Halloween II writer and director Rob Zombie tells EW he doesn’t know how the unused trailer for his movie (in theaters Aug. 28) leaked to the website Bloody Disgusting on Wednesday, but that he is grateful that it’s out there and that it has been so well-received by the public. ”When I first saw the trailer [cut by the company Buddha Jones], I went, ‘This is the f—ing movie we made.’ And then [Dimension Films] was like, ‘We don’t want to use it, we don’t like it,’ and they just threw it away. Then they cut all these other trailers that just look like generic, stupid f—ing slasher movie trailers, and I was f—in’ pissed. In fact, I wrote this long letter to the promotion department: ‘I hate these trailers and these TV spots, and I f—in’ hate you.’ You spend forever trying to craft something special and they’re gonna market it like a generic piece of ’80s slasher movie sh– because they think audiences are so f—ing stupid they can’t understand anything else. That trailer leaked from wherever, and I’m thrilled. The response has been like, ‘Wow, I didn’t want to see this movie until I saw this trailer.’”
“We think the official trailer and this alternate version are both great,” says Dimension’s EVP of Creative Marketing Jeff Elefterion. “They both represent the picture well, but we feel the cut we went with was the right choice and it has done a fantastic job of getting the fans excited about this sequel.” The new trailer features many of the same clips as previous spots for the movie, but a slower pace and the prominent use of the Moody Blues’ song “Nights in White Satin,” which gives it a distinctly different feel. “The Moody Blues song is very important within the actual movie,” Zombie says. “That trailer, that’s our movie.”
This isn’t the first beef Zombie has had with the marketing of his films. “It was a huge problem when I made [2005's] The Devil’s Rejects for Lionsgate,” he says. “That was from start to finish a wonderful experience — until it came time to market the movie. I go, ‘We kinda made this weird post-modern Western. They go, ‘We don’t care, we’re marketing it like it’s Saw.’ I go, ‘Well it’s not Saw. People that would like it are not gonna go see it, and people who think it’s Saw are gonna be so disappointed.’ For years and years afterward, people would be like, ‘I finally saw that movie. I love it. It’s totally not what I thought it was. It’s like this weird Peckinpah movie.’ I go, ‘I know!’ Ugggh. Now I’m going through the same thing again. What pisses me off is when you see something like District 9. When someone finally does a really interesting marketing campaign, it works because people are so jaded you need to give them something interesting.”
We’ll have to wait to see if the leak pays off in box office receipts (2007’s Halloween, Zombie’s first crack at reviving the franchise, grossed more than $80 million worldwide). But for now, there is a bit of a happy ending: “I wrote the marketing guys a thank you note,” Zombie says. “I said, ‘I don’t know if you guys leaked this, but thank you if you did.’”
Photo Credit: Marsha LaMarca
Comments (1-15) of 44 Add your comment
Knights in White Satin makes that trailer— I wasn’t psyched to see this and now I can’t wait.
Zombies Halloween 2 was an abomination! First of he dropped Carpenters music, 2nd myers talks, 3rd, he looks like grizzly adams on steroids and walks like he has a load in his pants. AWFUL FILM!!!
He can classify The Devil’s Rejects however he wants. But it was a horror movie…and it was one of the best horror movies of the past 25 years.
rob’s right. studios need to learn when to shut up. his trailer’s amazing.
Zombie’s trailer is better
That trailer looks 10 times better than the others I have seen.
Show that all studios are out to make money by latching on the newest trend in Horror Hollywood.
Studios suck. Let them bleed……
Frankly I am not a fan of Zombie’s Halloween and I hope to god this sequel is a flop. He removed what made Halloween so good and made a mediocre slasher. I am also SICK of Hollywood’s need to give a backstory to every freaking character. Michael Meyers was scarier to me as just evil incarnate, not some white trash kid from a broken home.
Don’t agree Ryan. The original Halloween didn’t go into the reason why Michael Meyers was so insane. I love how we got to see why Michael Meyers became the way he did and the white trash kid who is Rob Zombie’s son was excellent in the part and Rob Zombie’s wife played the mother of young Michael.
Sally, that was the whole of idea of Michael Meyers in the Original Halloween. There was no reason for them to show why he was insane. He was pure evil from the beginning and thats what makes it even creepier.
Dont agree bro. the original was awful, at least for me. it was boring and it didnt make sense how a little boy can kill for no reason it wasnt realistic at all. especially when MM drove the car.
Im with u ryan you hit right on the head. And the sequal was 10 times worse than his first one.
All that trailer proves is that Rob needs to be prevented from ever making any more movies. He has no talent.
@raingods,
Really insightful comment that adds to the discourse. I like how you backed up your pointless statement with a lot of facts and examples. You should be a film critic.
Your insights are uninspired and pointless. Anyone who has seen The Devils Rejects knows that he is capable of making good horror movies. I did not think his recreation of Halloween was better then the original but he has talent and as with House of 1000 Corpses setting up The Devils Rejects, I am waiting to judge Halloween 1 and 2 after I see this one and judge them as a whole.
I loved the original, really liked the remake and look forward toi the above.
This trailer is much better than the ones the studio used. Before, I was contemplating even seeing this one in the theatres, since I didn’t really like the last one. But this actually makes the movie look good, and it seems to have more substance, and be more like what you would expect from a good “Halloween” film. Can’t wait!
Jordan-I completely agree. Seeing the leaked trailer tipped my scale from “maybe a rental” to “going to the theatre” I am sending the leaked trailer to all my horror movie friends too. SO GLAD it was leaked!
This trailer was definately better although I was going to see the movie anyway bc every movie rob zombie has made as been awesome. His movies are way better than any horror remakes nowadays. He does it out of love not money (Plus house of 1000 corpses and devil’s rejects= 2 of the best horror movies ever made)
Rob Zombie is a horror movie God to me. All I can say is District 9 and Inglorious Basterds who? I have been anticipating this and will be seeing it next weekend.
Loved the remake and was planning to see II next weekend anyways. Has I needed something to push me to see the film, though, the unused trailer would have done it where the other trailer would not’ve.
for the people saying the orignal was better because he was just an evil incarnate you obviously didnt watch it it says in those who he is and these are more detailed as to what he was and is i am a huge fan of the halloween movies new and old cant wait to see this zombie made these way more gory and guts !!!
I wasn’t that excited to see this movie until that trailer got leaked. Zombies is right. That trailer is much better. When it comes to his take on Michael Myers, it could be argued that it was better to not know why Michael is the way he is, but we’ve already seen that before. At least Rob didn’t make some cookie cutter remake. That much we can give him credit for.