Rob Zombie Shares Unused Poster Concept for House of 1000 Corpses

Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses may have landed in theaters 16 years ago, but some audiences still consider it his most accomplished movie, with a recent post of his on Instagram exciting those fans as he shared an unused concept poster for the film. The filmmaker pointed out that the poster had been in storage for nearly two decades, as it even includes a logo from Universal Pictures, a planned distributor of the film at one point. Interestingly, Universal might have parted ways with the filmmaker, but Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights featured a maze honoring the film at this year’s festivities.

Zombie captioned the photo, “Check out this very early poster design concept for House of 1000 Corpses. Pretty cool. This has been packed away for about 19 years . Crazy. Notice Universal Studios logo at the bottom.”

Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Zombie was a popular figure in the heavy metal scene, with his music and stage show embracing the spirit of horror. After word came that the musician was making a film, fans were immensely excited, only for the graphic nature of the film to lead to multiple demands for edits, causing a number of delays before it finally hit theaters in 2003.

“I made the movie with Universal Studios and once we had the test screening — which I thought went great, but what do I know — the head of Universal at the time came up to me and said, ‘We have to talk tomorrow’” Zombie revealed to The Joe Rogan Experience. “And I was like, ‘Oh, man. That wasn’t a good tone.’ That wasn’t a ‘You’re so great we want to give you a five-picture deal’ voice.”

He added, “So, the next day, they dumped the movie and basically booted us out.”

When the film finally did hit theaters, it was a big hit with the horror crowd, leading to the 2005 sequel The Devil’s Rejects and this year’s 3 From Hell. The filmmaker purchased the rights to the original film himself and shopped around for distributors to avoid heavily editing it, with Lions Gate Entertainment ultimately offering to release it.

3 From Hell is out now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.

What do you think of this poster? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!