Rob Zombie hand in hand with Michael Myers
Rob Zombie has his hands in so many cookie jars it’s hard to keep track. Of course there was his project of the ‘80s and ‘90s, White Zombie, and since then he’s gone on to become a successful solo artist. His talents stretch from music to writing, producing and directing movies as well as acting, with music appearing in over forty films. His most recent foray into producing and directing is this year’s remake of the John Carpenter classic Halloween II, featuring a soundtrack compiled solely by Zombie – something he has done for many films. Zombie has accomplished this small feat while preparing to release his album, tentatively called Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool, on November 10. This will be his first music released in over three years.
Though Zombie got his start in directing and scoring back in 2003 with House of 1000 Corpses, which he also wrote, he took the horror world to a new high with the remake of the cult classic Halloween. Halloween II is only his fourth time directing a feature film, and his distinct style, both musically and directorially, have earned him much artistic and critical credit. Gritty, hard, occasionally funny, and jarring only begin to describe the intensity of Zombie’s work.
In House of 1000 Corpses and its sequel The Devil’s Rejects, Zombie scored films about a family of psychopathic murders. While the former was more of a dark comedy than horror, the latter was much less tongue-in-cheek and much more aggressive. Since then, Zombie hasn’t scored a feature film (though he’s signed on for two movies over the next two years). His directing has taken him deeply into the horrific world of John Carpenter’s legendary Halloween series, and it’s to no surprise that such dark and violent subject matter inspired Zombie – either directly or indirectly – to work on a new album.
No one can forget the experimental, noisy, heavy metal intensity of White Zombie, distinctive techniques that Rob Zombie has worked into his even heavier metal solo career, now in its eleventh year. His 2006 Educated Horses drew mixed reviews due to its more obvious pop tendencies and less pure metal. Though it’s musically complex, the infinitely talented Zombie wouldn’t have it any other way. Horses lacks the devotion to hardness that his earlier albums flaunted so forcefully.
Given his recent directorial ventures, Zombie’s pending 2009 release (as of yet still untitled) promises to be a return to darker musical and lyrical themes. Hey, if Michael Myers doesn’t inspire some heavy metal brutality from his most recent director, what in the world will?
