House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

Having established himself as a shock rock pioneer, Zombie began to branch out into other areas, including music production, remixing, and artist management. In April of 2000, Zombie would make his greatest creative risk to date, combining his artistic vision and his personal passion. He began writing and subsequently directing a feature film, funded by Universal Studios after he designed a horror display for their amusement parks. The film, entitled House of 1000 Corpses, was produced and edited, but unfortunately Universal backed out due to their own standards (the film was found to be "too dark and disturbing for release under their corporate releasing guidelines"). Zombie wrangled the film’s rights from the studio while taking out his frustrations on his next solo record. After the record’s release and subsequent success, as well as a huge Christmas tour with his idol Ozzy Osbourne at the end of 2001 and another solo tour in the spring of 2002, Zombie refocused on House of 1000 Corpses, and sold it to MGM for a Halloween release, bypassing offers from several smaller studios. Once again, however, the celluloid rug was yanked out from under Zombie. MGM refused to release the film, and Zombie once again took possession of his pet project.

That’s when Lions Gate Entertainment stepped into the breach. Known for original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world, Lions Gate had been the force behind such feature films as Monsters Ball (starring 2001 Academy Award winner for Best Actress Halle Berry), Frailty, Cat’s Meow, Lantana, Rules Of Attraction, Secretary, The Grey Zone, The Weight of Water, and Lovely & Amazing. Its upcoming slate features the in-house productions: Confidence, starring Dustin Hoffman, Ed Burns, Rachel Weisz and Andy Garcia; Godsend, a contemporary thriller starring Robert DeNiro, Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos; the eagerly-anticipated Shattered Glass, based on the incendiary Stephen Glass story, starring Hayden Christensen; and the true-crime drama Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer and one of Lions Gate's top ensemble casts ever.

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