Zombie Remakes `The Blob'

After reviving the `Halloween' franchise, Rob Zombie will next reinvent `The Blob.'

Zombie will write, direct and produce a remake of the 1958 horror classic that launched the career of Steve McQueen. Production will begin next spring.

Zombie’s deal to make `The Blob' his next film comes as Dimension opens `H2,' the Zombie-directed sequel to his 2007 hit “Halloween.”

In the original, an object from space crashes into a field, containing a red blob-like substance that absorbs the humans it contacts and grows exponentially. While Zombie was a fan of the original, his version will be much different.  

`My intention is not to have a big red blobby thing, that’s the first thing I want to change,' Zombie said. `That gigantic Jello-looking thing might have been scary to audiences in the 1950s, but people would laugh now. I have a totally different take, one that’s pretty dark.'

Zombie will produce with Genre Company’s Richard Saperstein and Brian Witten, original `Blob' producer Jack H. Harris, and Judith Parker Harris of Worldwide Entertainment Corporation.

Saperstein, the former Dimension Films president who developed a relationship with Zombie while they worked on `Halloween,' said that funding is in place to make an R-rated film that will cost around $30 million. The film’s budget model is similar to recent fright fare like `Cloverfield' and `District 9,' and they will likely lock in a studio distributor before production begins. Genre Company is in pre-production on the independently financed Darren Bousman-directed remake `Mother’s Day.'

For Zombie, the appeal of taking on `The Blob' as his fifth directorial outing was a chance to broaden his range.

`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,' Zombie said. `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. Even more than `Halloween,' where I had to deal with accepted iconic characters like Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. `The Blob’ is more concept than specific storyline with characters, so I can go nuts with it.'

Zombie has begun writing. While he’ll follow the release of `H2' with a new album and tour this fall, he’ll complete the script at that time.

`I usually follow a movie by putting out a record and going on tour, and I write the script during that tour,' he said. `The tour will take me through Christmas.'

Though Zombie is once again tackling subject matter considered iconic to fright mavens, he’ll repeat his `Halloween' strategy of not being overly reverential.

`I feel good about `H2’ in that it’s far superior to the first film I made, and has no relationship to anything that came before it, or that was in the John Carpenter film,' Zombie said. `My job as director is to carry out my vision. I won’t be pushed around or persuaded in any other direction, and I tell them if that doesn’t work, save the heartache and fire me right now. When you’re out there shooting at 4 AM, you can’t remember notes you got from somebody months ago. What I’m told is, we want you to do your thing, so go for it.'

Zombie’s repped by ICM and managed by Spectacle Entertainment’s Andy Gould, who will also be a producer.