Veteran film-maker John Carpenter has, during an interview with film students, described Rob Zombie – who directed the 2007 remake of Carpenter’s cult horror film Halloween – as a “piece of shit” who “lied” about him.
The remarks, which were made in April 2016, but have only recently emerged as Zombie’s new film 31 hits cinemas, were in response to a question from the floor concerning Carpenter’s thoughts on Zombie’s version of Halloween.
Carpenter referred to Zombie’s appearance in Halloween: The Inside Story, a documentary about the film that aired on the Biography Channel in October 2010, and said: “He lied about me. He said that I was very cold to him when he told me that he was going to make [Halloween]. Nothing could be further from the truth. I said, ‘Make it your own movie, man. This is yours now. Don’t worry about me.’ I was incredibly supportive.
“Why that piece of shit lied, I don’t know. He had no reason to. Why did he do it?”
Carpenter then went on to express mildly dismissive views on Zombie’s efforts. “I thought that he took away the mystique of the story by explaining too much about [Michael Myers]. I don’t care about that. He’s supposed to be a force of nature. He’s supposed to be almost supernatural. And he was too big. It wasn’t normal.”
Zombie (real name Robert Bartleh Cummings) has directed seven feature films in addition to his career as a musician, which began in 1985 when he co-founded heavy metal band White Zombie.
