ROTTEN TOMATOES: Eli Roth Presents the Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen

Eli Roth Presents the Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen

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The best film that I saw which I'd never seen before is a Fellini short film called Toby Dammit. It was part of a European film called Spirits of the Dead that was made in 1968 that featured segments from Louis Malle, Roger Vadim and Fellini, each adapting an Edgar Allan Poe short story.

The Fellini one, Toby Dammit, has the single greatest performance by an actor I've ever seen; it's Terence Stamp. It's on the level of Malcolm McDowell in Clockwork Orange or Jack Nicholson in The Shining. He plays this drugged-out actor called Toby Dammit who's flown to Rome to make a movie and it's shot almost like a live-action, surreal drug trip.

He was going to have Peter O'Toole do it, but he backed out, so Fellini put out a casting call for the most decadent actors in London and he got Terrence Stamp.

I've shown this movie to so many people who said, from the first shot, that this is the coolest movie they've ever seen. People that were never into Fellini, or who found Fellini films boring or pretentious, were like, "I get it. This is unbelieveable."

Terence Stamp is haunted by this little girl with a white ball that he thinks is the devil. You see where the bouncing ball in The Changeling came from, and creepy little kids that were in the likes of Ju-On. Fellini did it forty years ago in Toby Dammit.

But it's so fucking out-there. There's a scene where he's completely fucked on drugs and gets taken to the Italian Oscars but it's some crazy ceremony. They're giving out the Golden She-Wolf Awards and there's a fucked-up fashion parade. It's Fellini's imagination gone completely wild. And the ending is really fucking creepy. It's got a very, very creepy haunting quality to it.

It's a fucking masterpiece and no-one's seen it!

And Finally - On His Upcoming Projects

I'm doing three different things at the same time and everything needs my full attention. It's like I have this garden, and I've got to take care of this garden, that garden and another one. Cell is still happening but the script is still being written. The thing about Cell is I didn't want to go back-to-back into another film after Hostel II, I wanted to switch it up creatively, so my Heroes episode will be scary but more Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents scary. I wanted do it psychological scary.

And then I'm going to do Trailer Trash, my movie of fake trailers like my Grindhouse trailer. It'll be full-on Monty Python silliness.

I know the Thanksgiving trailer isn't attached to either movie outside the US, but Grindhouse underperformed in the US and I think it's one of the greatest cinema experiences of all time. So however those guys need to make their money back, they should. I think they spent seventy million making, basically, the ultimate geek film. So I think that it's such a great film that people will deal with eventually seeing it on DVD but right now going to YouTube.

That said, the Thanksgiving trailer looks amazing on the big screen; I was so happy. It looks like a print that you found in the back of a pickup truck in the 1980s. Even the one on the internet is a little washed-out; when you see it for real it's rich and black and it's got all those great yellow scratches and dirt on it.

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Celeb:	Eli Roth

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(1-20 of 166 posts) | Reply

Mudhole writes:
on Nov 01 2007 09:39 AM

Hey, Eli...wanna know two other horror movies I'll never see? Hostel and Hostel II.

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Gimy writes:
on Nov 01 2007 09:45 AM

mudhole, thats your loss bra. well, at least with Hostel. hostel 2 was comparable to saw. it was that bad. it looked like the mpaa crapped on it so bad they refused to do anything really creative or coo in it because he saved the dramatics for one scene. nothing like Hostel 1...

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Man_Of_Iron8905 writes:
on Nov 01 2007 09:54 AM

Eli Roth's definition of horror is gallons of gore. I'll pass.

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fuj_ball writes:
on Nov 01 2007 09:58 AM

I knew this guy wasn't too bright, now I have seen it for myself. He sounds like a frat guy explaining to another fratty how great the beer and crackers were at his last party.

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dastly75 writes:
on Nov 01 2007 10:08 AM

Hostel had a interesting concept but I think it was too exploitative on gore for my personal tastes. Grindhouse was a fun exploit though. I'm just not into glorified gore/torture. Funny enough though, I absolutely loved Cabin Fever.

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Alexcar writes:
on Nov 01 2007 10:12 AM

God... He writes like a 9th grader...

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redrum writes:
on Nov 01 2007 10:13 AM

Although these are some decent recommendations, this guy is a talentless jackass.

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dahluzz writes:
on Nov 01 2007 10:13 AM

notice the steady decline in the quality of roth's films from the enjoyable cabin fever to the self-indulgent hostel, the wholly unnecessary flop of hostel 2 and now he's trying to make an entire movie of horror-spoof trailers because people liked thanksgiving in grindhouse? dude's trajectory is looking all sorts of whack.

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Herberbaly writes:
on Nov 01 2007 10:17 AM

I really like Eli Roth. I am a huge horror fan; it is my favorite genre. Everybody pissed on "Hostel" because it wasn't the goriest movie ever made, and surprisingly, many claimed it had too much nudity. Often times I think that people confuse "Hostel" for something other than an exploitation horror flick, which is exactly what it is. And I loved it, but I'm not going to convert anyone, so I'll leave it at that. "Hostel II" wasn't as good, but it still left me with one disturbing scene that I will never forget (blood shower masturbation, anyone?) and another scene where I grabbed my manhood in vicarious pain. Any movie that can both disturb and make me cringe is all right in my book.

I've heard of some of the movies on the list, but never seen any of them. Roth's knowledge of horror films is expansive as all hell, and sometimes it seems he is pretentious, as he picks some really obscure flicks only he, Quentin Tarantino, and few others have seen. However, he has great knowledge of the genre, and I have faith that he will continue to make good horror movies (key word: horror, not oscar-caliber), and one day make a true horror masterpiece. But it will take some time. Now that "Heroes: Origins" has been canceled, I hope he puts his main focus on "Cell," if for no other reason than to see what he can do with the zombie-genre. I just hope he goes right for the jugular with that one. I don't want any *****-footing in my zombie movies.

So, with all that said, I am going to prepare myself for the inevitable onslaught of post-bashing.

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Amsterclam writes:
on Nov 01 2007 10:58 AM

Avere vent'anni. Looks and sounds awesome. Just saying.

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mbrocchi writes:
on Nov 01 2007 11:00 AM

Ouch..

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Lee Bowers writes:
on Nov 01 2007 11:14 AM

Funny that on Bravo last night they had a program called "30 scarier movie moments" or some such thing, with short comments by various directors, producers and actors one of them being Roth. And hilariously enough Hostel was number one. Go figure. Cabin Fever was far better and defintely his best film to date. He needs to get off the self-star f**king bandwagon and get back to genuinely scary and interesting filmmaking.

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TheHeavy writes:
on Nov 01 2007 11:26 AM

I hate when someone recommends a horror flick by first telling me the name and then descibing a certain scene contained in that film,....what Ive found is the refrence to a single scene is a warning,..."Its the only ****in thing worth watching in the entire film:,.......Im a horror fan and a film nerd ,..and a film maker,..Im interested in recommendations were an entire film is good,... horror or whatever it is,... I want a good movie to see,...Im watching 'Meatball Machine" tonite so I guess I will see if my statement holds true

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zen_sychosis writes:
on Nov 01 2007 11:33 AM

Roth is a talentless hack and should not be allowed to direct anything with potential - e.g. "Cell".

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Eugene Fenlon BA writes:
on Nov 01 2007 11:33 AM

In reply to this comment (#1239294)
Nice one.

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Sanyi writes:
on Nov 01 2007 11:34 AM

Eli Roth is very underrated director I think. Hostel was pretty good, and the Thanksgiving FAUX trailer is absolutely awesome!
So, GO ELI!

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L0RD_Z0D writes:
on Nov 01 2007 11:44 AM

Same here Sanyi as for the haters let's see you stupid ****s make a better movie.

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BrianInSD writes:
on Nov 01 2007 12:09 PM

Did Eli Roth actually write this list or was it transcribed from some drunken rant? I hope it's the latter as reading this article was physically painful--I had to stop long before the end--and I would hate to think it was an example of his ability to construct a written argument. It makes me want to go out of my way to avoid the movies he listed.

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Lee Bowers writes:
on Nov 01 2007 12:10 PM

In reply to this comment (#1239390)
Okay Eli..er Lord Zod, really everyone loves your..er Eli's films.

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Elixor writes:
on Nov 01 2007 12:14 PM

Roth is just ok in my books. He's no Clive Barker or Wes Craven in their hay-days. Cabin Fever is a better 'horror' movie than either of the Hostel movies. I'll have to check out Torso, sounds interesting.

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