Ever since Halloween II disappointed at the box office, we’ve heard reports (many coming from director Rob Zombie himself) of the alternate version Zombie had envisioned for the film. With the flick set to debut on DVD and Blu-ray next month, we’re starting to see footage of some of that “alternate vision”–like this new ending for the film.
I’m not sure what to make of this new clip–I viewed it twice and I still don’t know that it’s any better than what we got in the theatrical version of the film. In fact, I’m starting to think that maybe Zombie’s vision (regardless of what form it takes) of the Halloween universe was just so different from what we’d come to expect that no matter how he cuts the film people will be unhappy with it. I also suspect that at some point in the next decade we’ll see an article arguing that Zombie’s take on the Michael Myers mythos is somehow better than Carpenter’s. It’ll happen–there’ll be some yahoo wannabe academic out there who will make the case no matter how ridiculous it seems.
Anyway, here’s the new ending. Naturally, it contains spoilers. Halloween II lands on DVD and Blu-ray on January 12th.
The internet’s all atwitter with a new rumor involving musician turned filmmaker Rob Zombie. If you can read headlines, you no doubt already know what that rumor is. I may have tipped my hand a bit on that one…
According to The Pulse of Radio’s story (which everyone picked up from the Roadrunner Records Blabbermouth Blog), Zombie is said to be in negotiations to direct an episode of an unnamed TV series that focuses on forensic crime scene investigation. The show is never named (probably because they’re still “in negotiations”), but everyone and their brother is assuming it’s one of the CSIs. That makes sense, given that they’ve allowed other high profile directors like Tarantino to come aboard and do episodes in the past.
Honestly, I’m secretly hoping everyone’s wrong on the whole CSI thing. In a perfect world, we’d get a Zombie-helmed episode of TruTV’s Forensic Files. Their staged re-enactments could only benefit from Zombie’s cinematography and use of music.
All kidding aside, this is still just a rumor at this point–details could change or the whole thing might fall through. That being said, this could be the first step on Zombie’s quest to move away from the horror genre–a move that still strikes me as puzzling at best.
A few days ago, I posted the advertising flyer for the Blu-ray version of Rob Zombie’s Halloween II. Today, the hard working crew over at STYD have landed better photos of the Blu-ray release, but also the art for the DVD version as well. That’s what you’re seeing above (the theatrical cut art is exactly the same, only with a different banner on the top. DVD owners will be able to choose between a Theatrical disc of the film and an Unrated one. Blu-Ray owners appear to only be getting the unrated cut. Here’s the breakdown on extras:
• Commentary with Writer/Director Rob Zombie (available only for the unrated edition)
• movieIQ (use logo) and BD-Live connect you to real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and more while watching the movie! (available only on Blu-Ray)
• Deleted and Alternate Scenes
• Blooper Reel
• Audition Footage
• Make-Up Test Footage
• Uncle Seymour Coffins’ Stand-Up Routines
• Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures Music Videos
You’ll be able to pick these up at your local DVD emporium on January 12th.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween II didn’t exactly have horror fans lining up around the block when it was in theaters, but perhaps it will find an appreciative audience on DVD and Blu-ray when it releases next month.
DVD Active has posted promotional sales advertising for the film, which gives us a look at the Blu-ray packaging. Looks just like the film poster, which is pretty cool–I guess.
As far as extras are concerned, here’s what you can expect on this disc (which, as I’ve mentioned before, is almost assuredly a precursor to the Super-Mega-Awesome Rob Zombie 47 hour version of the film that we’ll see sometime later in 2010): Rated and Unrated cuts of the film, deleted and alternate scenes, audition footage, Uncle Seymour Coffins’ Stand-Up Routines, a Michael: Interior featurette, Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures Music Videos, and a blooper reel.
Expect to find the disc at retailers everywhere on January 12th.
Jump past the break to see the other ad for the Blu-ray release
Rob Zombie’s second trip to Haddonfield didn’t exactly set the box office on fire, but Dimension’s hoping that maybe the film will find an appreciative audience on DVD and Blu-ray. Details concerning the home video release of Halloween II are starting to come into focus.
DVD Active is reporting that “Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced rated DVD ($28.96), unrated DVD ($28.96), and Blu-ray editions of Halloween IIfor the 12th January. Extras on the rated DVD will include deleted and alternate scenes, audition footage, Uncle Seymour Coffins’ Stand-Up Routines, a Michael – Interior feature, Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures Music Videos, and a blooper reel. The unrated DVD and Blu-ray will also include an additional commentary with Writer/Director Rob Zombie.”
Sounds like a decent package. I’m gonna hold off on buying it, though, because I’m sure there’s a mega-awesome 17 hour director’s cut disc that will be out sometime next year.
A few days ago, I posted a story over at HorrorSquad (which, in case you didn’t know, is the other place I’m writing these days. I’d never leave my own little slice of internet Hell here at the HorrorGeek site, but I’d love it if you managed to head over to HorrorSquad and support me and the rest of the brilliant staff as well–you can never really have too much horror in your day, can you?) about Rob Zombie having finished his director’s cut of Halloween 2 and how it might differ from the theatrical print many of us endured back in August and September.
Now Zombie’s taken to Twitter once again, this time to assure us that the new cut (which will be available on DVD) is his preferred version of the film. As proof of this, I offer you exhibit A.
“Just finished doing the director’s commentary for the DVD of Halloween 2. Love the new cut. This is the real film.”
In Zombie’s defense, he did make Halloween 2 in an incredibly short time frame. It’s easy to imagine that he had to rush things and cut corners to meet the release schedule (he signed on to make the movie in the beginning of 2009–the film was in theaters at the end of August…), so maybe this director’s cut will be the film we were all anticipating. No release date has been announced yet, but you’ll read about it here as soon as I know.
This clip came out last week–and I’m sure it will make all you Sheri Moon Zombie fans happy. If I know one thing, it’s that most of you guys just LOVE Rob’s wife and are always clamoring for him to find ways to fit her into every project he does whether she should be there or not.
Anyway, here’s a look at The Haunted World of El Superbeasto–Zombie’s Ralph Bashki-esque animated feature that hits DVD next week. Even though the film is about a Mexican luchadore named El Superbeasto, the clip revolves entirely around the character of Suzi X.–Suzi is voiced by…wait for it…Sheri Moon Zombie. I’ll be honest–I’m largely indifferent to Ms. Zombie. She doesn’t bother me the way she bothers a lot of fans (in fact, I thought her portrayal of Michael Myers’ mother in the first Halloween flick was perhaps her best work), but I can see where the naysayers are coming from on the whole “quit cramming her down our throats, Rob” sentiment.
An even bigger concern is “is this movie going to be any good?” I don’t know. I’ve seen a clip or two and read a lot about it, but we’re in H2 territory again–could be creative, original and clever or it could be complete crap. My opinion pendulums back and forth with each new thing I read or see.
The good news is we’ll all know one way or the other on September 22nd–which is when the movie lands on DVD.
In an unexpected turn of events, The Final Destination–the fourth installment in in the popular franchise–held on to the top spot at the box office for the second week in row. The film earned another 12.4 million, bringing it’s grand total to 47.6 million. The film beat out the Sandra Bullock romantic comedy All About Steve and the Gerard Butler sci-fi/action flick Gamer.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween II didn’t fare nearly as well, taking in a paltry 5.6 million–bringing it’s total to 25.6 million. This is bad news for the Weinsteins, who’re reportedly in financial trouble and were counting on this film to help keep them afloat.
The LA Times has released the preliminary weekend box office figures–and now we know the answer to the question “which horror flick will do better on opening weekend”?
The winner is, amazingly enough, The Final Destination. Death’s latest adventure lead the pack, taking in an impressive 28 million bucks. Rob Zombie’s much hyped Halloween II could only slide into third place with a disappointing 17 million. I’ll admit these numbers surprise me–I didn’t know which film would come out on top, but I figured the end result would be much closer.
I’m curious if the additional charge for the 3D glasses for The Final Destination figures into the tally as well–I’ve never heard if it does or not, but that’s a few extra bucks with each ticket sold if it does.
Unfortunately, it looks like the worst case scenario happened here–two horror movies opened, but audiences split over which one they went to see. Either film could have upped their weekend haul by opening without genre competition. The bad news here for both flicks is that the genre market is set to get crowded from here forward and horror flicks generally don’t do well after the first weekend under the best of circumstances.
Rob Zombie is causing an internet explosion today–first with his release of Halloween II (in theaters now) and then with news of his next project. Guess what? It’s not Halloween III–although the idea of Zombie’s typical redneck characters fighting druids who utilize robots and make evil masks might be interesting…
No, Zombie has surprised us all by revealing that his next project is a re-imagining of the cult classic sci-fi flick The Blob. If that’s not a “what the fuck?” moment, I don’t know what is.
Zombie tells Variety that “I’d been looking to break out of the horror genre, and this really is a science fiction movie about a thing from outer space. I intend to make it scary, and the great thing is, I have the freedom once again to take it in any crazy direction I want to.”
I’m genuinely puzzled by the whole “I’d been looking to break out of the horror genre” line. If anyone seemed suited to work in the horror field for life and be perfectly content with it, you’d think it would be Rob Zombie. I mean, Christ, his last name is friggin’ Zombie. I’m all for artists exploring their interests, but I’m not entirely sold on Zombie being able to work outside the genre. And, let’s keep things in perspective here–The Blob is really a horror movie at heart (in the same way Carpenter’s The Thing is–you might have a monster from outer space running around, but it’s still a monster eating people).
The filmmaker goes on to add something even more outrageous to cult cinema purists:
“My intention is not to have a big red blobby thing … I have a totally different take, one that’s pretty dark.“
I know people are ranting and raving about this point like Zombie just said “I’m going to redo the crucifixion–only without Jesus”, but is it really that big a deal? Isn’t it more troubling that The Blob is being remade at all? We’ve already had a Blob remake (and it turned out pretty well) so why do it again? Zombie has complained that he did the Halloween films because there wasn’t funding for his own unique independent projects. I was cool with that–sometimes you have to suffer for the greater good. After doing two of those “for hire” kind of productions, I think most of us hoped we’d be seeing something along the lines of Tyrannosaurus Rex–and not another soulless remake to a film that was fine in the first place.
I’m just going to hope for the best on this one as it starts to move forward.
