Rob Zombie (Writer / Director)
For 13 years Rob Zombie has been carving out a strange legacy of music in the world of rock, beginning in 1985 with the formation of his brainchild, shock metal superstars White Zombie. That year, Zombie rallied his fixations and passions for classic horror/sci-fi films, trash hot rod culture and generally, all things on the dark side, and formed White Zombie soon after moving to New York City. He subsequently worked as a bike messenger, porn magazine art director and production assistant for the classic children's TV series "Pee-wee's Playhouse," concurrently overseeing every aspect of the band's journey. He created the band's unique visual style, designing everything Zombie: album art, T-shirts, stage shows and music videos. After a series of five cult-favorite indie releases, Zombie's efforts paid off in 1990 when the band signed with Geffen Records. La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1 spawned a hit single, the Grammy-nominated "Thunder Kiss '65," and went on to sell two million copies.
In 1995, White Zombie returned with Astro-Creep: 2000. The album sat in Billboard's Top Ten for two months, and on the Top 200 for 89 weeks, eventually being certified triple platinum. Astro-Creep: 2000 gave the world "More Human Than Human," an infectious, Grammy-nominated hit (the Zombie-directed video clip won a 1995 MTV Video Music Award for Best Hard Rock Video). Supersexy Swingin' Sounds, a full album of Astro-Creep: 2000 remixes, followed quickly on the heels of that success: The disc went platinum.
These successes launched Zombie to new prominence, and allowed him latitude to explore other opportunities. First was a duet with his childhood idol, Alice Cooper, for the soundtrack to the hit TV series "The X-Files. " The song, entitled "The Hands of Death," was nominated for a Grammy Award, ironically facing off against another Zombie offering, "I'm Your Boogieman," from the platinum soundtrack to The Crow: City of Angeles. Zombie also tried his hand at animation (collaborating with Mike Judge to create a hallucinatory sequence for the feature Beavis & Butt-Head Do America) and directing (he was slated to helm the third chapter of The Crow franchise, working from his own screenplay, but Miramax Films eventually pulled out of the deal). After his Butthead experience, Zombie was recruited by longtime fan Howard Stern to duet on a track for the shock jock's film Private Parts. The thumping "The Great American Nightmare" resulted; it became a theme song for both Stern and Zombie. Private Parts, meanwhile hit #1 at the box office, as did the soundtrack, which has been certified platinum.
Zombie made his solo recording debut on August 25, 1998 with the release of Hellbilly Deluxe. The album entered the Billboard charts at #5 and went on to sell over three million copies. A track from the album, "Superbeast," also chalked up yet another Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock performance. After watching Hellbilly Deluxe sell more copies in its first week of release than any White Zombie record before it, he disbanded the group to forge ahead as a full-time solo act, issuing in the fall of 1999 American Made Music to Strip By, a collection of remixes of songs from his solo debut.
Starting his own label, Zombie-A-Go-Go Records, in 1998, he gave bands like the Ghastly Ones a home while creating demented mix CDs like Halloween Hootenanny. He delivered remixes to a number of soundtracks while recording "Scum of the Earth," for the Mission Impossible: 2 soundtrack, and he rounded out his first major solo run with a Rob Zombie toy produced by Todd McFarlane. In April of 2000, he began working on writing and 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 the studio backed out due to their own corporate standards (Universal deemed the film "too dark and disturbing for release under their corporate releasing guidelines"). Zombie wrangled the rights to the film from the studio while taking out his frustrations on his next solo record, The Sinister Urge. Again working with collaborator Scott Humphrey (who had produced his first record and who collaborates with Rob on music for House), he drafted in a metal superstar cast including Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer guitarist Kerry King, Motley Crue/Methods of Mayhem drummer Tommy Lee, and Limp Bizkit's DJ Lethal. The record was another great success. He sold House of 1000 Corpses to MGM for a Halloween release, although offers from several smaller studios had to be refused because of the financial loss Zombie would have taken. Once again, missteps resulted in the film sitting on the proverbial shelf. In 2002, the progressive film studio Lions Gate Entertainment stepped into the breach.
Donald Paul Pemrick and Dean E. Fronk (Co-Creators and Casting Directors)
Previously teamed to handle casting chores on such productions as Tortilla Heaven, Nowhere to Hide, Sabretooth, Global Heresy, Terminal Error, Changing Hearts, Fangs, Puckoon, Kevin of the North, Cold Heart, Across the Line, Game Day, Massholes, I'll Remember April, Kiss of a Stranger, My Brother the Pig, Red Team, Shepherd, Southern Cross, Justice and Big Monster on Campus, "Trapped: Buried Alive" (TV), "The Retrievers" (TV), "Mary Kay Letourneau Story" (TV), "Beethoven's IV" (video), among others.
Amanda Friedland (Costume Designer)
After impressive work as a set costumer on David Fincher's classic Fight Club, Friedland went on to dress talent in 2000's Rave and 2002's Hardcore Action News.
Wayne Toth (Special Make-Up Effects)
Sharing the special make-up chores with Mixon is Wayne Toth. Toth's vast skills with make-up and special effects has been showcased in such films as A Simple Plan, Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions, Bloodlust: Subspecies III and Bloodstone: Subspecies II, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Lurking Fear, and Quentin Tarantino's classic Pulp Fiction. His other credits include puppeteering credits on The Haunting, The Faculty, Men In Black, Death Becomes Her, and Alien 3.
Joel Hatch (Associate Producer)
Hatch has worked on many Hollywood productions, as both a production manager and producer. He acted as production supervisor on the films Delivering Milo, Your Friends & Neighbors, The Game (where he worked with House actor Harrison Young), Just Your Luck (aka Whiskey Down), Sleepers, Barb Wire, and Cops Files. Hatch also line produced Evil Alien Conquerors, The Retrievers, and Delivering Milo; co-produced Pyrates, and was a production assistant on The Heavenly Kid.
Kathryn Himoff (Editor)
Himoff has worked as an editor on a vast array of motion pictures, from art house films to dramas and now horror. Among Himoff's credits are In Memory of My Father, Scorched, Bullfighter, Pollack, The Suburbans, Liar's Poker, The Locusts, Cosas que nunca te dije, Live Nude Girls, Of Love and Shadows, Killing Zoë, Mi vida loca, and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me. She also worked as an assistant editor on the blockbuster Home Alone.
Robert K. Lambert, A. C. E. (Editor)
Lambert is a long-time auto-racing enthusiast who builds and races his own cars. He began his career editing and shooting for ABC's "Wide World of Sports". His film credits include Bulletproof Monk, Rush Hour 2, Red Planet, Three Kings, Picture of Priority, Without Limits, Ed, Blue Chips, Bring on the Night, Heavenly Bodies, and Hotel New Hampshire, among others.
Sean Lambert (Editor)
Lambert worked alongside his father Robert in the edit suite for House of 1000 Corpses. But he also manned the cutting room on "Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History," "Grounded for Life," Grizzly Adams and the Legend of Dark Mountain, "Freaks and Geeks," No Experience Necessary, Somebody is Waiting, and the "Flip" episode of "The Larry Sanders Show. " He was also assistant editor on City Of Industry, The Little Death, Dolly Dearest, From the Files of Joseph Wambaugh: A Jury of One' and Exclusive.
Gregg Gibbs (Production Designer)
Gibbs makes his world film debut as the production designer of House of 1000 Corpses.
Tom Richmond (Director of Photography)
Having worked on over 35 films, Richmond has recently been the cinematographer on Knockaround Guys, Chelsea Walls, Hard Ball, The Chateau, Waking The Dead, Wild Horses, Slums of Beverly Hills, First Love Last Rites, Killing Zoë, Nightmare on the 13th Floor, Amityville: The Evil Escapes, and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (with his House of 1000 Corpses colleague Andrew D. Given), among others.
Alex Poppas (Director of Photography)
Alex made his way into the showbiz jungle with a breakthrough job working as cinematographer on the TV series "The Chimp Channel. "
Michael Krantz (Art Direction)
Krantz has been a production designer and art director on an array of films. Recent projects as Art Director have included over ten episodes of "100 Centre Street" for television, Grind, Sydney, The Doom Generation, and House of 1000 Corpses for the big screen. His production design credits include Phyro-Giants, Other Voices, Cement, The Taxman, The Broken Giant, Ties to Rachel, The Pompatus of Love, Minotaur, and Halfway House and "Grand Theft Auto 2"(videogame).
Andrew D. Given (Executive Producer)
Given dons the executive producer's cap for the first time, after acting as co-producer on the comedy National Security, location manager on Lost Angels, and unit production manager on I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (where he worked with House of 1000 Corpses DP Tom Richmond).
Guy Oseary (Executive Producer)
A founder of Madonna's Maverick Recording Company, Oseary has also been active in the film world. His production credits for 2003 - along with House of 1000 Corpses - includes the comedy Agent Cody Banks for MGM. Oseary also acted as music supervisor on Full Eclipse, and made a cameo appearance as a DJ in Charlie's Angels.
