ROB ZOMBIE PARTNERS WITH PARANORMAL ACTIVITY TEAM FOR LORDS OF SALEM

By Steve Henricksen

Haunted Movies partner Jason Blum has unveiled plans for the company’s next picture, THE LORDS OF SALEM, to be directed by Rob Zombie from a script by Zombie. Set in modern-day Salem, the film involves the demonic return of a 300-year-old coven of witches.

This is the third entry in a new horror slate deal between Haunted Movies and Alliance Films. The first picture to come out of this partnership is INSIDIOUS, written and directed by the original SAW team of James Wan and Leigh Whannel, and starring Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne. INSIDIOUS recently premiered in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto Film Festival on September 14 and immediately was the subject of a bidding war, which was won by Sony Pictures Worldwide, who will handle the release of the film later this year. The second picture is THE BAY, helmed by Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson and currently shooting in South Carolina.

Octane, IM Global’s genre arm, is handling international sales on the Haunted Movies slate, including on THE LORDS OF SALEM.

Zombie has experienced great commercial success as the writer and director of five feature films, and as one of the defining rock music icons of his generation. He’s been nominated for 7 Grammys and has sold over 15 million albums worldwide. His film credits include the cult smash HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (Lionsgate 2003) and its landmark sequel THE DEVIL’S REJECTS (Lionsgate 2005), the animated film THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO (Film Roman 2009), and the record-breaking blockbuster re-imagining of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (Dimension 2007), along with its sequel HALLOWEEN 2 (Dimension 2009), which gave new life to the franchise.

Haunted Movies is a partnership between Jason Blum, Steven Schneider, and Oren Peli, the same team behind the box-office phenomenon PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (Paramount 2009) and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (set for release by Paramount this October).

THE LORDS OF SALEM will be produced by Blum, Schneider, and Peli, Zombie, and Zombie’s producing partner Andy Gould. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones of Automatik will executive produce.

Zombie is embarking on a three week tour of debauchery with Alice Cooper on The Halloween Hootenanny Tour with special guests Murderdolls. The tour kicks off in Los Angeles at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Thursday, September 30th and will criss-cross the USA with a tour de force of ghoulish s delights for your aural pleasure, giving the fans a show of a lifetime.

The Halloween Hootenanny Tour featuring The Gruesome Twosome with special guests Murderdolls comes to the DCU Center on October 16.

For more information, please click on www.robzombie.com or www.myspace.com/robzombie.