MTV scored a lengthy interview with Rob Zombie, who’s in the midst of preparing his new HALLOWEEN movie for Dimension Films release on October 19, 2007. The writer/director reveals that the script is now complete, and that he’s taking a revisionist approach to the early adventures of Michael Myers and Dr. Sam Loomis. “Horror-movie remakes for the most part don’t work," Zombie tells the site. “They just imitate the original. They don’t try to do something new and different, they just follow it. And if you’re going to follow the original, then there’s no point because that movie already exists.”

Zombie’s HALLOWEEN will not be a prequel, as previously reported, but “a remake with more backstory built into it,” according to the filmmaker, who will put Michael front and center. “He’s not just a faceless thing floating around in the background and then you focus on these girls,” Zombie says. “I feel that that’s where you can make it different and more intense. One of the things that has happened over the years to all those [slasher] characters is that they become friendly. Michael Myers and Jason and Freddy and Pinhead aren’t scary anymore because they’re so familiar. I thought we had to find a way to go back and start fresh and remove everyone’s preconceived ideas about what they think this character is, because no one thinks they can be scared by it again. It’s almost like Santa Claus.”

Look for Dr. Loomis’ role to be beefed up as well. “I felt the character just popped in and out when they needed somebody to say something dramatic,” Zombie says. “I wanted his story to feel more intertwined with Michael in a way that means something—which they did in the original, but sometimes it feels like he disappears for a long period and then just pops up to go, ‘He's evil!’ ” Apparently, the filmmaker has a “what if?” list of names to play the character, ranging from Jeff Bridges to Ben Kingsley (Zombie film regular Sid Haig’s name has also been flying around the Internet as a casting possibility). “There is no shortage of late-50s, early-60s male actors who are amazing and would like to work more, probably much like Donald Pleasence at the time [he was cast as the original Loomis].” For lots more Zombie comments on the new HALLOWEEN, click on the link above. —Michael Gingold

¿Francamente os imagináis a Bridges como Dr.Loomis?