Rob Zombie is ditching his proposed remake of "The Blob" and will next direct "The Lords of Salem" for Haunted Films and Alliance Films, reports Deadline.
Set in the sleepy little town of Salem, Mass., the contemporary thriller finds a 300-year-old coven of witches descending upon its citizens.
Haunted Films is the new company run by "Paranormal Activity" director Oren Peli and producers Jason Blum and Steven Schneider. Blum has reportedly given Zombie total autonomy on the project, including the script, casting decisions and even final cut, which is unusual and may prove to be a questionable decision, considering Zombie is coming off of the widely-despised "Halloween II."
However, Zombie infers to Deadline that his "Halloween" movies may have suffered from studio interference at the hands of Harvey and Bob Weinstein's Dimension Films. The rocker-turned-filmmaker cites his experience with Lionsgate on "The Devil's Rejects" as the most positive of his career, and that was one of the better horror movies in recent memory, so perhaps autonomy is just what Zombie needs to effectively convey his creative vision.
Zombie decided to change course and work on an original project instead of "The Blob" remake because he after hearing numerous complaints from hardcore fans of John Carpenter's original "Halloween," he was sick of playing the comparison game and told Deadline that he didn't want to "go through that again."
While I didn't really care for Zombie's re-imagining of "Halloween," I do respect him as a filmmaker because he has his own nihilistic style and I like the grimy atmosphere of his movies. He doesn't hold back or seem to care about playing by the so-called rules of the genre.
Zombie will work on the script during his upcoming concert tour, with the hope of starting production next year. He'll also produce with producing partner Andy Gould and the Haunted Films trio, while Brian Kavanaugh-Jones will exec produce.
"The Lords of Salem" will be the third co-production between Haunted and Alliance, who previously teamed on James Wan's "Insidious" and Barry Levinson's "The Bay," which is currently filming in South Carolina.
