Rob Zombie Was Never Getting A ‘Halloween’ Threequel
The recent theatrical release of another Halloween sequel has many horror fans discussing not just the new horror film itself, but the entire Halloween franchise. Not quite 10 years ago, Rob Zombie released his own Halloween II. Zombie’s first Halloween remake was released in 2007. Both films were considerably different from the traditional Halloween and Halloween II. Fans seemed to be split on Zombie’s two films, with some taking umbrage and others hoping for more installments. Cinema Blend reports that Halloween producer Malek Akkad stated there was never going to be a Rob Zombie Halloween III. He did, however, discuss the studio’s try for it.
“We did the Rob Zombie era if you will. We did two films with Rob which we didn’t really know we were going to do two. We never considered doing three. So after two of those, I didn’t really see any other director continuing in Rob’s voice a part three and using those characters that he had set up.”
Akkad spoke with Bloody Disgusting recently, highlighting even more details around the changes that have taken place over the years with the Halloween franchise. Rob Zombie certainly made his name known within the franchise, with his ultraviolet view on the murderous Michael Myers combined with gore and a full backstory for Michael. The Rob Zombie Halloween universe brought with it a grander amount of violence, while also giving viewers a more modern setting and a dollop of the abstract. According to Malek Akkad, this precise brutal and variable vision built by Rob Zombie is exactly why he did not think “anyone else could continue with a threequel.”
During his interview, Akkad also discussed the could-have-been Halloween 9. He stated that the studio was actually working on part nine when suddenly they were faced with answering “so many different storylines.”
“We were actually working on a part nine. We had everything from the Man in Black to the niece, sister and we started having to answer so many different storylines. That takes quite a writer to try and address all of those but we were trying. We had a couple drafts of a Halloween 9.“
Life tragedy, however, got in the way when another producer’s daughter was killed during a bombing in Jordan. Inevitably, this lead Akkad to believe it was time to stop, thus ending the first eight films in the Halloween franchise. Enter Rob Zombie to breathe life back into the slasher. Akkad says he knew then that it was time to start “fresh,” with something “big.” Akkad was familiar with Zombie’s films and the devoted fanbase. Knowing this, Akkad ventured into the Zombie Halloween era. Apparently the studio was not even certain that there would be two Zombie creations.
“Immediately after Rob Zombie’s II, we were in production again and then that one stopped. So that was impossible to get in production. There were a couple other starts and stops. We had several different scripts and some really good filmmakers. Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer were on the first start which at the time actually was Halloween 3D. I love Patrick and Todd. I think they’re great filmmakers and that was that moment where 3D was making its resurgence. So I do think that would’ve been a really great movie. I liked it and I wanted to work with those filmmakers. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, I really enjoyed working with them. These kinds of filmmakers, I wish we could have gotten that going.”
