Rob Zombie, the Brand: Crafting the Convergence-Era Horror Auteur

This thesis adopts an industrial approach to auteur study, engaging in a detailed analysis of the extratextual crafting of metal-musician-turned-horror-filmmaker Rob Zombie’s auteur image from the year 2000 to the present day. It proposes the existence of a new authorial archetype in the twenty-first century American horror market, the convergence-era horror auteur, whose manufacturing and mobilization is tied explicitly to the niche-oriented marketing efforts of media industries. Positioning Zombie’s career as an instructive case study, this thesis ultimately demonstrates how critical discourses of horror auteurism have been co-opted by studios, filmmakers, and other industry parties as (self-)branding strategies designed to confer subcultural prestige upon horror properties and secure the loyalty of horror fans in an increasingly fragmented and diverse media landscape