Hollywood has had absolutely no problem taking iconic horror films and remaking them for a quick buck. But one look at heavy metal boogie man/horror director Rob Zombie's re-imagining of slasher icon Michael Myers in 2007's "Halloween" and you knew that he wasn't just cashing in. He was trying to make something great and undoubtedly his own.

On the eve of the opening of his conclusive sequel "Halloween II," Zombie talked to us about his distinctive vision and what other horror remakes are doing wrong while dropping a few movie references along the way. (Warning: If curse words offend you, stop reading now).

St. Joe Live: Given the financial success and the mixed critical reviews, in hindsight, what do you feel like you definitely got right the first time and what do you feel like you maybe could have done better?

Rob Zombie: The thing that I got right and the thing that is always the thing to do is the more I made the movie my own, the more successful it worked. And I felt that any time I thought, like, "Oh I should do this part because this is kind of a classic John Carpenter moment" was kind of, like, ehh, a waste of time. So, with "Halloween II," I really was like, let's just make 100 percent my f------ movie, because that's when creatively, it's going to work the best because you're firing on all cylinders. It's just you. You're just going for it. That's the problem with remakes. That's sort of the built-in situation. You are remaking something so you could make it 100 percent different but then people would to "Well, it's now really 'Halloween.'" That's why I like doing a sequel because it's a sequel to my point-of-view, so I can just veer off in any direction, where as with a remake, you know, you're kind of walking a tightrope at all times as to how to handle it.

SJL: What do you feel like the big mistakes are that people make whenever they decide to remake these movies for a new audience?

RZ: Well, it's really hard for me to see, because I never see them, so I don't know what the f--- they're doing. But I would say that for myself, the more it varies from the original, the better. Just make it a whole new ball of wax.

SJL: What was it that fascinated you about the Michael Myers character in the first place? Do you remember how you first felt when you saw the John Carpenter film?

RZ: I never really focused on that heavily on Michael Myers when I saw the first movie the first time, because just the actual movie itself was very unique. Because the concept of this sort of masked, faceless character stalking teenaged girls, that is such a cliche now, but (in) 1978, it was pretty unique. It's hard to believe that was ever, like, an original idea. If you ever related "Halloween" to anything, you related it to "Psycho" 'cause not since Norman Bates had you really thought about someone just killing or stabbing someone like that. You know, it's the movie that launched a thousand bad movies, but it was just sort of the mystery of the whole thing. That's what was scary about it. But, you know, I didn't really take that approach because I thought, you know, "Halloween," that's why that movie was genius and if they never made any sequels then maybe you would take the same approach. But since they made seven fairly horrible sequels, I thought, well, this thing of doing Michael Myers as this force of nature was boring. So, that's why I decided to do it different. Make him more of a human character. And I thought, at least that way, you know, you would be approaching it differently.

SJL: Without giving too much away, what do you think viewers will find most surprising about the second one?

RZ: I think the fact that for the first time ever, the same director and the same actors are coming back to pick up the story and continue it on. 'Cause, usually, it's years later, different actors, different director, the whole vibe of the movie has changed. But we're really trying to pick it up as if we never stopped. Like, the next moment in the film. So you're really dealing with all these characters in the aftermath of the experience in the first film, which takes all the characters to a much darker place. Dealing with dark, disturbed damaged characters is much more interesting.

SJL: "Halloween II" is going to be your conclusion to the Mike Myers legend. Isn't it some sort of unwritten law that you're supposed to make a minimum of 8 to 10 horror sequels to this thing?

RZ: Well, I mean, I'm sure they will and I'm sure someone else will and, you know, they'll do whatever. They'll concoct any crazy storyline to make it happen again, but for me, I thought this concluded the saga nicely. It's a nice bookend.

SJL: Having a more cohesive sequel, do you think that is something that is missing in a lot of other horror sequels because so many things change from one movie to another but they still just try to scramble and make it work?

RZ: Usually what happens is, you know, they make the first movie. and with the sequel, they try do it cheaper, they try to do it with a different director and most of the returning cast, the bigger names, like a Malcom McDowell, do not want to return. This time, what we did differently. We had the great situation because we made a bigger, better sequel and I love when that happens. And that does happen sometimes. Anything from "Bride of Frankenstein" to "The Dark Knight" is a bigger, better sequel. The sequels can go two ways: They can be the cheap, quickie knock-offs or you can go, look, let's make a bigger and better movie this time out and we decided to take the bigger and better approach.

SJL: In creating the back story to this iconic horror character, do you feel that takes away the mystique that he might have had at first or do you feel like that just makes it better?

RZ: I think it makes it better because I think all the s----- sequels took away all the mystique that was ever going to be taken away from Michael Myers. For all those years, they had, like, just some stunt guy playing him and couldn't act, wearing some s----- mask that looked like they bought it at some f----- drug store. I mean, those movies are so f------ awful that for anyone to say, "Oh, you took the mystique away," they're f------ out of their minds. I mean, Tyler Mane coming back and playing Michael Myers, when you see Tyler as Michael Myers, he's a terrifying force of nature, and you go back and look back at some of those other Michael Myers...please. It's a joke. It's a f------ joke.

SJL: Whenever you're thinking about the tone that you want this movie to take on, do you try to balance it between any sort of serious, somber qualities and campy elements that you find in a lot of other horror films? Do you try to strike a balance?

RZ: No, I f------ hate campy horror with a passion. I hate everything about it. I hate camp. "Rocky Horror Picture Show." This movie is dark, it's gritty and it stays that way. Horror movies have a bad stigma and people treat it like "Oh, it's supposed to be like this." We all treated this movie like we were just making a dark, human drama. That's what we were worried about. I was worried about actors giving really heartbreaking performances in a dark drama. It happens to be an incredibly violent film but at the heart of it, you have to have solid actors like Brad Dourif giving really strong performances. Any kind of thing that could be perceived as campy I didn't want and if anything was campy, I cut it out of the movie. It's just not necessary.

SJL: Whenever somebody goes to check out "Halloween II," what do you want them to walk away feeling from it?

RZ: I want them to walk out of the movie feeling profoundly disturbed. I think the problem with horror movies is that you used to walk out feeling disturbed. Whether it be "The Shining" or "The Exorcist," people would walk out, like, shellshocked. Now, these movies are so f------ stupid and they're so campy and goofy, people, like, cheer during the killing and it's like they go in not taking it seriously. Nobody walks out disturbed. They walk out and they go, "Oh, you want to get something to eat?" They've already forgotten the movie by the time they hit the lobby.

SJL: And you don't want that.

RZ: No, I want something where you're driving home and in the car you go, "Man, that last scene, that's still f------ with my head." That's what you want. Like the ending of "Taxi Driver," you leave and you're like, "Oh my god." Two weeks later, you're still thinking about it. It's still kind of messing with you. That's what I love about movies.