| Germany |
14 August 2003 |
(Hamburg Fantasy Filmfest) |
| Iceland |
23 September 2003 |
(video premiere) |
| UK |
3 October 2003 |
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| Philippines |
8 October 2003 |
(Manila) |
| Denmark |
10 October 2003 |
(Midnight Movie Madness) |
| Ireland |
27 October 2003 |
(Dublin Horrorthon Film Festival) |
| Philippines |
19 November 2003 |
(Davao) |
| Spain |
19 December 2003 |
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| Sweden |
19 December 2003 |
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| Finland |
21 December 2003 |
(limited) |
| Norway |
9 January 2004 |
(Midnight Movie Madness) |
| Greece |
23 January 2004 |
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| Germany |
29 January 2004 |
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| Finland |
23 April 2004 |
(DVD premiere) |
| New Zealand |
20 May 2004 |
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| Austria |
4 June 2004 |
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| Italy |
25 June 2004 |
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| Mexico |
9 July 2004 |
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| Argentina |
22 July 2004 |
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| Japan |
14 August 2004 |
(Tokyo) |
| Chile |
16 September 2004 |
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| Portugal |
30 September 2004 |
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| Venezuela |
8 October 2004 |
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| Hungary |
10 November 2004 |
(video premiere) |
| France |
12 July 2006 |
(DVD premiere) |
| Panama |
27 October 2006 |
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Zombie produced a sequel in 2005, The Devil's Rejects. Many cast
members returned from Corpses, except Karen Black. When Black demanded a
higher salary — which Zombie could not afford — to reprise her role in
Corpses, Leslie Easterbrook was approached and later cast as her
replacement. The film received mixed reviews, but the critical reception
was generally better than its predecessor.
The three Corpses leads (Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, and Sheri Moon
Zombie) also appear as voices in Zombie's animated film The Haunted
World of El Superbeasto. Haig and Moseley made cameos as their
characters from both films, Captain Spaulding and Otis B. Driftwood,
respectively, while Sheri Moon Zombie voiced one of the lead characters,
Suzie X.
* Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding
* Bill Moseley as Otis B. Driftwood
* Sheri Moon Zombie as Baby Firefly
* Karen Black as Mother Firefly
* Chris Hardwick as Jerry Goldsmith
* Erin Daniels as Denise Willis
* Jennifer Jostyn as Mary Knowles
* Rainn Wilson as Bill Hudley
* Walton Goggins as Deputy Steve Naish
* Tom Towles as Lieutenant George Wydell
* Matthew McGrory as Tiny Firefly
* Robert Allen Mukes as Rufus "R.J." Firefly, Jr.
* Dennis Fimple as Grandpa Hugo Firefly
* Walter Phelan as S. Quentin Quale/Dr. Satan
* Jake McKinnon as Earl Firefly/The Professor
* Harrison Young as Don Willis
* William H. Basset as Sheriff Frank Huston
* Irwin Keyes as Ravelli
* Michael J. Pollard as Stucky
* Chad Bannon as Killer Karl
* David Reynolds as Richard Wick
* Joe Dobbs III as Gerry Ober
* Irvin Mosley, Jr. as Lewis Dover
* Gregg Gibbs as Dr. Wolfenstein
* Ken Johnson as Skunk Ape Husband
* Judith Drake as Skunk Ape Wife
The names of the villains were taken from the names of Groucho Marx
characters (Animal Crackers' "Captain Spaulding", A Night at the Opera's
"Otis B. Driftwood", Duck Soup's "Rufus T. Firefly" and A Day at the
Races' "Hugo Z. Hackenbush", among others). While this was left as a
subtle allusion in the first movie, the sequel The Devil's Rejects
brought it out into the open, with the names becoming integral to the
plot. Dr. Satan was inspired by a 1950s billboard-sized poster
advertising a "live spook show starring a magician called Dr. Satan"
that Rob Zombie has in his house.
Directed by: Rob Zombie
Produced by: Andy Gould
Written by: Rob Zombie
Music by: Rob Zombie, Scott Humphrey
Cinematography: Alex Poppas, Tom Richmond
Editing by: Kathryn Himoff, Robert K. Lambert, Sean K. Lambert, Robert W. Hedland (uncredited)
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The Devil's Rejects
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Distributed by: Lions Gate Films,Maple Pictures
Release date: July 22, 2005
Running time: 109 min.
Language: English
Budget: $5,000,000
Gross revenue: $19,390,029
Seven months after the events of House of 1000 Corpses, Texas Sheriff
John Quincey Wydell (William Forsythe), and a large posse of State
Troopers issue a Search and Destroy on the Firefly family for over
seventy-five homicides and disappearances over the past several years.
They begin a full-scale attack when the Firefly family fires on them.
During the firefight, Tiny (Matthew McGrory) goes missing, Rufus (Tyler
Mane) is killed, and Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook) is taken into
custody while Otis (Bill Moseley) and Baby (Sheri Moon) escape. Otis and
Baby take refuge at a run-down motel, where they torture and murder
four of the five members of Banjo and Sullivan, a traveling country
band. Baby's father, Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), meets Baby at the
motel. Otis arrives a few minutes later and all three leave the motel
together in the band's van. The last member of the band is accidentally
killed when she runs out to the highway to seek help.
Meanwhile, Wydell slowly begins to lose his sanity when Mother
Firefly reveals that she murdered his brother. After having a dream in
which his brother urges him to avenge him, Wydell stabs Mother Firefly
to death. The surviving Fireflies gather at a brothel owned by Captain
Spaulding's brother, Charlie Altamont (Ken Foree), where he offers them
shelter from the police. After leaving the brothel to purchase some
chickens, Charlie is threatened at gunpoint by Wydell to give up the
Fireflies. With the help of a pair of amoral bounty hunters known as the
"Unholy Two," the sheriff takes the family back to the Firefly house
where he delights in torturing them with similar methods they had used
on their own victims. He nails Otis' hands to his chair and staples
crime scene photographs to Otis' and Baby's stomach, beats, and shocks
Captain Spaulding and Otis with a cattle-prod, and taunts Baby about the
death of her mother.
Wydell lights the house on fire and leaves Otis and Spaulding to burn
while taking Baby outside to murder her. Charlie returns to save the
Firefly family, but is brutally axed by Wydell. It is only the last
minute intervention of Tiny that saves the Firefly family; Tiny returns
and snaps Wydell's neck. The family shares a brief tearful reunion as
Tiny walks into the blazing house. Otis, Baby, and Spaulding escape in
Charlie's car, leaving Tiny behind. The film's final scene has the trio
driving into the middle of a police barricade, with no sound heard
except Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird." As the song climaxes, they grab
their guns and go forward in a final blaze of glory, apparently being
shot to death by the police. The order of the deaths, as shown in
freeze-frames, is Baby, then Otis, then Spaulding.
When Rob Zombie wrote House of 1000 Corpses, he had a "vague idea for
a story" about the brother of the sheriff that the Firefly clan killed
coming back for revenge. After Lions Gate Entertainment made back all of
their money on the first day of Corpses theatrical release, they wanted
Zombie to make another movie and he started to seriously think about a
new story. With Rejects, Zombie has said that he wanted to make it "more
horrific" and the characters less cartoonish than in Corpses, and that
he wanted "to make something that was almost like a violent western.
Sort of like a road movie." He has also cited films like The Wild Bunch,
Bonnie and Clyde and Badlands as influences on Rejects. When he
approached William Forsythe about doing the film, he told the actor that
the inspiration for how to portray his character came from actors like
Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw. Sheri Moon Zombie does not see the film as a
sequel: "It's more like some of the characters from House of 1000
Corpses came on over, and now they're the Devil's Rejects."
Zombie hired Phil Parmet, who had shot the documentary Harlan County
USA because he wanted to adopt a hand-held camera/documentary look.
Principal photography was emotionally draining for some of the actors.
Sheri Moon Zombie remembers a scene she had to do with Forsythe that
required her to cry. The scene took two to three hours to film and
affected her so much that she did not come into work for two days
afterward.
Rejects went through the MPAA eight times earning an NC-17 rating
every time until the last one. According to Zombie, the censors had a
problem with the overall tone of the film, specifically, they did not
like the motel scene between Bill Moseley and Priscilla Barnes and so
Zombie cut two minutes from it but restored them on the DVD version.
Box office:
The Devil's Rejects was released on July 22, 2005 in 1,757 theaters
and grossed USD $7.1 million on its opening weekend, recouping its
roughly $7 million budget. It made $17 million in North America and $2.3
million in the rest of the world for a total of $19.4 million.
Critical reception:
The film had mixed reviews with a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a
53 meta-score on Metacritic. Prominent critic Roger Ebert enjoyed the
film and gave it three out of a possible four stars. He wrote, "There is
actually some good writing and acting going on here, if you can step
back from the [violent] material enough to see it". Later, in his review
for The Hills Have Eyes, Ebert referenced The Devil's Rejects, writing,
"I received some appalled feedback when I praised Rob Zombie's The
Devil's Rejects, but I admired two things about it [that were absent
from The Hills Have Eyes]: (1) It desired to entertain and not merely to
sicken, and (2) its depraved killers were individuals with
personalities, histories and motives". In his review for Rolling Stone,
Peter Travers gave The Devil's Rejects three out of four stars and
wrote, "Let's hear it for the Southern-fried soundtrack, from Buck
Owens' "Satan's Got to Get Along Without Me" to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free
Bird," playing over the blood-soaked finale, which manages to wed The
Wild Bunch to Thelma and Louise".
In her review for the New York Times, Dana Stevens wrote that the
film "is a trompe l'oeil experiment in deliberately retro film-making.
It looks sensational, but there is a curious emptiness at its core".
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C+" rating and wrote, "Zombie's
characters are, to put it mildly, undeveloped". Robert K. Elder, of the
Chicago Tribune, disliked the movie, writing "Despite decades of soaking
in bloody classics such as the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I
Spit On Your Grave, Zombie didn't absorb any of the underlying social
tension or heart in those films. He's no collage artist of influences,
like Quentin Tarantino, crafting his movie from childhood influences.
Rejects plays more like a junkyard of homages, strewn together and lost
among inept cops, gaping plot holes and buzzard-ready dialog".
Horror author Stephen King voted The Devil's Rejects the 9th best
movie of 2005 and wrote, "No redeeming social merit, perfect '70s
C-picture cheesy glow; this must be what Quentin Tarantino meant when he
did those silly Kill Bill pictures".
Soundtrack:
While Rob Zombie himself is a musician, he decided to go with more
southern rock to create the mood of the film. The soundtrack itself was
notable as being one of the first to be released on DualDisc, with the
DVD side featuring a making of featurette for the film and a photo
gallery.
Release dates:
| France |
11 May 2005 |
(Cannes Film Market) |
| USA |
22 July 2005 |
|
| Germany |
30 July 2005 |
(München Fantasy Filmfest) |
| Ireland |
5 August 2005 |
|
| UK |
5 August 2005 |
|
| Poland |
26 August 2005 |
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| Singapore |
22 September 2005 |
|
| Spain |
7 October 2005 |
(Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya) |
| Australia |
13 October 2005 |
|
| Turkey |
14 October 2005 |
|
| New Zealand |
29 October 2005 |
(V 24 Hour Movie Marathon) |
| Finland |
30 October 2005 |
(Night Visions Film Festival) |
| Netherlands |
3 November 2005 |
|
| Finland |
5 November 2005 |
(Iik!! Horror Film Festival) |
| Spain |
11 November 2005 |
|
| Iceland |
25 November 2005 |
|
| Germany |
1 December 2005 |
|
| Portugal |
22 December 2005 |
|
| Austria |
27 January 2006 |
|
| Argentina |
14 March 2006 |
(video premiere) |
| Italy |
12 May 2006 |
|
| Greece |
29 June 2006 |
|
| France |
19 July 2006 |
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| Belgium |
26 July 2006 |
|
| Japan |
30 September 2006 |
(Tokyo) |
| Finland |
11 April 2007 |
(DVD premiere) |
| Egypt |
18 April 2007 |
* Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding
* Bill Moseley as Otis B. Driftwood
* Sheri Moon Zombie as Baby Firefly
* Tyler Mane as Rufus T. Firefly
* William Forsythe as Sheriff John Quincey Wydell
* Ken Foree as Charlie Altamont
* Matthew McGrory as Tiny Firefly
* Leslie Easterbrook as Mother Firefly
* Dave Sheridan as Officer Ray Dobson
* E.G. Daily as Candy
* Michael Berryman as Clevon
* Danny Trejo as Rondo
* Diamond Dallas Page as Billy Ray Snapper
* Brian Posehn as Jimmy
* Kate Norby as Wendy Banjo
* Priscilla Barnes as Gloria Sullivan
* Lew Temple as Adam Banjo
* Geoffrey Lewis as Roy Sullivan
* Tom Towles as George Wydell
* P. J. Soles as Susan
* Deborah Van Valkenburgh as Casey
* Ginger Lynn Allen as Fanny
* Mary Woronov as Abbie
* Daniel Roebuck as Morris Green
* Steve Railsback (uncredited) as Sheriff Ken Dwyer
Directed by: Rob Zombie
Produced by: Rob Zombie, Mike Elliott, Michael Ohoven
Written by: Rob Zombie
Music by: Tyler Bates, Terry Reid, Rob Zombie
Cinematography: Phil Parmet
Editing by: Glenn W. Garland
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Werewolf Women Of The SS (Grindhouse Trailer)
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Grindhouse is a 2007 horror/exploitation film co-written, produced,
and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The film is a
double feature consisting of two feature-length segments, the
Rodriguez-directed Planet Terror and Tarantino-directed Death Proof, and
bookended by fictional trailers for upcoming attractions,
advertisements, and in-theater announcements. The film's title derives
from the U.S. film industry term "grindhouse", which refers to (now
mostly defunct) movie theaters specializing in B movies, often
exploitation films, shown in a multiple-feature format. The film's cast
includes Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Marley Shelton,
Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, Naveen Andrews, Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell,
Rosario Dawson, Jordan Ladd, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, stuntwoman Zoë
Bell, and Vanessa Ferlito.
Rodriguez's segment, Planet Terror, revolves around an outfit of
rebels attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as
they feud with a rogue military unit, while Tarantino's segment, Death
Proof, focuses on a misogynistic, psychopathic stunt man who targets
young women, murdering them with his "death proof" stunt car. Each
feature is preceded by faux trailers of exploitation films in other
genres that were developed by other directors.
History:
The idea for Grindhouse came to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin
Tarantino when Tarantino set up screenings of double features in his
house, complete with trailers before and in between the films. During
one screening in 2003, Rodriguez noticed that he owned the same double
feature movie poster as Tarantino for the 1957 films Dragstrip Girl and
Rock All Night. Rodriguez asked Tarantino, "I always wanted to do a
double feature. Hey, why don't you direct one and I'll do the other?"
Tarantino quickly replied, "And we've got to call it Grindhouse!"
The film's name originates from the American term for theaters that
played "all the exploitation genres: kung fu, horror, Giallo,
sexploitation, the 'good old boy' redneck car-chase movies,
blaxploitation, spaghetti Westerns—all those risible genres that were
released in the 70s." According to Rodriguez, "The posters were much
better than the movies, but we're actually making something that lives
up to the posters."
Before each segment, there are trailers advertising fake films, as
well as vintage theater snipes and an ad for a fictional restaurant
called Acuña Boys. According to Rodriguez, it was Tarantino's idea to
film fake trailers for Grindhouse. "I didn't even know about it until I
read it in the trades. It said something like 'Rodriguez and Tarantino
doing a double feature and Tarantino says there's gonna be fake
trailers.' And I thought, 'There are?'" Rodriguez and Tarantino had
originally planned to make all of the film's fake trailers themselves.
According to Rodriguez, "We had so many ideas for trailers. I made
Machete. I shot lobby cards and the poster and cut the trailer and sent
it to Quentin, and he just flipped out because it looked so vintage and
so real. He started showing it around to Eli Roth and to Edgar Wright,
and they said, 'Can we do a trailer? We have an idea for a trailer!' We
were like, 'Hey, let them shoot it. If we don't get around to shooting
ours, we'll put theirs in the movie. If theirs come out really great,
we'll put it in the movie to have some variety.' Then Rob Zombie came up
to me in October at the Scream Awards and said, 'I have a trailer:
Werewolf Women of the SS.' I said, 'Say no more. Go shoot it. You got
me.'" Each trailer was shot in two days. While Wright and Roth shot only
what ended up on screen, Zombie shot enough footage to work into a
half-hour film and was particularly pained to edit it down. Some
Canadian screening releases included the South by Southwest-winning
trailer Hobo with a Shotgun.
Rob Zombie's contribution, Werewolf Women of the SS, featured Nicolas
Cage as Fu Manchu, Udo Kier as Franz Hess, the commandant of Death Camp
13, Zombie's wife, Sheri, and Sybil Danning as SS officers/sisters Eva
and Gretchen Krupp (The She-Devils of Belzac), along with professional
wrestlers Andrew "Test" Martin and Oleg Prudius (better known as
Vladimir Kozlov), and Olja Hrustic, Meriah Nelson, and Lorielle New as
the Werewolf Women.
According to Zombie, "Basically, I had two ideas. It was either going
to be a Nazi movie or a women-in-prison film, and I went with the
Nazis. There're all those movies like Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS*; Fräulein Devil; and Love Camp 7—I've
always found that to be the most bizarre genre." Zombie is also quoted
as saying "I was getting very conceptual in my own mind with it. [...] A
lot of times these movies would be made like, 'Well, you know, I've got
a whole bunch of Nazi uniforms, but I got this Chinese set too. We'll
put 'em together!' They start jamming things in there, so I took that
approach."
On December 18, 2007, Zombie posted an entry on his MySpace page,
asking if people would want to see a feature-length version of Werewolf
Women of the SS.
* [ZombieFAQ editor's note] The connection between Zombie's trailer and Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS is undeniable - especially the poster of Zombie's trailer with Sheri Moon Zombie compared to that for Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS. See what I mean by going HERE.
| Canada |
6 April 2007 |
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| USA |
6 April 2007 |
|
| Czech Republic |
5 July 2007 |
|
| Japan |
24 August 2007 |
|
| Slovakia |
4 October 2007 |
|
| Spain |
12 October 2007 |
(Sitges Film Festival) |
| UK |
23 February 2008 |
(Glasgow Film Festival) |
| Australia |
20 March 2008 |
(limited) |
| UK |
28 March 2008 |
(limited) |
| Mexico |
4 May 2008 |
(Festival Internacional de Cine Acapulco) |
| Germany |
3 July 2008 |
- Nicolas Cage - Dr. Fu Manchu
- Udo Kier - Commandant Franz Hess
- Sheri Moon Zombie - Eva Krupp
- Tom Towles - Lt. Boorman
- Sybil Danning - Gretchen Krupp
- Bill Moseley - Dr. Heinrich von Strasser
- Andrew Martin - Nazi Boxer #1
- Oleg Prudius - Nazi Boxer #2
- Olja Hrustic - Werewolf Woman #1
- Meriah Nelson - Werewolf Woman #2
- Lorielle New - Werewolf Woman #3
- Kelly Ryan - Werewolf Woman #4
- Michael Deak - Gun-Wielding Werewolf
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Halloween
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Based on characters by: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Studio: Dimension Films, The Weinstein Company
Distributed by North America: Dimension Films, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Alliance Films
Distriubuted by United Kingdom: Paramount Pictures
Release date: August 31, 2007
Running time: 109 minutes
Budget $15,000,000
Gross revenue $80,249,467
Preceded by: Halloween: Resurrection
Followed by: Halloween II (2009)
Halloween is a 2007 American slasher film written,
directed, and produced by Rob Zombie. The film is a remake/reimagining
of the 1978 horror film of the same name, and the ninth film in the Halloween
film series. The film stars Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Sam Loomis, Tyler
Mane as the adult Michael Myers, and Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie
Strode; Daeg Faerch portrays a ten-year-old Michael Myers. Rob Zombie's
"reimagining" follows the premise of John Carpenter's
original, with Michael Myers stalking Laurie Strode and her friends
on
Halloween night. Zombie's film goes deeper into the character's
psyche,
trying to answer the question of what drove him to kill people,
whereas
in Carpenter's original film Michael did not have an explicit reason
for
killing.
Working from Carpenter's advice to "make [the film] his own",
Zombie chose to develop the film as both a prequel and a remake,
allowing for more original content than simply refilming the same
scenes. Despite mostly negative reviews, the film, which cost $15
million to make, went on to gross $80,208,039 worldwide, making it the highest grossing film in the Halloween franchise in unadjusted U.S. dollars.
On Halloween in Haddonfield, Illinois, having already shown signs of
psychopathic tendencies, ten-year-old Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch)
murders a school bully named Wesley (Daryl Sabara), his own sister Judith (Hanna R. Hall), her boyfriend Steve
(Adam Weisman), and his mother’s boyfriend Ronnie (William Forsythe).
After one of the longest trials in the state’s history, Michael is found
guilty of first degree murder and sent to Smith's Grove - Warren County Sanitarium under the care of child psychologist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell).
Michael initially cooperates with Dr. Loomis, claiming no memory of the killings; his mother, Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie),
visits him regularly. After a year, Michael becomes fixated on his
papier-mâché masks, closing himself off from everyone, even his mother.
When Michael kills a nurse (Sybil Danning) during one of her visits,
Deborah can no longer handle the situation and commits suicide. For the
next fifteen years, Michael (Tyler Mane)
continues making his masks and not speaking to anyone. Dr. Loomis,
having continued to treat Michael over the years, attempts to move on
with his life and closes Michael’s case. Later, while being prepared
for
transfer to maximum security, Michael escapes Smith’s Grove, killing
the sanitarium employees and a truck driver (Ken Foree)
for his clothes, and heads to Haddonfield. On Halloween, Michael
arrives at his old home, now abandoned, and finds a kitchen knife and
Halloween mask he stored under the floorboards the night he killed
his
sister.
The story shifts to Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton), and her friends Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) and Lynda Van Der Klok (Kristina Klebe)
on Halloween. Throughout the day, Laurie witnesses Michael watching her
from a distance. That night, she heads to the Doyle residence to watch
their son Tommy (Skyler Gisondo). Meanwhile, Lynda meets with her boyfriend Bob (Nick Mennell)
at Michael's childhood home. Michael appears, murders them, and then
heads to the Strode home, where he murders Laurie's parents, Mason (Pat Skipper) and Cynthia (Dee Wallace).
Having been alerted to Michael's escape, Dr. Loomis comes to
Haddonfield looking for Michael. After obtaining a handgun, Loomis
attempts to warn Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif)
that Michael has returned to Haddonfield. Brackett and Dr. Loomis head
to the Strode home, with Brackett explaining along the way that Laurie
is actually Michael Myers' baby sister.
Meanwhile, Annie convinces Laurie to babysit Lindsey Wallace (Jenny Gregg Stewart), a girl Annie is supposed to be watching, long enough so she can have sex with her boyfriend Paul (Max Van Ville).
Annie and Paul return to the Wallace home; during sex, Michael kills
Paul and attacks Annie. Bringing Lindsey home, Laurie finds Annie on the
floor, bloodied but alive, and calls 911. She is attacked by Michael,
who chases her back to the Doyle home. Sheriff Brackett and Loomis hear
the 911 call and head to the Wallace residence. Michael kidnaps Laurie,
and takes her back to his home. Michael approaches Laurie and tries to
show her that she is his younger sister. Unable to understand, Laurie
grabs Michael's knife and stabs him before escaping the house; Michael
chases her, but is repeatedly shot by Dr. Loomis. Laurie and Loomis are
just about to leave when Michael grabs Laurie and heads back to the
house. Loomis intervenes, but Michael attacks him by squeezing Loomis's
skull with his hands. Laurie takes Loomis' gun and runs upstairs; she is
chased by Michael, who, after cornering her on a balcony, charges her
head-on and knocks both of them over the railing. Laurie finds herself
on top of a bleeding Michael. Aiming Loomis' gun at his face, she
repeatedly pulls the trigger until the gun finally goes off just as
Michael's hand grips Laurie's wrist.
Development:
On June 4, 2006, Dimension announced that Rob Zombie, director of House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, would be creating the next installment in the Halloween franchise.
The plan was for Zombie to hold many positions in the production; he
would write, direct, produce, and serve as music supervisor. Bob Weinstein approached him about making the film, and Zombie, who was a fan of the original Halloween, and friend of John Carpenter, jumped at the chance to make a Halloween film for Dimension Studios.
Before Dimension went public with the news, Zombie felt obligated to
inform John Carpenter, out of respect, of the plans to remake his film. Carpenter's request was for Zombie to "make it his own".
During a June 16, 2006 interview, Zombie announced that his film would
combine the elements of prequel and remake with the original concept. He
insisted that there would be considerable original content in the new
film, as opposed to mere rehashed material. The BBC reported that the new film would disregard the numerous sequels that followed Halloween.
Zombie's intention was to reinvent Michael Myers, because, in his
opinion, the character, along with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and
Pinhead, has become more familiar to audiences, and as a result, less
scary. The idea behind the new film was to delve deeper into Michael Myers' back story. A deeper back story would add "new life" to the character, as Zombie put it.
Michael's mask will be given its own story, to provide an explanation
as to why he wears it, instead of having the character simply steal a
random mask from a hardware store, as in the original film. Zombie explained that he wanted Michael to be true to what a psychopath really is, and wanted the mask to be a way for Michael to hide. He wants the young Michael to have charisma,
which would be projected onto the adult Michael. Zombie has decided
that Michael's motives for returning to Haddonfield should be more
ambiguous. As Zombie explains, "was he trying to kill Laurie, or just
find her because he loves her?"
Moreover, Michael would not be able to drive in the new film, unlike
his 1978 counterpart who stole Loomis' car so that he could drive back
to Haddonfield.
Zombie also wants the Dr. Loomis character to be more intertwined with
that of Michael Myers; Zombie said that the character's role in the
original was "showing up merely to say something dramatic".
Although Zombie has added more history to the Michael Myers character,
hence creating more original content for the film, he chose to keep the
character's trademark mask and Carpenter's theme song intact for his
version (despite an apparent misinterpretation in an interview
suggesting the theme would be ditched). Production officially began on January 29, 2007.
Shortly before production began, Zombie reported that he had seen the
first production of Michael's signature mask. Zombie commented, "It
looks perfect, exactly like the original. Not since 1978 has The Shape
looked so good". Filming occurred in the same neighborhood that Carpenter used for the original Halloween.
Casting:
On December 19, 2006, Zombie announced to Bloody-Disgusting that Daeg Faerch would play the part of ten-year-old Michael Myers. On December 22, 2006, Malcolm McDowell was officially announced to be playing Dr. Loomis. McDowell stated that he wanted a tremendous ego in Loomis, who is out to get a new book from the ordeal. On December 24, 2006, Zombie announced that Tyler Mane, who had previously worked with Zombie on The Devils Rejects, would portray the adult Michael Myers. Mane stated that it was very difficult to act only with his eyes. Scout Taylor-Compton
endured a long audition process, but as director Zombie explains,
"Scout was my first choice. There was just something about her; she had a
genuine quality. She didn't seem actor-y." She was one of the final people to be cast for a lead role after Faerch, Mane, McDowell, Forsythe, and Harris. A contest was held for a walk on role in the film, at the time called Halloween 9; it was won by Heather Bowen. However, she did not appear in the actual film.
Approximately four days before the theatrical release of the film, a workprint version of Halloween appeared online and was circulated around various BitTorrent
sites. Upon hearing of the leaked copy, Zombie stated that whatever
version had been leaked was an older version of the film, unlike what
was about to be released in theaters.
The leak of Zombie's workprint led to speculation that the film's box
office success could be damaged the same way director Eli Roth
attributed the financial failure of his film, Hostel: Part II, to the leaking of a workprint version. Dark Horizons
webmaster Garth Franklin noted that watching the workprint allows a
viewer to see what was changed after test screenings of the film in June
2007. For example, one particular scene—the rape of one of the Smith's
Grove female inmates—was replaced in the final version. Halloween was officially released on August 31, 2007 to 3,472 theaters in North America, giving it the widest release of any of the previous Halloween films.
Box Office:
On its opening day, Halloween grossed $10,896,610, and immediately surpassed the opening weekend grosses for Halloween II (1981) at $7,446,508, Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) at $6,333,259, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) at $6,831,250, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) at $5,093,428, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) at $7,308,529. From September 1–2, Halloween
earned $8,554,661 and $6,911,096, respectively, for a 3-day opening
weekend total of $26,362,367. The film would earn an additional
$4,229,392 on Labor Day for a 4-day holiday weekend gross of
$30,591,759. As a result, the 2007 film would immediately surpass the total box office gross for Halloween II (1981) at $25,533,818, Halloween III (1982) at $14,400,000, Halloween 4 (1988) at $17,768,757, Halloween 5 (1989) at $11,642,254, The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) at $15,116,634, and Halloween: Resurrection (2002) with $30,354,442.
Following its first Friday after its opening weekend, Halloween saw a 71.6% drop in attendance, earning $3,093,679. The film, which earned the #1 spot at the box office in its opening weekend, earned only $9,513,770 in its second weekend—a 63.9% decrease—but still claimed the #2 spot at the box office just behind 3:10 to Yuma.
The film continued to appear in the weekend top ten going into its
third weekend, when it earned $4,867,522 to take sixth place.It was not until the film's fourth weekend that it fell out of the top ten and into twelfth place with $2,189,266. Halloween would fail to regain a top ten spot at the box office for the remainder of its theatrical run.
Thanks to its opening weekend of $30.5 million, the film broke the
box-office record for the Labor Day weekend, surpassing the record set
in 2005 by Transporter 2 with $20.1 million. It still currently resides as the top Labor Day weekend grosser. Halloween was also the 8th highest grossing R-rated film of 2007, and finished out the year in 44th place for domestic box office gross. With its $58 million box office gross, Halloween is the second highest grossing film among the recent slasher remakes, which consist of When a Stranger Calls (2006) at $47.8 million, Prom Night (2008) at $43.8 million, My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) with $51.4 million, and Friday the 13th (2009) leading the group with $60 million. Halloween is also ranked eleventh overall when comparing it to all of the horror remakes, as well as eighth place for all slasher films in general, in unadjusted dollars. In addition to the film's North American box office, it opened alongside Michael Clayton and Mr. Woodcock in foreign markets on the weekend of September 29, 2007. Halloween led the trio with a total of $1.3 million in 372 theaters – Michael Clayton and Mr. Woodcock took in $1.2 million from 295 screens and $1 million from 238 screens, respectively. By November 1, 2007, Halloween had taken in an additional $7 million in foreign markets. Ultimately, the film would earn approximately $21,981,879 overseas. By the end of the film's theatrical run, the film had taken a worldwide total of $80,253,908. Comparing this film to the rest of the films in the Halloween film series, Zombie's remake is the highest grossing film in unadjusted US dollars. When adjusting for the 2009 inflation, Zombie's Halloween—which adjusts to $60.4 million domestically—is fourth, behind Carpenter's Halloween at $166.9 million, Halloween H20 at $73.8 million, and Halloween II at $66.7 million.
Critical Response:
Based on 100 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Halloween received an average 26% overall approval rating. By comparison, Metacritic calculated a normalized score of 47 out of 100 from the 18 reviews it collected. CinemaScore
polls reported that the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was
"B-minus" on an A+ to F scale; it also reported that 62% of the audience
was male, with 57% being 25 years or older.
Peter Hartlaub, of the San Francisco Chronicle, felt Zombie was successful in both "[putting] his own spin on Halloween,
while at the same time paying tribute to Carpenter's film"; he thought
Zombie managed to make Michael Myers almost "sympathetic" as a child,
but that the last third of the film felt more like a montage of scenes
with Halloween slipping into "slasher-film logic". Nathan Lee of The Village Voice disagreed in part with Harlaub, feeling that Halloween
may have placed too much emphasis on providing sympathy for Michael
Myers, but that it succeeded in "[deeping] Carpenter's vision without
rooting out its fear". The View London
film critic Matthew Turner believed the first half of the film, which
featured the prequel elements of Michael as a child, were better played
than the remake elements of the second half. In short, Turner stated
that performances from the cast were "superb", with Malcolm McDowell
being perfectly cast as Dr. Loomis, but that the film lacked the scare
value of Carpenter’s original. Jamie Russell from the BBC
agreed that the first half of the film worked better than the last
half; she stated that Zombie’s expanded backstory on Michael was
"surprisingly effective"—also agreeing that McDowell was perfectly cast
as Loomis—but that Zombie failed to deliver the "supernatural dread"
that Carpenter created for Michael in his 1978 original.
New York Daily News
critic Jack Matthews believed the film lacked tension, and went more
for cheap shocks—focusing more on enhancing the "imagery of
violence"—than real attempts to scare the audience; he gave the film one
and a half stars out of five. Dennis Harvey, from Variety
magazine, echoed Matthew's opinion that the film failed to deliver on
the suspense; he also felt that you could not tell one teenage character
from the next, whereas in Carpenter's original each teenager had real
personalities. In contrast, Rossiter Drake of The Examiner
applauded Michael's backstory, feeling that it was a "compelling take
on the mythology" that managed to be "unique" and "shocking" at the same
time. In agreement with other critics, Empire magazine's Kim Newman
felt that, because Zombie seemed less focused on the teenagers being
stalked and killed by Michael, the film "[fell] flat" when it came to
delivering suspense or anything "remotely scary"; Newman did praise
McDowell for his portrayal of the "dogged psychiatrist". Ben Walter, of Time Out London,
felt Zombie added "surprising realism" to the development of Michael
Myers’ psychopathic actions, but agreed with Newman that the director
replaced the original film’s "suspense and playfulness" with a
convincing display of "black-blooded brutality".
Frank Scheck, of the Hollywood Reporter, believed that even though Zombie's remake of Carpenter's Halloween
was better than getting another sequel in the long running franchise it
still was not comparable to the 1978 original. For Scheck, Zombie
replaced Carpenter's building suspense, which made it so "brilliant",
with graphic violence and extended scenes of nudity; he also criticized
McDowell for lacking the intensity that Donald Pleasence brought to the
Loomis character. By contrast, TV Guide's
Ken Fox felt that Zombie did deliver a "scary horror movie", not by
copying Carpenter, but by making the film his own. Fox noted that Zombie
seemed to follow more in the footsteps of Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper's
"savage, greasy-haired '70s" films, which allowed him to bring Michael
back to his roots and successfully terrify an audience which has grown
accustomed to the recent "torture porn" horror films. Bill Gibron, of PopMatters,
believes that audiences and critics cannot compare Carpenter's film to
Zombie's remake; where Carpenter focused more on the citizens of
Haddonfield—with Michael acting as a true "boogeyman"—Zombie focuses
more on Michael himself, successfully forcing the audience to experience
all of the elements that Michael went through that would result in his
"desire for death"
.Halloween won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror
Award for Best Film of 2007, drawing in 550 votes, the most ever in the
history of the award. The film also won the 'Best Remake Award' at the 2008 Spike TV Scream Awards. Dan Mathews, vice president of PETA,
sent Rob Zombie a thank-you letter for what he perceived as Zombie
sending a message to audiences when he depicted the young Michael Myers
torturing animals, something he felt demonstrated that people who commit
acts of cruelty to animals are likely to move on to humans. Mathews
went on to say, "Hopefully, with the attention focused by your movie on
the link between cruelty to animals and human violence, more people will
recognize the warning signs among people they know and deal with them
more forcefully. We wish you continued success!"
Home media:
The film's soundtrack was released on August 21, 2007; it includes 24
tracks, consisting of 12 dialogue tracks and 12 instrumentals. The
album contained both new tracks, as well as ones recycled from the
original Halloween and its sequel. Tyler Bates' interpretation of John Carpenter's original Halloween theme is the first musical track, with "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," which appeared in Halloween, and "Mr. Sandman", which appeared in Halloween II and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, performed by Nan Vernon. Writing about its selection from the 1981 film, one reviewer for the BBC
commented that it worked well to "mimic Laurie’s situation (sleeping a
lot)", making "the once innocent sounding lyrics seem threatening in a
horror film".
The album also includes Kiss's "God of Thunder", Rush's "Tom Sawyer",
Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed", Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your
Way", Nazareth's "Love Hurts", Bachman–Turner Overdrive's "Let It Ride",
Misfits' "Halloween II", and a Iggy Pop live version of the The
Stooges' "1969" among others.
On December 18, 2007, the film was released on DVD in the United
States; both the theatrical and an unrated director's cut were released
as two-disc special editions containing identical bonus features. The film was released on DVD in the UK on April 28, 2008, known as the "Uncut" edition. On October 7, 2008, a three-disc set was released. This Collector's Edition of Halloween
features the same bonus features as the previous unrated edition, but
includes Rob Zombie's four-and-a-half hour "making-of" documentary
similar to the "30 Days in Hell" documentary for Zombie's The Devil's Rejects.
Release dates:
| Canada |
31 August 2007 |
|
| USA |
31 August 2007 |
|
| Ireland |
28 September 2007 |
|
| UK |
28 September 2007 |
|
| Iceland |
5 October 2007 |
|
| France |
10 October 2007 |
|
| Greece |
11 October 2007 |
|
| Denmark |
12 October 2007 |
|
| Spain |
12 October 2007 |
(Sitges International Festival of Fantastic and Horror Cinema) |
| Romania |
19 October 2007 |
|
| Turkey |
19 October 2007 |
|
| Germany |
25 October 2007 |
|
| Hong Kong |
25 October 2007 |
|
| Hungary |
25 October 2007 |
|
| Netherlands |
25 October 2007 |
|
| Russia |
25 October 2007 |
|
| Singapore |
25 October 2007 |
|
| Norway |
26 October 2007 |
|
| Poland |
26 October 2007 |
|
| Taiwan |
26 October 2007 |
|
| Finland |
27 October 2007 |
(Night Visions Film Festival) |
| Belgium |
31 October 2007 |
|
| Philippines |
31 October 2007 |
|
| Mexico |
2 November 2007 |
|
| Argentina |
8 November 2007 |
|
| Finland |
9 November 2007 |
|
| Australia |
22 November 2007 |
|
| Slovenia |
29 November 2007 |
|
| New Zealand |
6 December 2007 |
|
| Italy |
4 January 2008 |
|
| Spain |
4 January 2008 |
|
| Egypt |
13 February 2008 |
|
| Chile |
13 March 2008 |
|
| Venezuela |
16 May 2008 |
|
| Colombia |
10 October 2008 |
|
| Japan |
25 October 2008 |
|
| South Korea |
14 May 2009 |
|
| Brazil |
24 July 2009 |
|
-
Malcolm McDowell - Dr. Samuel Loomis
-
Brad Dourif - Sheriff Lee Brackett
-
Tyler Mane - Michael Myers
-
Daeg Faerch - Michael Myers, age 10
-
Sheri Moon Zombie - Deborah Myers
-
William Forsythe - Ronnie White
-
Richard Lynch - Principal Chambers
-
Udo Kier - Morgan Walker
-
Clint Howard - Doctor Koplenson
-
Danny Trejo - Ismael Cruz
-
Lew Temple - Noel Kluggs
-
Tom Towles - Larry Redgrave
-
Bill Moseley - Zach 'Z-Man' Garrett
-
Leslie Easterbrook - Patty Frost
-
Steve Boyles - Stan Payne
Written by: Rob Zombie
Produced by: Malek Akkad, Rob Zombie, Andy Gould
2007 Screenplay: Rob Zombie
1978 Screenplay:John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Music by: Tyler Bates, John Carpenter (themes)
Cinematography by: Phil Parmet
Editing by: Glenn Garland
|
Halloween II
|
|
Based on characters by: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Distributed by: Dimension Films
Release date: August 28, 2009
Running time: 105 minutes
Budget: $15,000,000
Gross revenue: $39,318,589
Preceded by: Halloween (2007)
Halloween II is a 2009 American horror film written, directed, and produced by Rob Zombie. The film is a sequel to Zombie's 2007 remake of Halloween (1978), and the tenth film in the Halloween film series. Picking up where the 2007 remake ended, and then jumping ahead one year, Halloween II
follows Laurie Strode as she deals with the aftermath of the previous
film's events, Dr. Loomis who is trying to capitalize on those events by
publishing a new book that chronicles everything that happened, and
Michael Myers as he continues his search for Laurie so that he can
reunite with his sister. The film sees the return of lead cast members
Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, and Tyler Mane, who portrayed
Dr. Loomis, Laurie Strode, and Michael Myers in the 2007 film,
respectively.
The sequel was first announced at the 30 Years of Terror Convention,
which was held in 2008. Shortly after the release of the 2007 remake,
Zombie expressed that he was not going to make another Halloween
film. After more than a year of unsuccessful attempts to draft a script
for a sequel, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and Malek Akkad secured a
contract for Zombie, who had a renewed interest in the film, to write
and direct. For Halloween II,
Zombie decided to focus more on the connection between Laurie and
Michael, and the idea they share similar psychological problems. Zombie
wanted the sequel to be more realistic and violent than its 2007
predecessor. For the characters of Halloween II, it is about
change. Zombie wanted to look at how the events of the first film
affected the characters. Zombie also wanted to show the connection
between Laurie and Michael, and provide a glimpse into each character's
psyche. Filming primarily took place in Georgia, which provided Zombie
with a tax incentive as well as the visual look the director was going
for with the film. When it came time to provide a musical score, Zombie
had trouble finding a place to include John Carpenter's original Halloween
theme music. Although Carpenter's theme was used throughout Zombie's
2007 film, the theme was only included in the final shot of this film.
Halloween II was officially released on August 28, 2009 in North America,
and was met with a negative reception from critics. On October 30, 2009
it was re-released in North America to coincide with the Halloween
holiday weekend. The original opening of the film grossed less than the
2007 remake, with approximately $7 million. The film would go on to
earn $33,392,973 in North America, and $5,925,616 in foreign countries
giving Halloween II a worldwide total of $39,318,589. The film
was released on DVD and Blu-ray, with a theatrical version and
director's cut of the film offered.
In a short flashback, Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie)
visits her son, a young Michael Myers
(Chase Wright Vanek), at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Deborah gives
Michael a white horse statuette as a gift. Michael says that the
horse
reminds him of a dream he had of Deborah's ghost, all dressed in
white
and leading a horse down the sanitarium halls toward Michael, telling
him she was going to bring him home. Moving ahead fifteen years,
after
having shot an adult Michael (Tyler Mane), Laurie Strode (Scout
Taylor-Compton) is found wandering around in a state of shock and
covered in blood by Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif). Brackett takes
Laurie to the emergency room. Meanwhile, the paramedics pick up the Sheriff's daughter Annie (Danielle Harris) and Michael's psychiatrist Dr. Loomis
(Malcolm McDowell),
who are still alive after having been attacked by Michael, and take
them to the hospital. Presumed dead, Michael's lifeless body is
loaded
into a separate ambulance. When the driver has a traffic accident
Michael awakens and escapes the ambulance, walking toward a vision of
Deborah dressed in white and leading a white horse.
Michael appears at the hospital, and begins murdering everyone he
comes across on his way to Laurie. Trapped in a security outpost at the
gate, Laurie watches as Michael tears through the walls with an axe, but
just as he tries to kill her, Laurie wakes up from the dream. It is
actually one year later and Laurie is now living with the Bracketts.
Michael's body has been missing since last Halloween—still presumed
dead—and Laurie has been having recurring nightmares about the event.
While Laurie deals with her trauma through therapy, Loomis has chosen to
turn the event into an opportunity to write another book. Meanwhile,
Michael has been having visions of Deborah's ghost and a younger version
of himself, who instructs him that with Halloween approaching it is
time to bring Laurie home; so he sets off for Haddonfield.
As Michael travels to Haddonfield, Laurie begins having
hallucinations that mirror Michael's, which involve a ghostly image of
Deborah and a young Michael in a clown costume. In addition, her
hallucinations also begin to include her acting out Michael's murders,
like envisioning herself taping Annie to a chair and slitting her throat
while dressed in a clown outfit—similar to how a young Michael murdered
Ronnie White. While Laurie struggles with her dreams, Loomis has been
going on tour to promote his new book, only to be greeted with criticism
from people who blame him for Michael's actions and for exploiting the
deaths of Michael's victims. When his book is finally released, Laurie
discovers the truth: that she is really Angel Myers, Michael's long lost
sister. With the truth out, she decides to go partying with her friends
Mya (Brea Grant) and Harley (Angela Trimbur)
to escape how she is feeling. Michael appears at the party and kills
Harley, then makes his way over to the Brackett house and stabs Annie
repeatedly. When Laurie and Mya arrive they find Annie bloodied and
dying. Michael kills Mya and then comes after Laurie, who manages to
escape the house. While Laurie manages to flag down a passing motorist,
Sheriff Brackett arrives home and finds his daughter dead. Laurie gets
into the motorist's car, but before they can escape Michael kills the
driver and flips the car over with Laurie still in it. Michael takes the
unconscious Laurie to an abandoned shed he has been camping out in.
Laurie awakens to a vision of Deborah, and a young Michael, ordering her
to say "I love you, mommy".
The police discover Michael's location and surround the shed. Loomis
arrives and goes into the shed to try to reason Michael into letting
Laurie go. Inside, he has to inform Laurie, who believes that the
younger Michael is holding her down, that no one is restraining her and
that she must maintain her sanity. Just then, Deborah instructs the
older Michael that it is time to go home, and Michael grabs Loomis and
begins repeatedly slashing his face and stabbing him in the chest.
Stepping in front of a window while holding Loomis's body, Michael is
shot twice by Sheriff Brackett and falls onto the spikes of some farming
equipment. Apparently released of the visions, Laurie walks over and
tells Michael she loves him, then she stabs him repeatedly in the chest
and finally in the face. The shed door opens and Laurie walks out,
wearing Michael's mask. As she pulls the mask off, the scene transitions
to Laurie in isolation in a psychiatric ward, grinning as a vision of
Deborah dressed in white stands with a white horse at the end of her
room.
Development:
In 2008, at the 30 Years of Terror Convention, Halloween producer
Malek Akkad confirmed that a sequel to Rob Zombie's 2007 film was in
the works. French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Muary were in
negotiations to direct the sequel in November 2008, but on December 15, 2008 Variety reported that Rob Zombie had officially signed on to write and direct the Halloween sequel. In an interview, Zombie expressed how the exhaustion of creating the first Halloween made him not want to come back for a sequel, but after a year of cooling down he was more open to the idea. The writer/director explained that with the sequel he was no longer
bound by a sense of needing to retain any "John Carpenter-ness", as he
"felt free to do whatever". Producer Malek Akkad said the original intention, when they believed Zombie was not returning, was to create a "normal sequel".
Akkad and his Trancus producing company hired various writers to come
up with drafts for a new film, but none worked. Akkad and the Weinstein
brothers then turned to Bustillo and Muary, whose film Inside
had recently been bought for distribution by the Weinstein Company.
According to Akkad, the producers really wanted Zombie to return, as
Akkad felt that there was something "lost in the translation" when the
French filmmakers took over the project. After his work on the 2007 remake, Zombie had earned the trust of
Akkad, who told him to ignore any rules they had set for him on the
previous film. Akkad said that he wanted Zombie to move the franchise
away from some of its established rules.
Characters:
For the sequel, Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton,
Danielle Harris, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Brad Dourif returned to the
roles of Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis, Laurie Strode, Annie Brackett,
Deborah Myers, and Sheriff Brackett, respectively. Daeg Faerch, who
portrayed a young Michael Myers in the 2007 remake, was set to reprise
his role for Halloween II.
By the time production was getting started for the sequel Faerch had
grown too big for the part. Zombie had to recast the role, much to his
own dismay, because Faerch's physical maturity did not fit what was in
the script. Although Faerch is not in the sequel, the first trailer for
Halloween II contained images of Faerch. Zombie pointed out that those
images were test shots done and were not intended to be in either the
trailer or the film.
Taylor-Compton described her character as having "these bipolar moments",
where her emotions are spontaneously changing from points of happiness
to agitation. The actress stated that Zombie wanted to see Laurie Strode
travel into "these really dark places".
Taylor-Compton clarified that when the film starts Laurie is still not
aware that Michael is her older brother, and as the film progresses more
and more pieces of information are given to her and she does not know
how to deal with them. The actress explained that the darkness brewing
inside Laurie is manifested externally, generally through her physical
appearance and the clothes she chooses to wear—Zombie characterized the
look as "grungy".
Zombie further described Laurie as a "wreck", who continually sinks
lower as the film moves forward.
Even Sheriff Brackett goes through changes. Brackett, who receives
more
screen time in this film, allows Laurie to move in with him and his
daughter after the events of the first film. Zombie explained, "He's
old, he's worn out, he's just this beat-down guy with these two girls
he
can't deal with." Zombie characterized Loomis in the sequel as more
of a "sellout", who exploits the memories of those who were killed by
Michael in the 2007 film. Zombie explained that he tried to channel
Vincent Bugliosi, a lawyer who prosecuted Charles Manson
and then wrote a book about it, into Loomis's character for the
sequel;
noting that he wanted Loomis to seem more "ridiculous" this time.
As for Michael Myers, the character is given almost an entirely new
look for the film, which is being used, according to Taylor-Compton,
to
illustrate a new emotion for the character as he spends much of his
time
trying to hide himself.
Zombie said that of all of the characters that return in the sequel,
Michael is the only one that does not change: "All the other
characters
are very different. Laurie; Loomis; they're having all kinds of
problems
in their life, but Michael just moves along. Michael is no different;
he's exactly the same as he was ten years old and he killed everybody
[...] He has no concept of the world around him, so he can never be
affected by it."
Filming:
With a $15,000,000 budget, production began on February 23, 2009 in
Atlanta, Georgia.
Zombie acknowledged that filming in Georgia provided certain tax
breaks
for the company, but the real reason he chose that location was
because
the other locations he was planning to use were still experiencing
snowy weather. For him, Georgia's landscapes and locations provided
the
look that he wanted for his film. During production, Zombie described
the sequel as being "Ultra gritty, ultra intense and very real" and
said that he was trying to create almost the exact opposite of what
people would expect. Known for filming multiple sequences during
production of his films, Zombie filmed an alternate ending to Halloween II.
In the alternate ending, Loomis and Michael crash through the shed the
police have surrounded, and out into the open air. As Loomis grasps at
Michael's mask, and pleads for him to stop, Michael stabs him in the
stomach, telling him to "Die!".
Music:
For the sequel, Zombie only used John Carpenter's original theme
music
in the final scene of the film, though the director admits that he
and
music composer Tyler Bates tried to find other places to include it.
According to Zombie, Carpenter's music did not fit with what was
happening in the film; whenever he or Bates would insert it into a
scene
it "just wouldn't feel right" to the director. Zombie also used
popular culture songs throughout the film, with "Nights in White Satin"
appearing the most prominently. Zombie chose songs that he liked, and
that would enhance a given scene within the film. An official soundtrack
for the film was released on August 25, 2009. In addition, an album
featuring the music of psychobilly band Captain Clegg and the Night
Creatures was released in conjunction with Halloween II on August 28, 2009. Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures is a fictional band that appears in Halloween II.
Nan Vernon, who recorded a new version of the song "Mr. Sandman" for
the end credits of the 2007 remake, recorded a cover of "Love Hurts".
Dimension Films released Halloween II in North America on August 28, 2009 to 3,025 theaters. Following that, the film was released in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2009. Dimension re-released Halloween II in North America on October 30, 2009 to coincide with the Halloween holiday, across 1,083 theaters.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 12, 2010; the
theatrical cut and an unrated director's cut, which Zombie says is "very
different from the theatrical version," are available.
Box office:
On its opening day, the film grossed an estimated $7,640,000, which
is less than the $10,896,610 Zombie's 2007 remake pulled in during the
same weekend of August. By the end of its opening weekend, Halloween II had grossed $16,349,565. That weekend earned more than the entire box office performances of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers ($11,642,254), Halloween III: Season of the Witch ($14,400,000), and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers ($15,116,634), in unadjusted dollars.
The film dropped 64.9% in its second weekend, only grossing $5,745,206
and slipping from third to sixth place. Grossing just $2,114,486 in its
third weekend, Halloween II dropped out of the box office top ten to fourteenth place.
The re-release of the film was intended to take advantage of the
Halloween holiday, but the film only brought in approximately $475,000. By the end of his theatrical run, Halloween II
grossed a total of $33,392,973 in North America, and an additional
$5,925,616 overseas for a worldwide total of $39,318,589. Compared to
the other Halloween films, the 2009 sequel sits in fourth place, just behind the original Halloween.
Critical Reception:
Based on 68 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Halloween II has an overall 21% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 3.7 out of 10.
By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100
to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average
score of 46, based on 15 reviews. Rob Nelson, of Variety, felt the use of Deborah and the white horse was nothing more than "silly", and he disagreed with Zombie's choice to film Halloween II
in 16mm film, as opposed to wider format of 35mm that he used on his
2007 remake. Nelson also stated that the hospital scene was nothing more
than a "butcher"-version of Carpenter's 1981 sequel, with the rest of
the film feeling like it was rushed and "slapped together" at the last
minute. In contrast, Time Out believed the hospital scene at the start of the film "[bested the 1981 sequel] in just about every respect". Time Out
stated that Compton's portrayal of Laurie Strode showed an "intense,
nontrivializing dedication to the role" that kept interest, while the
storyline of Dr. Loomis's egocentricity hinders the overall storyline. Time Out
also said that Zombie hurt the film by trying to show how "violence
lingers with, and perverts, all who are touched by it", but then
undercutting himself with "carnivalesque" violence. Although the New York Post's
Kyle Smith did not believe the character of Laurie Strode was a balance
for Michael Myers or Dr. Loomis, he agreed the ghostly images of
Deborah Myers were a "relief from the blood-streaked brutality" of
Michael's murders.
The Boston Globe's Tom Russo had varied reactions to the film. Russo pointed out that Zombie attempted to be more inventive with Halloween II,
but only achieved mixed results for his efforts. Russo referred to
the
dream sequences of Deborah Myers and the white horse as
"pretentiously
silly", but agreed that the scenes did help to break up the standard
genre violence and even went so far as to compare the sensation
created
by those scenes to "Tim Burton doing straight horror". In the end,
Russo claimed that "only the most hardcore fans" would want the film
series to continue. Joe Neumaier, of the Daily News, stated that Zombie has found himself with Halloween II.
Neumaier describes the film as a successful "'character-based'
monster-flick". Zombie's use of music from the 1970s, like The Moody
Blues' "Nights in White Satin" and 10cc's
"The Things We Do For Love", is "terrifically odd" throughout the
film.
Neumaier also said that the imagery of Deborah Myers and the
"ethereal
white horse" were a "nice visual relief" from Michael's violent
attacks.
Release dates:
| Canada |
28 August 2009 |
|
| USA |
28 August 2009 |
|
| Iceland |
4 September 2009 |
|
| Malaysia |
11 September 2009 |
|
| Greece |
8 October 2009 |
|
| Slovenia |
8 October 2009 |
|
| UK |
9 October 2009 |
|
| Hungary |
15 October 2009 |
|
| Italy |
16 October 2009 |
|
| Belgium |
21 October 2009 |
|
| Philippines |
21 October 2009 |
|
| Lebanon |
22 October 2009 |
|
| Netherlands |
22 October 2009 |
|
| Singapore |
22 October 2009 |
|
| Taiwan |
23 October 2009 |
|
| Egypt |
28 October 2009 |
|
| Mexico |
30 October 2009 |
|
| USA |
30 October 2009 |
(re-release) |
| Argentina |
7 January 2010 |
|
| France |
29 January 2010 |
(Gérardmer Fantasticarts Film Festival) |
| Australia |
4 March 2010 |
(DVD premiere) |
| Brazil |
26 March 2010 |
|
| Peru |
22 April 2010 |
|
| Turkey |
23 April 2010 |
|
| Japan |
19 June 2010 |
|
| Poland |
28 October 2010 |
(DVD premiere) |
| Finland |
3 November 2010 |
(DVD premiere) |
-
Sheri Moon Zombie - Deborah Myers
-
Chase Wright Vanek - Young Michael
-
Scout Taylor-Compton - Laurie Strode
-
Brad Dourif - Sheriff Lee Brackett
-
Caroline Williams - Dr. Maple
-
Malcolm McDowell - Dr. Samuel Loomis
-
Tyler Mane - Michael Myers
-
Dayton Callie - Coroner Hooks
-
Richard Brake - Gary Scott
-
Octavia Spencer - Nurse Daniels
-
Danielle Harris - Annie Brackett
-
Richard Riehle - Buddy the Night Watchman
-
Margot Kidder - Barbara Collier
-
Mary Birdsong - Nancy McDonald
-
Brea Grant - Mya Rockwell
Directed by: Rob Zombie
Produced by: Malek Akkad, Andy Gould, Rob Zombie
Written by: Rob Zombie
Music by: Tyler Bates
Cinematography: Brandon Trost
Editing by: Glenn Garland
|
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
|
Released: On-Demand and on Pay-Per-View September 7, 2009. It then
hit theaters for a limited run on September 12th before heading to DVD
and Blu-ray on September 22nd.
Distributed by: IDT Entertainment
Language: English
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto is an animated comedy that also
combines elements of a horror and thriller film. It is based upon the
comic book series created by Rob Zombie that follows the character of El
Superbeasto and his sexy sidekick and sister, Suzi-X, voiced by Sheri
Moon. "It's a beautiful-looking movie," Zombie told the Kevin & Bean
radio show in Los Angeles, "All these animators from studios like
Disney came to work on it, and [they're thrilled because] they get to
work on something filthy. It's probably rated XXX now, but we'll have to
cut it back to an R."
Work began on The Haunted World of El Superbeasto in 2006 and a
release date was later scheduled for May 2007, but the film has yet to
be completed. In an interview conducted on July 20, 2007 by
shocktillyoudrop.com, Zombie explained that, "Nothing really much [is
happening]." During that time, the film was still being animated,
however, Zombie then began work on Halloween. He informed the animators
that he had "to walk away because I can't split my time between two
things". Zombie noted that work on The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
"started when I was on Rejects and it's now just sitting on a shelf
waiting for me to finish Halloween". As of August, 2007 a first cut of
the film was viewed by Zombie in which he said it was "awesome". He also
referred to it as "crazy shit". In a November 2007 interview with
bloody-disgusting.com, Zombie announced that the film was "almost
finished". He went on to say that, although he's currently on tour until
February, "we will finally finish the music on Superbeasto and it'll be
done" afterwards. However, a release date is yet to be set.
One artist who did some work on the film said in February 2008 that
"the final product is falling a bit short of what it was supposed to
be", adding "I guess that's what happens when the studio shuts things
down way too early and sends everything overseas before it's ready in
order to concentrate on sure-fire winners like Everybody's Hero
[sic]..."
The film follows the adventures of El Superbeasto (Tom Papa), a
washed-up Mexican luchador, and his sultry sidekick and sister Suzi-X
(Sheri Moon Zombie) as they confront an evil villain by the name of Dr.
Satan (Paul Giamatti). The adventure, set in the mythic world of
Monsterland, also has a character named Murray the robot (Brian Posehn).
Voice Actor - Character:
-
Paul Giamatti - Dr. Satan
-
Geoffrey Lewis - Lenny
-
Sheri Moon - Suzi-X
-
Tom Papa - El Superbeasto
-
Rob Paulsen - El Gato Col. Hans Wolfburger
-
Brian Posehn - Murray
-
Daniel Roebuck - Morris Green
-
Danny Trejo - Rico
-
Tom Kenny - Otto
-
Debra Wilson - Delores
-
Rosario Dawson - Velvet Von Black
-
Harland Williams - Gerard the Exterminator
-
Kevin Richardson - Cthulu
-
Charlie Adler - Krongarr
-
Joe Alaskey - Newscaster
-
John DiMaggio - Burt the Spurt
-
Jess Harnell - Uncle Carl
-
Sid Haig - Captain Spaulding
-
Bill Moseley - Otis
-
Ken Foree - Luke St. Luke
-
Tura Satana - Varla
Directed by: Rob Zombie
Produced by: Tom Klein, Rob Zombie
Written by: Rob Zombie
Screenplay: Mr. Lawrence, Tom Papa
Story: Rob Zombie
|
The Lords Of Salem [currently in production]
 |
Directed by: Rob Zombie
Produced by: Steven Schneider, Jason Blum, Oren Peli, Andy Gould
Written by: Rob Zombie
Studio: Haunted Films, Alliance Films
- The Lords of Salem is an upcoming horror film written and directed by Rob Zombie and produced by Jason Blum, Steven Schneider, and Oren Peli.
- The movie is set in contemporary Salem, Massachusetts where the
inhabitants receive a demonic visit from a 300 year-old coven of
witches.
On September 22, 2010 it was announced that Rob Zombie
would be writing and directing his next film, The Lords of Salem. The
film was brought together by Haunted Films, a company started by Jason
Blum, Steven Schneider, and Oren Peli. Alliance Films
will also be a part of the project. Zombie is to start writing a script
when he returns from tour and unlike his last films he has total
control over the final cut. Filming is expected to begin in 2011.
On October 8, 2010 an article was released giving more details about
Zombie's latest film. He said the folks from Haunted Films approached
him about doing a film. He did say he did not have an idea at the time.
Zombie wanted to do a movie about the Salem witch trials
since he grew up in Massachusetts and was always fascinated by them. He
hinted that his band would possibly supply the original score for the
film. He is currently writing the script and hopes to go into production
next spring.
Heidi, a blond rock chick, DJs at a local radio station, and together
with the two Hermans (Whitey and Munster) forms part of the "Big H Radio
Team."
A mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record arrives for Heidi, a
gift of the Lords. She assumes it's a rock band on a mission to spread
to spread their word. As Heidi and Whitey play the Lord's record, it
starts to play backwards, and Heidi experiences a flashback to a past
trauma.
Later, White plays the Lord's record, dubbing them the Lords of Salem,
and to his surprise, the record plays normally and is a massive hit with
his listeners.
The arrival of another wooden box from the Lords presents the Big H team
with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon,
Heidi and her cohorts is far from the rock spectacle they're expecting.
The original Lords or Salem are returning and they're out for blood.
|
Tom Papa: Live in New York City
 |
- Directed by: Rob Zombie
- Originally Aired on Comedy Central on January 8, 2012
- Produced by Dave Becky (executive producer), Jay Chapman (producer), Josh Lieberman (executive producer), Brian Volk-Weiss (executive producer)
- Original Music by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
- Production Management by Jim Sharon, Chase White
- Camera and Electrical Department: Ian Woolston-Smith
- Other crew: Phillip James Griffith (audience coordinator), Craig Raymond Johnson (production coordinator)
- live stand-up routine by Zombie friend and actor Tom Papa.
- Papa starred in the Zombie movie The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto (as voice of El Superbeasto himself)
- Papa, appropriately for his name, spends a lot of time on
the subject of kids. Paraphrasing: "People think I have a wife and
two daughters, but really I have three wives."
Papa bio:
Tom Papa was personally chosen by Jerry Seinfeld to serve as host of
NBC's "The Marriage Ref" which is entering it's second season, and has
toured with him for the past eight years. As a veteran standup comedian,
Papa has recorded two standup specials on Comedy Central. A familiar face to
late night television, Papa has made numerous appearances on the
"Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Late
Show with David Letterman."
As an actor, Papa starred opposite
Matt Damon in the Soderbergh film, "The Informant," and stars opposite
Paul Giamatti in the animated feature, "The Haunted World of El Super
Beasto," as the voice of El Super Beasto. He additionally had a
voiceover role in the DreamWorks animated feature "Bee Movie" and also
was a writer on the project. Among his other big screen credits are the
films "Analyze That" opposite Robert DeNiro, and "Comedian."
On television Papa had a recurring role opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the CBS series, "The New Adventures of Old Christine."
Papa opened his one-man show, "Only Human," to rave reviews at the prestigious "Just for Laughs Festival" in Montreal.
Papa currently splits his time between Los Angeles and New York with his wife and family.
- Recorded live on stage in NYC
- Released on July 1, 2011
|
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Films 