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

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

by Joe Utichi | November 01, 2007

Summary

As Halloween draws to a close, the Hostel director shares with RT readers seven underappreciated horror movies that have informed his tastes. Back to Article

(81-100 of 166 posts) | Reply

rerun717 writes:
on Nov 03 2007 10:08 AM

I understand the Eli hate.

A bunch of people are jealous that their script hasn't been bought, and if only I had Quentin Tarantino's name on my movie, then I would be successful and be a self-important hack like Eli. My ideas are much more original.

I liked Cabin Fever and thought Hostel was a great concept but didn't think they movie was all that. However, I like the fact that Eli seems to be a genuine horror movie fan and has stuck with the genre instead of using it as an entryway into the film industry so he can make "serious" movies.

It's very easy to call someone a hack or talentless or whatever, you want to use, but I'd hate to break it to you- originality isn't what sells in Hollywood (I know that might be a news flash).

He has specific horror movie tastes such as gore or shock which isn't for everybody. I'm more for haunting movies or old school slashers, but to each their own. He likes boobies, well so do I.

But seriously, get off this site and get back to finishing your masterpiece of a script and then we can all sit here in two years about how talentless you are or how much you stole your ideas from some other film maker. Think of your pride then. :)

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Nick402 writes:
on Nov 03 2007 12:05 PM

God, someone please get rid of him!

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Dead_and_Messed_Up writes:
on Nov 03 2007 03:17 PM

Eli, I dig your style, even though I wasn't a huge fan of Cabin Fever. You got some love for the genre, and your style's become more confident. But I don't have the time to watch movies because they're ironically awesome, or good for one scene. How many people haven't seen Lewton's The Leopard Man, or Larry Fessenden's Habit, or Peter Jackson's Brain Dead? Those are horror films that are good through-and-through.

Saying that such-and-such horror movie is awesome because it's got so much gore and nudity diminishes the hell out of the genre.

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CaptainSiberia writes:
on Nov 04 2007 04:10 AM

I'll second it all. Bad taste and terrible writing. Makes you wonder if he finished high school.

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CaptainSiberia writes:
on Nov 04 2007 04:13 AM

Some other things, though. This is Rotten Tomatoes. He latest films were crap, and everyone knows it. Why the hell are we wasting time with articles like these?

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Thundaar writes:
on Nov 04 2007 08:16 AM

Horror guru - baloney. His films are violence porn. Only fangoria freaks dig this garbage.

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TheAncientEnemy writes:
on Nov 04 2007 08:49 AM

"This movie is so brilliant. It has this totally ****ed up scene where there is a rape and it's just so ****ed up and brilliant. And no one has seen it! This film is a masterpiece because it's brilliant. I liked this movie so I made Hostel II. I showed this movie to my mom and she threw up like a million times but I laughed at her and then I watched it even more. Not many people can stand this movie, but I can because it's just so ****ed up. I think it might be French."

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Jenwiess writes:
on Nov 04 2007 04:32 PM

Horror Guru? You have got to be joking!He's a hack.

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eiffel49 writes:
on Nov 04 2007 10:40 PM

Eli Roth is so self-indulgent that he can't even see the embarassment of posting such a horrendesly written article. I mean come on: "The best film that I saw which I'd never seen before..." Is he retarded or what? That sentence makes no sense. Every film you see for the first time is a film you haven't seen before you moron. Pull your head out of your *** and learn how to write.

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melizer writes:
on Nov 04 2007 11:32 PM

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donatsu2000 writes:
on Nov 05 2007 06:04 AM

While I would hate for someone to judge my hard work and effort with such empathy, I have to agree with most people on this post about Roth being pretty low on the talent scale, unless endless self-promotion can be considered a talent. Then again look how far this guy has got on so little.

However, to all those posters who support Roth with the blind stupidity of "I don't see any of you making movies" I say this - It is unbelievably hard and sometimes unbelievably easy to get a movie made, it's almost without exception about who you know and on some rare occasions being in the right place at the right time. So while I guess Roth could be awarded some respect for getting a movie made, if you know how Cabin Fever came about you probably shouldn't give him too much. It was simply a matter of right place right time.

The only reason Cabin Fever was and most movies are successes is because of the marketing machines behind them. Having, Peter Jackson right during LOTR fever say your movie is the next big thing is horror certainly helps get his whole fan-base out to the theaters. Lions Gate are kings of marketing, look at Open Water. So the additional defense of "he's made a boatload of money, what have you done?" is equally stupid, since some of the worst things imaginable make money. Money should never equal respect.

Horror movies on the same level as Cabin Fever were and are being released all the time, only they didn't have tens of millions poured into there P&A. They go straight to video. Money was the only difference here, maybe Cabin Fever had a little more attitude and quality than usual, but still, I would argue that a lot of straight to DVD releases are even better than Cabin Fever, directed with more heart and intelligence, rather that the snickering buffoonery that is Eli Roth. "Hee Hee, this is gross, hee hee boobies."

Defending art (Film is really art/commerce) by telling naysayers "Hey, let me see you paint that then" is the weakest, basest possible defense of piece of art. None of the people on this board will probably ever get a chance to make a movie (notice I said chance). It involves too much money and too many souls. However, I would argue half of the people on this board could have come up with Hostel and the same goes for Cabin Fever. Roth's only discernible gift is being a fan-boy. He just copies and remembers what would be cool to rip off or reproduce in a giggling mocking/homage tone. There is no invention in what he is doing. He is not some god of horror, he has no real command of his so called art form. You want command, look at guys like Carpenter, who can't even get a movie off the ground anymore and have to collect paychecks from people remaking and massacring his successes. There are so many other talented horror directors out there, but they just don't make as much noise as Roth. He's loud, he's obnoxious for the sake of it, and from what I can glean from interviews and articles like the one above, he's not as sharp as he thinks.

"Go make your own film if you think it's so easy..."

Yes, there are haters of Eli Roth, because all the people who know better are of course jealous at his success, mad that when he got so far on so little, that when got his chance, he goofs off and turns in ****, when everyone else would probably aspire to pour our heart and soul into one opportunity that he continually gets.

So I feel he's an inept clown with nothing to contribute to film, except another self-congratulatory indulgent persona.

I'm just glad that from the current box office, it seems the idiotic torture porn movement is now being buried.

Now if you are going to defend him, please come up with something concrete.

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Single-Serving Friend writes:
on Nov 05 2007 06:08 AM

In reply to this comment (#1243581)
twoslowjoe writes: "Everyone's talking crap about Eli Roth, but it seems no one can give a good reason for not liking his movies besides the usual "talentless hack" line that everybody uses."

What?

How about that he can't direct or write his actors out of one dimensional paper bag mirrors of himself. Do you think obnoxious, empty, women abusing frat boys make interesting characters? How about traveling with them through a badly shot Prague background for an hour and a half before anything actually happens.

So we wait exhaustingly for something and all we get is 10 minutes of torture (treated as a carnival, and not terrifying horror btw) before another badly shot chase scene through Prague again.

For being set in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, he sure knows how to make it ugly.

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Single-Serving Friend writes:
on Nov 05 2007 06:13 AM

In reply to this comment (#1252383)
"if you know how Cabin Fever came about you probably shouldn't give him too much. It was simply a matter of right place right time."

And having a rich relative in the industry.

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scowar writes:
on Nov 05 2007 08:39 AM

Eli Roth is a joke. Those writeups are comical. Hey, I can drop f-bombs, i'm cool. I can't believe this guy has the reputation as THE modern day horror/suspense director. Hitchcock is probably rolling over in his grave. Makes you long for the days of Craven, early John Carpenter, or Ridley Scott. He should at least be forced to sit and watch Alien or Halloween to learn the basics of building suspense/tension without bucketloads of gore & torture at every turn. OK, so there's one rather nasty scene of gore in Alien, but that's it. And that movie is 10x more suspenseful than anything Roth has done. I did enjoy Cabin Fever a bit, but that was about it for his offerings.

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Tacvbo writes:
on Nov 05 2007 11:05 AM

I think Hostel 1, was OK, but what about hostel 2? That is a really BAD movie!!, and it clearly shows that this, Tarantino wannabe, is out of imagination and ideas.
He is VERY over rated, and Im pretty sure that his next film is going to suck.

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CMoney356 writes:
on Nov 05 2007 02:16 PM

come on dude seriously. i mean im sure they were influential to you but if they were that "****ing" good then they would have been discovered....

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SniperCA writes:
on Nov 06 2007 08:47 AM

In reply to this comment (#1241316)
I'm no Roth fan, I'll admit that right up front. The thing that is making me laugh is the defenders like the one I am replying to here that keep saying to the effect of "Does the writing really matter?" Uh DUH!! It's an article written for public consumption on a professional site. Yeah it does. To toss out the assinine defense of "I've seen worse from posters on here" made me laugh even harder. Yeah. When I am paid to write something for RT I will be damn sure my stuff is straight and my writing is up to snuff.

When Roth actually does an original film, I will give him a shot. So far he has made a film that "borrows" (I'll use a nice term) most of it's elements from other better done horror films (Cabin Fever) and then two films that pretty much throw back to the 1970s sexploitation era films like "Blood Sucking Freaks" (Hostel & Hostel 2) and then the defenders of Roth think it is a good point that he can actually make a fake movie trailer...gosh golly!

"Let's see you make a movie" scream the Roth zombies...more laughter. I'll be the first to admit that I am not a film maker, but I am a huge horror genre fan (Like Roth and his followers claim to be) and so I know honestly that if given a budget and all the connections Roth had and I got to slap Tarantino's name on it anything I made would be as good as he threw out and would sell about as well. That doesn't mean it would be something I would proud of nor would I strut around acting like I am the savior of the genre like Roth does.

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SniperCA writes:
on Nov 06 2007 09:13 AM

It was really interesting, while I was making Hostel II I said I wanted to make a movie like To Be Twenty and the kind of reaction I got from Hostel II and the outrage, and the censorship, I said to my brother, "I think we did it, I think we actually made a Fernando Di Leo film."

I think that pretty much sums up Roth's problem. He is so egotistical that he has convinced himself that the complaints and "outrage" are because he has made a cutting edge controversial film. He is in denial of the truth which is that people bag on his films because they are exploitive crap that (now by his own words in this article) are derived from other films and are not original at all.

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dragoneye writes:
on Nov 06 2007 10:53 AM

Eli Roth is a hack and very true to form. His Cabin Fever, Hostel and Hostel II rank very lowly on the horror genre scale. His films are extremely mediocre and sophomoric. I had the unfortunate experience of watching Hostel II with my nephew and was so stupified at the ending. The male protagonist (I can't believe I don't remember his name..) escapes from being sawed into pieces and picks up a gun. Doesn't really use it and throws it away then finds another gun and shoots one guy, who was pulling the eye out of a girls head, then discards the weapon again. I don't and never will understand this kind of story telling and I also do not believe this is Roth being extremely clever making his audience feel some sort of angst or anxiety over the situation getting more involved in the end. He is a C to D level director with the talent to make only those types of movies that prey on the stupidity of 15 year old boys.

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m.olennick writes:
on Nov 06 2007 06:24 PM

The title should more appropriately be, "Eli Roth -- Cry baby and regurgitated plot scenario extraordinaire."

Eli, I'll take your commendation for each of these listed films as enough reason NOT to view them. Additionally, you have shown repeatedly that you haven't a clue what the **** horror films should do. You and your films are mind numbingly dumb and lacking in all dimensions.

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