Or bonifide lunatic? I just watched House of 1000 Corpses, and like his other movies, there are no redeeming qualities for his baddies. There is no redemption at the end, no last minute salvation for the innocents, just mayhem, torture and murder. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but Zombie is supposed to be a vegetarian. The beginning was suitably campy and even amusing, and there was pitch-black humor throughout, even with the unrelenting violence. Sid Haig has to be one of the more repulsive people in film.
Did you watch it on DVD? If so, check out his commentary. My vote is on demented genius. Some people really are that bad, and don’t redeem themselves, and I think Rob captures it well. Plus I’m a sucker for black humor and cheesy gorefests. 
I haven’t seen any of his films and barely (until recently) knew his music.
He got my interest a while ago when I was in a club that had music videos playing on a big screen. They had the music video for his song “Living Dead Girl”.
I was impressed not only that is was a really cool video, but even more in that it showed a knowledge of film history and a true appreciation for the Silent Era of Film. It was clearly directed by a real film buff.
Knowing that he had gone from music into film, I got to wondering if he himself directed the video. When I got home and in front of a computer, I did some quick research and realized that, not only did he direct the video for “Living Dead Girl”, he directed almost all of his music videos.
I was sufficiently impressed with “Living Dead Girl”, that I went out and bought the combo CD/DVD “Best of” compilation- the CD of the songs and the DVD of the videos. All of the videos are really cool but, overall, the one video that inspired me to make the purchase is far far better than any of the others. Still, happy to have the collection- lots of cool videos.
Impressed as I was with the “Living Dead Girl” video, I am quite interested in checking out his films- just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Here’s a link to the video on YouTube, definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it before- beware link goes to sound yadda yadda yadda . . .
“Living Dead Girl” music video directed by Rob Zombie
Demented? Perhaps. Genius? Nope. He seems to be an intelligent guy, but his “art” does nothing for me. No accounting for (my) taste, I guess.
So, to be a genius, you have to have universal appeal?
In all fairness blondebear said no such thing.
I don’t know if he’s a genius or not, but he is a true enthusiast with respect for the craft (crafts-plural: music and film) and I can be reasonably sure that anything he puts out is a true reflection of his own artistic goals. Whether he hits or misses those goals, I’m always more interested in anything coming from an artist who truly wants his work to be expressive of his individuality.
I love the guy’s music but his films are absolute dreck. (But then again, I never “get” horror movies; I just find them to be extremely dull and stupid.)
That’s Mr. Zombie.
That’s kind of a non-sequitur isn’t it? I don’t see why being a vegetarian should keep you from making horror movies. Or vice-versa, for that matter.
I actually haven’t seen any of *Mister *Zombie’s movies - not sure how I would deal with the torture and mayhem and whatnot - but when I’ve seen him in interviews he is so smart and articulate and funny I have kind of a celeb-u-crush on him.
HOUSE was very uneven- a lot of crap but some moments of brilliance. REJECTS otoh was mostly brilliance with minimal crap. And REJECTS kinda sorta did give an air of humanity to the villians near the end, which gave the conclusion a tinge of sadeness.
HALLOWEEN didn’t match the wonder of REJECTS but it was a solid effort on what I still think was still an unnecessary project.
I haven’t seen the Halloween remake yet, but House of a 1000 Corpses and Devil’s Rejects were two bad films. Rejects was better, but that’s like saying it’s more fun to have a nail hammered into your leg than into your brain.
So, dedicated filmmaker and student of the art… yes
Maker of good films, hell no!
Combination of Seinfeld and my own humor. Raw meat, blood, gore is not vegetarian fare. Okay, it’s a weak joke, but the best I could do.
freakalette: I saw the film on IFC, so have no access to his commentary. I’m not really a slasher film fan, but do like a good horror film. Zombie’s characters are truly horrifying, and the goosebump part of the films is in hoping you never come face to face with anyone resembling these people. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Karen Black, as I’ve always thought she was a crappy actress, but she camped it up pretty well. Matthew McGrory was an odd choice for these films, also. Seeing Rainn Wilson in this was startling, given his current star status.
Well, I have my tongue in my cheek a bit. I just thought it was funny that he said:
Which can scan as “Zombie is not a genius because his “art” does nothing for me”. I just thought it was kinda funny.
Just rewatched The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari last night after posting to this Thread (the 1920 Silent upon which the music video for “Living Dead Girl” is based). Feeling a sense of film nerd camaraderie. Think I’ll make a real effort now to watch Zombie’s films sometime soon.
I don’t know anything about his music, so I can’t say anything about that.
Having seen his movies, I will say that while it’s clear he has a deep appreciation of horror movies, he has absolutely no idea how to make a good one.
House of 1,000 Corpses and Devil’s Rejects were bad enough in how stupid they were (and they didn’t even feature good, memorable gore), and Halloween had all of that along with being boring and totally missing the point of everything that makes the original a classic.
Genius? If so, you wouldn’t know it from his movies.
Demented? Again, not seeing it in his movies. Compared to truly demented and disturbing horror movies, Zombie’s look like something a couple 13-year-old boys dreamt up while they were bored in study hall.
You win the “Analogy of the Week” award 
I like his music, in a drumming-on-the-steering-wheel-and-putting-your-foot-down kind of way. I’d hardly call it “genius”, though. I see it as more like the musical equivalent of pro wrestling - fun, but hardly mind-expanding.
His movies are pretty much the same, only not fun.
I think he’s a talented dilettante. He knows how to shoot and assemble a movie. Thing is, he has basically nothing to say, artistically, beyond getting his own rocks off. I find his work intensely boring.
He would like you to think he is demented, but I don’t think he is. He just likes old horror movies.
He is a better musician than I am, and a better film-maker than I am, but that’s not saying much. I would not call him a genius, but if he sticks with it, I think he has the potential to become a skilled craftsman. Frankly, I thing the arts need more craftsman, and fewer Artists. YMMV.
What’s more demented and disturbing than House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects?
Are you kidding?
Put Chaos in your Netflix queue. Makes a Zombie picture look like an episode of Fraggle Rock.
Also, it’s a terrible movie, and as soon as you add it to your queue, you should remove it. Because nobody needs to suffer through it. It’s just, y’know, for the record.
Point is, Zombie is mainstream demented. There is much, much freakier stuff than his mall-friendly grindhouse available out there.