Horror-Obsessed ROB ZOMBIE Talks About Directing Films, Performing

Steve Penhollow of The Journal Gazette recently conducted an interview with Rob Zombie. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On bands that offer stripped-down shows:

“I think people go to concerts now expecting to be bored, which is horrible. I find myself watching concerts and thinking: ‘What are they doing? Why would they think I would give a (expletive)?’

“It’s not a matter of spectacle. I mean, Tom Jones and Tony Bennett don’t offer a lot of spectacle, but they certainly know how to entertain. I see these young bands and I think, ‘You won’t be around in six months if you keep putting audiences to sleep.’ “

On his obsession with the grisly:

“I don’t know that anyone can truly say why they’re obsessed with anything. I guess I’m just fascinated by things that aren’t the everyday.”

On his upcoming animated film, “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto”:

“It’s for adults. It’s a totally unique project: a superhero, monster, sex comedy. Paul Giamatti plays Dr. Satan. There are a lot of good people in it. It’s hilarious.”

On being hired by Miramax to remake one of his favorite films, John Carpenter’s “Halloween”, the movie that started (the slasher-film phenomenon:

“I am, like everybody else, wary of the whole idea of revisiting things like that. But after working on it for a couple of months, I realized I could do it in such a way that it would honor the original and re-imagine it at the same time.

“The original had a certain class that got eaten away with each sequel.”

On directing films:

“I am always reading books by directors about directing, and they all say the same thing. Filmmaking is all about trying to solve problems that don’t have an answer. When dentists find a cavity, they drill it and fill it. On a movie set, every day it’s like: ‘How do I solve this? This doesn’t make sense.’ ”