COREY TAYLOR On Scoring A Movie For First Time: 'It Was A Lot Of Fun' And 'I Can't Wait To Do It Again'

In a new interview with Australia's AndrewHaug.com, SLIPKNOT's Corey Taylor spoke about recently scoring a movie for the first time. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I don't know the working title of it because they just had almost like a demo title for it. But I don't know what the immediate title is going to be. But I finished the score. And it was rad, man. I definitely kind of lit into the Moog [synthesizer] a little bit, but I also used some serious heavy guitars and whatnot, I used a lot of dissonant noise. I even threw the theremin in there for good measure. So it was one of those things that just kind of creating this soundscape while also making it musical and trying to create tension here and there and writing different pieces and balancing it out the way that you kind of have to do. So it's, like, you have a main theme that's gonna go, with the killer or whatever."

He continued: "I was watching [the film while I was writing the score]. It took me a couple of days, actually, 'cause I knew in my head, I knew what I wanted to do. I had four separate pieces that I already had written in my head, and it just came down to basically going in, writing those pieces, recording them and then kind of plugging and playing in those different spots and then moving forward and using elements of that and just fleshing it out all through the movie. So it was a lot of fun, man. I can't wait to do it again."

Three years ago, Corey revealed that he had written five film scripts, including a script for a movie called "Zombie Versus Ninja". Speaking to Frightmare HQ about his vision for "Zombie Versus Ninja", the SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR frontman said: "One of the things that I've always wanted to do is create a movie — write a movie and then see it from soup to nuts; from pre-pro to walking the red carpet. That's been one of my biggest dreams. And I've had the opportunity to really be put in touch with some great producers. And I'm talking to potential directors right now, actually."

Asked if he had any interest in directing "Zombie Versus Ninja" himself, Corey said: "It's not that I'm not interested; it's that I know that's not my forte. I'm honest enough with myself to realize that if I had wanted to be a director, I would have started learning a long time ago. And I know a lot of people with the kind of ego that they would step in and go, 'Well, it's mine. Blah blah blah.' I'm not that guy. I want it to be good. I want [people] to enjoy what I'm making, because I wanna enjoy it too. And sometimes it's the collaboration that creates something amazing. You have to be flexible enough to realize, like, 'I don't have the chops to do this.' However, that doesn't mean there's somebody out there that does. So, for me, as the writer and the producer, now I can find the right person to bring it to fruition and walk with them every step of the way as a collab. Let them do their thing, but also know that, in my mind, there's this idea of what I want it to be. And it's a gonzo horror comedy — it's the kind of fucking movie that I've always loved, and it's the kind of movie that I've always wanted to make. And if it goes off, man, it's the beginning of something rad."

He added: "I don't wanna make Oscar winners. I wanna make fun, crazy cult classics. That's all I care about."

In 2020, Taylor starred in the Halloween horror anthology "Bad Candy" from production company Digital Thunderdome. The film was written and directed by Scott Hansen and Desiree Connell, and also features Zach Galligan, the star of the "Gremlins" and "Waxwork" franchises.

Taylor also stars in another horror film called "Rucker". It is described as a genre-bending terror film about a serial killer trucker who attempts to salvage family relationships. Olympic College film professor Amy Hesketh serves as the film's director and fellow OC professor Aaron Drane produced the film. Both are credited with co-writing the screenplay.

A longtime fan of horror films, Taylor was featured prominently in the "In Search Of Darkness" documentary, which came out in 2019.

Corey told Syfy network's "Metal Crush Mondays" how he first got into horror movies: "My mom took me to see the 'Buck Rogers [In The 25th Century]' movie when I was a kid. I must've been four or five, but the trailer before the movie was John Carpenter's 'Halloween'. You've just got these incredible visuals, this sense of it's autumn, it's Halloween and there's just this dude in the background of every shot. I can remember as a five-year-old just being transfixed. Like, I suddenly didn't care about Buck Rogers. I think it was the one moment in my life that really galvanized my taste in what my young mind thought was cool. It was actually a couple years later that I actually got to watch it and to this day it's one of my favorite movies."

Photo credit: Pamela Littky