Rob Zombie's next film will be "The Lords of Salem."

A co-production between Haunted Films and Alliance Films, "The Lords of Salem" will shoot next year with Zombie writing and directing the project.

The film will center on contemporary Salem, where the residents encounter a 300-year-old coven of demonic witches.

Zombie ("The Devil's Rejects," "Halloween") developed the premise several years ago, but it wasn't until Haunted Films stepped up that he felt the time was right to pursue it.

What excited me most was Jason [Blum] saying, you can have total control over the script, casting and final cut, Zombie said in an interview with Deadline. I said Im in.

Ive had differing levels of control, with the best experience being Lionsgate on 'The Devils Rejects,' when I made the movie and they said, 'great.' The two Halloween movies were more give and take."

After initially planning to helm a remake of "The Blob," Zombie felt compelled to pursue an original concept, especially after walking in John Carpenter's world for two films.

I wanted to break away from anything related to preexisting material, Zombie said. The remake train is getting pretty tired now.

Besides, Zombie couldn't resist the opportunity to gain creative control and guide his next film at a pace of his own choosing.

"It's so hard to make a patient movie, and if a classic like 'The Shining' was being made now, you know some studio executive would say to cut 70 minutes out of it," Zombie explained.

"The Lords of Salem" marks the third co-production between Haunted Films -- helmed by the "Paranormal Activity" team of Jason Blum, Steven Schneider and Oren Peli -- and Alliance Films. James Wan's ("Saw") recently completed haunted house flick "Insidious" was the first co-production, followed by Barry Levinson's ("Rain Man") "The Bay," which is currently shooting.

Zombie will produce "The Lords of Salem" along with Andy Gould, Blum, Schneider and Peli. Brian-Kavanaugh-Jones will executive produce.