Bates scored four of director Rob Zombie's films, beginning with 2005's "The Devil's Rejects". For Zombie's remake of "Halloween" and its subsequent sequel, Bates adapted John Carpenter's original themes and motifs in order to fit the darker, grittier, and more contemporary atmosphere of the films. It was around 2007 that Bates began working regularly on big-budget, blockbuster films; including "300, Doomsday, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Sucker Punch," and "Conan the Barbarian." This did not, however, dissuade him from composing scores to smaller, independent films like "The Way, Killer Joe, The Sacrament," and "Flight 7500".