Rob Zombie’s Movie Monsters Will Terrorize Theme Park This Halloween

Being asked permission to use characters from his 2003 film 'House of 1,000 Corpses' for this year's Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights event was flattering for Rob Zombie. It was also kind of vindicating.

"When you think about it, it's pretty cool and ironic since that's the studio that originally made the movie, but never released it [because they thought it was too disturbing]. And now we're back in the park doing this attraction," Zombie told Noisecreep in an exclusive interview. "But it's great and they're putting a lot of work into it, so it's going to be really awesome."

The 2010 Halloween Horror Nights event will open in late September and will include new mazes inhabited by 'House of 1,000 Corpses' characters such as Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), Otis (Bill Moseley), Mother Firefly (Karen Black) and Killer Karl (Chad Bannon). Zombie and other top artists are acting as consultants on the mazes, 'scare zones' and 'backlot experiences,' in which Zombie's movie monsters will literally leap out at the park's visitors.

"Universal is doing it in 3D, so you'll wear glasses as you go through," Zombie said. "And they're doing full makeups on everybody in the house and all of the characters from the movie. It's gonna be pretty amazing."

Zombie has also partnered with Universal Studios Hollywood for the Halloween Horror Nights-Rob Zombie Film Competition, which offers filmmakers a chance to have their scariest short movie judged by Zombie and other horror industry experts. The winner will receive a premiere showing on the Chiller channel, a posting on Syfy.com, a $1,000 cash prize and a trip for two to the opening night of Halloween Horror Nights.

"I haven't seen any of them yet, but we shall see what material rises from that," Zombie said. "There might be something good, but good stuff is always rare, so the winner will probably stand out quite quickly, I assume."

Updates on Halloween Horror Nights will be available at HalloweenHorrorNights.com.