Rob Zombie - Zombie Moves Mainstream

Rocker-turned-horror director ROB ZOMBIE is planning to take a break from scaring moviegoers, so he can move into the Hollywood mainstream.

Zombie found fame as a filmmaker through a series of frightening big screen offerings, including remakes of the Halloween movies.

His next project is a new version of B-movie classic The Blob - but once that's complete, he plans to leave the horror genre behind.

The director tells the Chicago Tribune, "The movies I've made up to this point have been pretty dark and pretty much in that world because those are the opportunities that were presented.

"But I'm also working on something now that is not in that world at all."

But Zombie rejects the suggestion he's selling out by moving mainstream - insisting it's a far bigger challenge for him to abandon his horror safety net: "You know, the people that put up the money for these things know that if I stick to that sort of thing, it's easily more profitable. So it's a much bigger challenge to break out of it. But if everything goes according to plan, and the next movie that I want to make is the next movie, people are gonna be shocked as to what it is."