Zombie Strikes Again

Aug. 30, 2007 — -- "Halloween" isn't one of those horror movies that faded from pop culture after the initial fright. The original 1978 John Carpenter version still haunts viewers and has spawned seven sequels.

Why then would macabre writer-director and rock star Rob Zombie make another movie in the series?

He's quick to point out that this installment is a remake, not another sequel.

"[The Weinstein Co.] came to me and said, 'We own "Halloween" as a franchise and we don't know what to do with it,'" Zombie told Rolling Stone's Peter Travers on ABC News Now. "I'm the one who came up with the remake idea."

Not wanting to make the same exact movie this time around, Zombie tried to redesign the story of the murderous Michael Myers to make it seem more real.

"Once you're on your seventh sequel, I would say that you've exploited that story line as far as it's going to go. So I thought the only thing to do was go back and start fresh," Zombie said. "I took the information that was given in John Carpenter's version and thought, 'What if that were a true story?' and tried to approach it that way."

The New Approach

For Zombie, the key to his version of "Halloween" is letting audiences see Michael Myers in a new way.

"By the time you get to part eight ['Halloween'] becomes like 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.' You've taken everything out of the character," he said.

Zombie decided to shed some light on the childhood of the murderer behind that infamous mask.

"The only way to make him scary again would be to give him a back story so that by the time iconic Michael Myers appeared you'd think of him differently," he said. "You'd see this warped kid's sensibility in this adult man."

'Halloween' a Family Affair

Part of that back story involves a young Michael Myers interacting with his mother, played by Zombie's wife. Sheri Moon Zombie.

"We love working together. It's never a problem. In fact, she's so fastidious about being prepared that I always know any day she's working that's one person I don't have to worry about," he said of his wife.

The End of Michael Myers?

This is the ninth movie starring Michael Myers. Some may find it hard to imagine a world where a new "Halloween" doesn't pop up in theaters every few years, but this might be the end for the psychopathic killer.

"[This version] is a film unto itself with a beginning, a middle and an end. If the ending seemed like a setup for part two, people would just groan and throw stuff at me so I made it end," Zombie said. "It's a sequel world, a franchise world — but I don't want to be part of it."

Zombie's Next Attack

Although he doesn't plan to make any more "Halloween" movies, this isn't the last film Zombie plans to make. The ink has yet to dry on a Dimension Films deal, which names Zombie as writer and director of two yet-to-be-revealed movies.

He's also hopeful for an opportunity to make his popular trailer, "Werewolf Women of the SS" from "Grindhouse," into a feature-length film one day.

"I don't think it will be next, but I definitely think that it should be made," he said of the trailer's full-length version.

In the meantime, viewers can look forward to "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto," Zombie's upcoming animated film featuring "Sideways" actor Paul Giamatti as the voice of Dr. Satan.

And what can viewers expect from an animated movie by Zombie?

"It's the filthiest animated movie ever made," he said.