ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN II - BEHIND THE SCENES TROUBLE ON SET!
EXCLUSIVE!
BUDGET CUT, THEN ACTOR QUITS, ROB ZOMBIE IN TROUBLE!
A Horror Drunx exclusive article
by Montgomery Brando
Recently disturbing news surfaced from the set of Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN 2... And if you actually needed any reaffirmation that those who produce remakes and sequels of remakes have zero respect for the horror genre and its fans, this is certainly it.
A little bird that we have trolling for us on the inside told us that the movie was already on location, in production and filming in Georgia when producing team brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein ( founders of Miramax Pictures and The Weinstein Company) significantly cut the budget of this slasher, then made the demand that the shooting schedule be shortened by approximately two weeks.
That is clearly signs that the production was in deep trouble and that its producers have lost faith in it making a return on its already meager budget, as well as that the Weinstein's have so little regard for fans of the 30+ year old franchise that they expect the name recognition alone to sell tickets and quality be damned.
Now for those of you who don't know how situations like this work, it is pretty brutal. Basically in the middle of that lunatic asylum called film production, someone has to come in and make a lot of hard choices, literally physically tearing pages from the script... "No we don't need this," or,"This will have to go,"and, "We don't have the budget for this anymore," etcetera and unceremoniously chucking those pages in the garbage.
This also means that Rob Zombie, who is not a particularly strong or cohesive film maker to begin with, is going to be delivering a film that makes even less sense and has more holes in its story than usual. But don't think that will stop him from promoting the hell out of it, telling the public it is his best, most horrifying film yet, and making every buck he can in the process. Let's not forget what the first word in "Rob Zombie" really means. Disrespect for the horror genre and its fans has a trickle down effect... Not that we thought from his previous work that Rob Zombie gave a damn about anything but the contents of his audience's wallets to begin with. ...Otherwise Rob-o would have come out of pocket himself for what was slashed from his budget, much like other film makers in the past who believed in their projects vision. Let's just say he won't be back or involved with a HALLOWEEN III remake.
While being interviewed by MTV at San Diego Comic Con (July 27th 2009,during which he promoted Halloween II, Zombie stated
that he will not make a third "Halloween" movie, saying "No. I could not see that in any shape, way or form. Never." He also refused to
explain why he is unwilling to be involved in the third installment of the film. "If I told you why, you wouldn't believe me," he stated. He
then prickishly added that he doesn't have any desire to share his reason, saying "And, I don't want to tell you."
As always, Mr. Warmth. I guess someone's ego was too big to admit publically what we are telling you here... That the Weinstein's basically pulled down RZ's pants and screwed his skinny ass, screwing his turd of a movie remake in the process..
Then just when it looked like things couldn't get any worse for the troubled HALLOWEEN II production, insult was added to injury when actor Bill Moseley (who had only been filming for ONE day) informed the production that he would be leaving for a better job offer. And he walked off the set to start another movie.
Moseley, who was playing the part of a TV horror movie host (in a
bastardized Rob Zombie rip off of Vincent Price's heavy make-up and costume from the classic 1974 film MADHOUSE) obviously saw the ship sinking fast and
leapt into the nearest available lifeboat. Production scrambled and put a different actor... one who was ALREADY cast in another part in the film... in the
heavy make-up to shoot the rest of Mosley's scenes, hoping the audience will be too stupid to notice the difference.
Maybe Moseley is finally waking up. Kudos to you Bill, for jumping off the RZ train while the jumping was good. Of course, negative kudos for allowing yourself to be hired by the short, bearded tyrant to begin with.
When Sid Haig, who has become a regular in the Rob Zombie film-cast family, was asked at a recent event in Hollywood why they didn't
just ask him to take over the role, Haig's overheard answer was very telling... "Yeah right, like I'm going to take Moseley's
leavings?"
That statement certainly says volumes. So much for family, huh? Rob-o will be searching for a new cast/family for future outings no doubt.
So in other words, to summarize, the producers, the actors, and even the director of this remake of a sequel don't believe in this embarrassing in-it-for-a-quick-buck production... So why should any of us?
How embarrassing for them. They are all so busted.
Of course, the Weinstein's scrambled quickly to insure they could strangle every dollar possible from the production before bad press after its release killed interest, by selling rights to merchandise (after all, the rights buyers will be the ones stuck with all the merch they wont be able to sell) and planning a huge 600+ piece auction of props. It says something too that those who worked on the production cared so little they didn't hold on to these props as keepsakes of their own. Best to get rid of them for a quick buck and distance oneself from the memory of the stink.
Rob Zombie's Halloween II producer Harvey Weinstein was once quoted as saying "If someone is against blacks, Jews or Arabs, even if their hands were filled with gold, I would, in principle, never work with them." However, apparently he himself has no principles when it comes to ripping off movie goers of all races, creeds, and colors with bargain basement remakes and quickie sequels to remakes though. Eh, Harve?
His brother and co'producer Bob Weinstein (who was also the founder of Dimension Films) has also been quoted as saying "If I could make all my films from franchises, I would.".
Well, when we think about going to (or better yet, BOYCOTTING) several movies in the horror genre (and other genres) over the next few years, we'll keep in mind that the brothers Weinstein have been listed in the I.M.D.B. as developing remakes of David Cronenberg's SCANNERS, HELLRAISER, C.H.U.D, Kurasawa's undisputed classic THE SEVEN SAMURAI, Russ Meyer's iconic FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL, KILL, Joe Dante's PIRANHA (a 3-D version), SCREAM 4, RAMBO V, SIN CITY II, and a movie dubiously called AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS.
We find it also interesting that Rob ZZZzzzombie has repeatedly continued to link his name to John Carpenter's (Halloween creator) in the press whenever possible, yet Carpenter himself is in no way involved in these remakes and re-sequels. Is it that he really believes himself as good a film maker as Carpenter that he thinks they should be mentioned together? Or is it just that he wants audiences to believe that? Either way, it is really in pretty bad form there Rob. But manipulating the ticket buying public into BELIEVING there is some connection to Carpenter is just some more of Zombie's smoke and mirror fabrications.
While the rest of the main stream horror media (and many in the smaller streams), websites and magazines, have continued to gush and pimp this project (hey they need to make a quick buck off the horror community too, right?), all these actions behind the scenes just underline the reality of what we here at The Horror Drunx have been trying to tell you for years...
Save your money and rent the original. You KNOW it was a better and more original film than this remake. Boycott Horror Movie remakes and sequels of remakes. Anyone who is a truly informed horror fan should know better than to waste money seeing junk that none of the people who made it even believe in. You'd have to be a moron to.
Just because Hollywood pukes something out and calls it horror doesn't mean you should grab a fork and eat it up. No one with any self respect should be that hungry.
"My name is Montgomery Brando and I am a Horror Drunx"
Montgomery Brando
Los Angeles, California
August 2009
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