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ROB ZOMBIE
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor
for Radio Free Entertainment
July 7, 2005
In The Devil's Rejects, the follow-up to his debut feature House of 1000 Corpses, writer/director Rob Zombie takes a decidedly different approach to horror. Though Rejects can technically be considered a sequel (it brings back several key players from House, and takes place after the events of that film), it is remarkably different from its predecessor in both style and content. House's campy, surreal sense of mayhem has been replaced by a gritty, more realistic brand of harrowing violence.
Zombie has likened his sophomore effort to classic road movies and westerns, and the comparison is an accurate one. The Devil's Rejects follows the exploits of the Firefly family, a dysfunctional band of sociopaths on the run from the authorities. Ruthless and relentless, they routinely kill anyone who crosses them.
In this interview, Rob Zombie talks about the making of the movie.
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The Interview
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MEDIA: What types of movies do you enjoy, and why did you pick horror as your first genre to tackle?
ROB: I love all movies. Horror is definitely a passion within that more than some other things, but I love westerns as much as I love horror, and I love classic comedies and everything. But when it came time to make [House of 1000 Corpses], I guess that that's just where my head was at. And of course, since [The Devil's Rejects] is sort of related to that film, it also is. But with that said, I didn't really want to make another horror movie straight away, so that's why, as much as I could get away with, I tried to make a different movie that had more the flavor of an Italian western or a '70s road movie--not just a straight up horror movie, so I wouldn't feel like I was just jumping through the same hoops again.
What's it going to take for a studio to let you make a totally different type of movie, like a comedy?
It's going to take a profit, I would say. [laughs] Money talks. You know, you make a profit and everyone's happy.
Would making a film of a completely different genre be of interest to you?
If it was something I wanted to do. I mean, I have two scripts that I'm writing now. One is like a very dark comedy. But I'm not looking to jump in there and make super-mainstream movies. I still want to just make the type of movies that I like to see.
What was it like to work on a second movie?
Doing the second movie was fantastic, because the first movie is trial by fire. Nobody knows what it's like to make a movie until you're in that situation making a movie, because it is insane. I mean, you can read all you want about it and watch all the things you want and try to learn what you can learn, but until it's actually happening, you don't realize how insane it is. So making this film, having the knowledge of the first film under my belt, was great because I felt I had a much stronger grasp on how everything would go down.
Recently, there have been a lot of zombie movies, and a lot of Japanese adaptations with little girls with wet hair...
[laughs] Yeah, and little kids that scream...
Are those types of films getting played out?
I think so. I think that things get played out because there's the genuine first wave of inspiration, then it just becomes basically beating a dead horse and it's time to go somewhere else. I think it was neat to see some remakes, but enough, you know? How about something different? I'm sick of remakes. And people always come to me, and that's the thing: "What do you want to remake? What do you want to remake? We know we can get that greenlit. What do you want to remake?" I'm like, "I don't want to remake a goddam f*cking thing." Because they always mention movies. I'm like, "This movie's already great to begin with. I don't need to see a remake of it. I'll just go watch the original." So I'm not a big fan of remakes. I mean, if they're good, it's great. But still, even when they're good, they're still never as good as the original, so what's the point?
Do you think the popularity of horror films has something to do with the world's political climate?
I don't know. Maybe. I mean, people would always say, "Horror movies thrive during time of war." And I don't know if they thrived during World War II and the Vietnam War, but I was like, "That's very strange. Why would that happen?" And I didn't really realize it until...this sounds horrible to say, but we were having a lot of problems with Corpses...getting it released and getting a distributor and all that stuff. And then when 9/11 happened, literally the next day, nobody cared. Like this "horrible movie we can't put out" didn't seem so bad anymore. People realized, "I think we got bigger issues in the world than worrying about this movie." And then from there on in, it was smooth sailing. So I don't know if people just rearranged their priorities. In good times, they freak out and start pointing the fingers at videogames and movies and TV, but when really horrible events are happening in the world, it just seems ridiculous. I don't know.
Is this movie political at its core?
Probably not, because I'm not extremely political at the core. So no, it's not. And even if it was, I wouldn't say that it was because I don't like anyone telling me anything. And in the same sense, I don't want to tell anyone else anything. I think it should just be laid out, and you can make your own conclusions. But as soon as I feel like I'm being preached to or taught something, my eyes glaze over. I don't want to hear it.
So where are you on the film's soundtrack?
Oh, I'm nowhere. I didn't want to be anywhere involved in the music on any level. And I wouldn't have been in the first movie either...I only did that out of necessity because I knew if I put my songs on the soundtrack, I could get more money for the soundtrack, then I could take the more money I got and put it back into the film to finish the film. So that was just out of desperation. But on this one, I didn't think it made any sense because it's a period movie. It had to be 100% pure to the time period. And as far as scoring the picture, I hired a great composer, Tyler Bates, and I worked with him and told him what I wanted. And we would work together and collaborate. You know, the best thing you need to do is find talented people, get on the same page, and let them do their job. And that's what a lot of the actors were happy for, too, because they say so many times they get on these movies and they feel like they're being micromanaged. And they say that's always the mark of inexperienced directors, to think they've got to nitpick someone's performance. "No, say the line exactly like this...no, exactly like this!" Then you should have cast another actor...or cast yourself, if you're so great. I'm way off on a tangent there. I'm sorry.
Why is the "ice cream scene" such a critical point in the story?
That had to be a pivotal moment. Upon the surface, [it] seems like a throwaway scene, but to me, I needed a scene that everyone could relate to. And I figured everyone could relate to the family car trip where dad won't stop the car and you're fighting with your brother or sister. It's amazing...every time I watch the movie with an audience, they're disgusted [by the Firefly family]. And at that moment, everyone seems to have amnesia as to what they've just watched in the previous hour and go, "Oh, they're funny! They all like ice cream! I like ice cream! They must be just like me! I like tutti-frutti!" It's just funny. So that was really what that scene needed to accomplish.
So that audiences can side with the Firefly clan by the film's end?
Well, yeah. Not that you're supposed to feel bad for them or sympathize with them, but I just wanted the conflict. I screened it the other night, and someone came up to me, and they were like, "At the end, I was crying when the heroes were dying." I'm like, [shocked] "The heroes?! You're crying for the heroes?!" But it really f*cks with people, and I've always liked movies like that, whether it's Taxi Driver or, say, Clockwork Orange, where at the end, you're like, "I think I'm rooting for the wrong person. What's going on here?" It's good. It gives you something to talk about.
Do you feel that horror movies have gotten entirely too safe?
I do think that things have gotten safe. Going back to the real first wave of stuff that blew my mind in the '70s, you just never knew where these movies were going. You're like, "They can't possibly [do] that," and then they do, and you're like, "Oh my God! Jesus Christ, what am I watching?" And you would always feel on guard, like you just didn't know what was going to happen. I remember the first time, like when I was 18, I saw something like Chainsaw...you really didn't know if she was going to live until the last frame of that movie. And now you do know--you know by the casting. You know "they're not going to kill her because she's the star, and they want her for the sequel." It's so safe and played out. It's totally predictable. And it's almost like they want you to feel safe. And now that they've started making everything PG-13, they want you to feel even safer because they want you to bring the kids, too. And they really have turned horror movies into such a wimpy experience that it's unbelievable. And that's why I wanted to make a movie that is mean-spirited and sadistic...I think the '70s was the last time you felt like corporate everything hadn't taken over music and movies and homogenized it. And I would say these horror movies felt like they were the equivalent of punk rock--you didn't go to the Staples Center with 18,000 other people to watch the Ramones, you went to some sh*tty club and feared for your life to see this bizarre band that no one ever heard of. And that's why it was so special, and that's why you would never forget it.
Are there any recent movies that you feel are sufficiently harrowing, as an experience?
High Tension had that feeling, which was relentless and brutal. And something like Audition had that...and Irreversible...where you're just like, "Jesus Christ! This is a challenge to get through it!" But it's a cool feeling, like watching Cannibal Holocaust and going, "How much are they going to put me through to get to the end of this movie? [pauses] I got to watch it again now! Was it really as bad as I thought it was?" And that's like what the experience was. And I just think for younger kids, they've never felt that feeling.
Are you worried that fans of House of 1000 Corpses will not like the new direction that The Devil's Rejects takes?
I don't know. I can't really say. All I know is that so far, we've had several screenings, and the response has been really strong from those fans. I always thought if you like [House of 1000 Corpses], you'll like [The Devil's Rejects] more, because I think it's the same characters doing more, but it's a far superior film on every level. So I never really had that much fear. And you really can't do anything with that in your mind, because if you do the same thing again, everyone goes, [scoffs] "Hey, he made the same f*cking movie again!" You do something different, they go, [scoffs] "He made a different f*cking movie!" It's like you can't make anyone happy right away. [laughs] It's insanity. You can't try to figure out what people want. You just have to do what you want to do, and hopefully it works out.
Did you have a lot of time to shoot this movie?
No. The schedule was 29 days. So literally, I needed the cast to never f*ck up their lines--and they almost never did--because I didn't have time for it. I mean, they couldn't even leave the set because I lit everything in a way that we would never do lighting changes. And also, some of those scenes are very emotionally draining on the actors--especially that scene with Priscilla Barnes, on her. And I don't know how you drag something like that out forever. I just feel like their best performances are going to be early on, and then you're just beating a dead horse. And I don't know why any director would go, "This is take sixty." Because I always find...first take, maybe rough; second take, getting there; third take, totally in the groove, they've locked it in. And anything after that, you're just insecure...you're burning out your actors. I mean, they do burn out--they're not machines. You can only ask a woman to stand there in her underwear and be violated and bawl her eyes out for so long before either she just can't do it anymore or it's going to seem phony. So I like shooting fast. And I think that's what's good about the movies we were talking about, too. A lot of them were made fast and they feel very alive and they have a lot of energy, whereas now, you sometimes watch a $100 million movie...there's no energy. I just think restrictions and limitations make people move and think better.
Did you do anything to dissipate the tension on set after some of the more intense scenes?
No, I actually didn't want to get out of the groove. [Bill Moseley] had come out of the room and was feeling really bad, and I was just like, "Buck it up soldier and get back in there. I don't want you to feel good. I don't want you to go in there and try to crack a joke to break the tension. If Priscilla feels like sh*t, I want her to feel like sh*t, because she's being really brilliant right now and I want her to stay there." So I never wanted to break the tension. And [William Forsythe] said something once, too, because he was probably the most intense thoughtwise as an actor on the set. He was like, "You can't just turn this off and on." You get in that head space and you want to use it while they got it. So I didn't want to take that lightly. Once the actors were in their groove, I didn't want to do anything to break them out of it. Because it's like anything...as soon as it's lunchtime, everybody goes to lunch, they chitchat, they come back, and [it] always takes forever to get them back in the zone...because they're all lazy from eating a burrito.
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