Cinefantastique Online

Variety reports that Rob Zombie has agreed to write and direct a sequel to HALLOWEEN. Zombie’s remake of John Carpenter’s 1978 film made $60-million in the U.S. last year, but the writer-director-rocker had previously said he was not interested in doing a follow-up, prompting some speculation about who might replace him, but in the end, he opted to return to the franchise:

“I was so burned out. (But) I took a long break, made a record and I got excited again,” Zombie said. “Now, we’ll be hauling ass, and that’s the problem making a movie called ‘Halloween’: If you come out Nov. 1 or after, nobody cares. If it was called anything else, I’d be fine.”

Production is planned to start in March. The previous HALLOWEEN opened at the end of August, anticipating its name-sake holiday by two months. It would certainly be interesting if the sequel had the nerve to go head-to-head with the SAW franchise, which has been putting out sequels in October like clockwork for several years now.