Halloween Q&A: Rob Zombie on His Next Movie (Animated), His Next Album (Collaborative) and His Favorite Way to Scare Trick-or-Treaters (Severed Body Parts)

Musician/director Rob Zombie recently checked in with Blender.com to promote his new DVD, the three-disc Halloween Collector’s Edition, and reveal what ghoulish delights he’s got in store for 2009.

What DVD, aside from the Halloween Collector’s Edition, should folks be sure to watch this All Hallows Eve?

Good question. I’ve been actually trying to figure that one out myself. I always try to search for what I should watch this year to be in the Halloween mood, and the movie I chose about two nights ago was Murders in the Rue Morgue with Bela Lugosi. Why? Because I was tired, and it’s only 61 minutes long. It’s awesome. Now movies can’t tell a story in less than three and a half hours, and back then it was 61 minutes, done. Classic.
 
Your next movie, Tyrannosaurus Rex, is shrouded in mystery, but we do know that it’s not about dinosaurs. What can you tell us about it?

Well, it’s not about anything at the moment because I’m not actually working on it yet. It’s become one of those projects that got announced way too early. The movie I’m actually working on is The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. I’ve been working on that for three years, and I’m actually in the last weeks of it--I’m mixing the sound this week. I’m not sure of the release date yet, but that’ll be out probably early 2009. It’s a full-length adult animated comedy. I don’t even want to talk about Tyrannosaurus Rex. I hate talking about projects that are that far in the future. Things change so often.

This year has seen movies from Madonna, Adam Yauch and Fred Durst. How do you rate your fellow musicians-turned-directors’ films?

I haven’t seen any of those movies. All I know is the Fred Durst movie was The Longshots, which looked like a teen comedy for young girls about a girl football player. I wouldn’t have gone to see that no matter who directed it. I didn’t go see Beverly Hills Chihuahua either--I just don’t see movies like that.

There’s a White Zombie box set coming out next month. When will we hear any new music from you?

You’ll never hear any music from White Zombie. And as far as me, I’m finishing up a record that should be done around Thanksgiving. I don’t know the release date yet, but in early 2009 I should have a new record. It’s the first record that I’ve made with the [touring] band that I’ve had for a while now. Really, this is the first time since White Zombie that I’ve actually made a record with a band. Usually it’s myself with sort of a rotation of musicians. And I think that for that reason the new record has a really solid vibe to it. There’s something to be said for a band of guys who are really playing and working things out rather than a person all by himself.

Back to Halloween: What kind of candy do you hand out to trick-or-treaters at the Zombie residence?

The candy situation is disgusting over here. We have so many trick or treaters, last year we ran out of candy again. I counted the trick or treaters--we had over a thousand. After we ran out of candy, we just shut the door and turned out the lights, and they kept coming. A thousand trick or treaters is ridiculous. For the first half hour it seems really fun, and then it feels like you’re working at Wendy’s or something, you’re just serving candy to people. It’s madness.

Do you do anything special on Halloween, like dress up or decorate the house?

It’s a big house and at night it looks real scary, so we don’t even have to do that much. I mean, most little kids are afraid to go up the steps. So we don’t overdo it. There was one year after I had shot House of 1000 Corpses, and I just had tons of props left over from that movie. So we hung all these severed body parts from the trees. Most of the kids were terrified to come near it. So we decided to tone it down a little bit after that.