Rob Zombie Moves Away from Horror for Next Project

By our guest blogger, Rob Stammitti

Rob Zombie, whether you appreciate his work or not, is undoubtedly deserving of the label "auteur." His films ("The Devil's Rejects," "Halloween," "Halloween II," among others) are far from sophisticated, but he definitely brings his own very specific sense of style to them. Whereas films like the "Saw" series are afraid to admit that they're little more than dirty grindhouse entertainment, Zombie knows he's making trash and he revels in it. I haven't seen his second Halloween film, but I love the rest.

Having said that, it seems the director wants a change. Though there was word he intended on remaking "The Blob," it appears he's saving that potential gem for later and wants to separate himself from horror for his next project, another trashy exploitation film that this time is more within the action genre. According to Slashfilm, the project, titled "Tyrannosaurus Rex," and it's about "a prize fighter who goes to prison for a decade and a half, comes out rather hardened and becomes a skull crusher on the underground fight circuit."

Regardless of the genre, this definitely sounds like Zombie's territory, and a rather appropriate direction for him to take considering "Rejects," his most acclaimed film by far, is more of an action film than horror anyway. Sounds like there's a lot of room for Zombie's regular cast, as well. It'd be great to see Sid Haig and Bill Moseley as underground fighters.

The film is far from production stages though, so we'll be waiting a while to see Zombie's first major non-horror attempt. In the meantime he has a new album awaiting release sometime next year and he'll be touring to support it.