Director Rob Zombie talks about his twists

Director Rob Zombie, who scared the bejeebers out of hardcore horror fans with

House of 1000 Corpses

(2003) and

The Devil's Rejects

(2005), last year released a reimagining of John Carpenter's trailblazing 1978 slasher,

Halloween

, which takes us back into Michael Myers' twisted childhood. In Zombie's film, Michael is a sensitive, beatific prepubescent discovering his destiny . . . to kill.

Zombie, 43, discusses his art.

What were your favorite horror movies growing up?

I loved

King Kong

- the original, of course. The original

Frankenstein

. . . all the Universal horror stuff,

Wolfman,

the

Black Lagoon

.

Why did you decide to remake 'Halloween'? Why not do a sequel?

In 1978,

Halloween

was very different. You hadn't seen something remotely like it since

Psycho

. Now almost everything about it has been copied so many times, it's become cliched. . . . [So] I proposed starting over.

My original idea was to make two movies: one about young Michael. Part two about older Michael. But [the studio] wasn't interested.

There's a real 1970s aesthetic in your movies. Why draw on that decade for inspiration?

Horror movies were dark and dirty and nasty - like they're supposed to be. In the '80s, they became goofy [and] campy. In the '90s, with

Scream

, everything was about fresh-faced teenagers. Horror movies became kiddie popcorn. Seventies movies were about adults, not kids. The violence was gritty and real.

What's your next project?

I'm just finishing an animated movie,

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto

. It's an R-rated, adult, animated monster, sex comedy [based on Zombie's original comic book]. It's about a Mexican

luchador

[wrestler] and his sister Suzi-X, who fight evil.