One thing is certain when it comes to horror titan John Carpenter, he is hardly affable. In fact, he’s the worst interview I’ve ever conducted here in Bloody Disgusting, although I adore his ability to be both honest and candid. The point is, Carpenter hates Hollywood, all of the bullshit, and would rather be playing video games and watching basketball (we could be best friends). He could give a fuck who he offends and won’t hold back if he feels something needs to be said. A great example is when I was on the set of The Fog remake, he was asked, “Why are you doing this?” His answer, “They’re paying me, a lot.” The follow up was something along the lines of, “What are you doing on this production?” His blunt response: “Nothing.” That was the end of the interview.

So, when Carpenter speaks on something, it’s the gospel (at least to this writer), which is why his comments on Rob Zombie are absolutely shocking. To recap, Dimension Films tapped Zombie to direct a remake of Carpenter’s Halloween back in 2006 (released in 2007). The backstory has never been talked about publicly, at least until this past April when Carpenter spoke to students at the New York Film Academy (full video below), calling Zombie a lying “piece of shit.” No, really…

“He lied about me,” explained Carpenter, alluding to an interview Zombie had given about the production of his Halloween adaptation. “He said I was very cold to him when he told me he was going to make it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I said, ‘Make it your own movie, man. This is yours now. Don’t worry about me.’ I was incredibly supportive. Why that piece of shit lied, I don’t know.”

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Carpenter also didn’t hold back when asked for his thoughts on Zombie’s Halloween remake: “I thought he took away the mystique of the story by explaining too much about [Michael Myers]. I don’t care about that. He’s supposed to be a force of nature, he’s supposed to be almost supernatural, and he was too big.”

To be fair, Carpenter can come off extremely cold. He may think he’s being polite, but he really, truly, whole-heartedly can come off like a jerk. I can see Zombie feeling rejected by one of his idols, as has happened to so many of us at conventions or wherever. And, in regards to Zombie making his own movie, he definitely did that with Halloween 2, which is one of my favorites in the entire franchise (I’m definitely in the minority here).

The fun begins in the video at the 17:00 mark. What do you take away from the remarks? Share your thoughts on the verbal sparring below, as well as on the Halloween remake.

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[H/T] CoS and iHorror.