ROB ZOMBIE Says His 'Halloween' Film Will Have 'No Connection To The Other Series'

MTV.com is reporting that Rob Zombie has commented further on the announcement over the weekend that he has been tapped to revive the successful "Halloween" franchise, some 28 years after accomplished horror director John Carpenter's influential slasher flick first introduced the world to Michael Myers, an escaped mental patient who massacred his family on Halloween night.

In a message posted on Zombie's MySpace page last week, the rocker shot down rumors that he'd been in discussions with Dimension Films to breathe new life into the pale-masked Myers.

"I don't know how this story all got started but I am not making 'Halloween 9'," he wrote in a post dated June 3. The next morning, he clarified the situation in a separate post, writing, "I am not making 'Halloween 9'. That series is done, complete, over. But what I am doing is starting totally from scratch. Call it a remake, an update, a re-imagining or whatever, but one thing that [is] for sure is this is a whole new start — a new beginning with no connection to the other series. That is exactly why the project appeals to me. I can take it and run with it."

Before accepting the job, Zombie told Variety he'd reached out to Carpenter, seeking his blessing.

"The original 'Halloween' is hallowed ground to me, and I talked to him about it and he was very supportive of what I wanted to do," Zombie said. "He said, 'Go for it, Rob. Make it your own.' And that's exactly what I intend to do. Over 25 years and a lot of movies, a very scary character became something of a Halloween cliché, with Michael Myers dolls that play the Halloween music when you press their stomachs. By the end of the sequel cycle, there was little connection to the original. I take that film very seriously, and I want to make it terrifying again."

Zombie's "Halloween" film is slated for an October 2007 release.