Rob Zombie-Inspired ‘Chopper’ Web Series Gets A Movie Deal

J.C. Christofilis knows the elements of a good gore film. Blades. The Undead. Heavy Metal. These are three of the central themes is Christofilis’ Chopper, a horror web series adapted from Martin Shapiro‘s comic book of the same name. After a nine episode run that attracted over 1.2 million views on YouTube, Chopper is trending upward. The macabre story of a headless killer has been optioned into a feature film adaptation, which will be produced by Christofilis’ company, Dilemma.

Chopper started as a five installment comic book, but the web series was launched complementary to the print material and made its debut earlier this year. The series is filled with healthy amounts of gore and has a definitely exploitation film feel to it, which seems to be engineered in some capacity (some would argue that this makes the series less fun, but you’re welcome to draw your own conclusion.) Given the decent traffic generated by the series, a feature film (with a relatively small budget) is a logical next step. Check out an early episode of Chopper

to get a feel of what to expect from the film.

The series stars Tyler Mane, who starred as Michael Myers in both installments of Rob Zombie’s Halloween reboot. Given the constant thump of heavy metal and dark, bloody look that drive Chopper, it’s clear that Zombie inspired Christofilis in many ways. Given that the series could also be called ‘The Headless Horseman on a motorcycle’, Washington Irving‘s stories are another evidence influence.

Dilemma is an LA-based marketing company that is responsible for the production of both the web series and the film. Chopper is tentatively slated for a 2013 release, with the 9 ‘slices‘ of web series content acting as a prequel story that introduces several characters who will appear in the film. We’ll have to wait for the completed project to see which ones get offed and which ones make it to the grisly end.