Rob Zombie has come a long ways as a filmmaker in the horror genre and his messy brand of horror films have even earned him a spot within the genre’s “Splat Pack” collective.
It may have taken some time for Rob Zombie to gain respect as a filmmaker, but he’s been making movies for nearly two decades at this point and he’s cultivated a real style across his filmography. Zombie’s films may not be for everyone, but each of his movies displays such an unabashed love for horror and he tends to get a little more ambitious with each new effort. It’s not easy to stand out in a genre that’s as challenging and creative as horror, but Rob Zombie has managed to stick around and prove that he has something to say.
It’s not unusual for cliques to form between filmmakers, especially those that have their roots in low-budget, independent filmmaking. It’s touching to see directors help each other out in various aspects and a sense of family existing between their many projects. Horror is an especially tight-knit community, but it wasn’t until Alan Jones coined the term "Splat Pack" that this group of horror directors from the early 2000s were officially grouped together.
Kickstarting in 2002 with the release of Cabin Fever, Dog Soldiers, and the wave of extremely gory horror that would follow for every year for nearly a decade, this “Splat Pack” movement was formed from now-acclaimed filmmakers like James Wan, Neil Marshall, Eli Roth, Alexandre Aja, and Greg McLean. What all of these directors share in common was an urge to push horror back to its R rated roots and embrace violence. While many of these directors started with low budgets and disputes with the MPAA ratings board, both the directors and their films have all found mainstream success in horror over the years.
Rob Zombie's journey as a filmmaker came exactly at the right time and coincided with the birth of the "Splat Pack" movement. Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses came out in 2003 alongside Aja's High Tension and 2004's The Devil's Rejects was released between Saw and The Descent. Zombie's films were definitely emblematic of the gritty, violent horror films of the decade and the popularity of franchises like Hostel or Wolf Creek also feel directly responsible for Zombie's films being able to find an audience and become popular enough to be given a franchise like Halloween. Some of these "Splat Pack" directors have evolved past their gory roots, but Rob Zombie is a director who seems very comfortable sticking to the collective's gory mentality, as his films like 31 and 3 From Hell very much fit the "Splat Pack" agenda.
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