I personally like Eli Roth. I haven’t seen the Hostel movies, but I really enjoyed Cabin Fever, and it’s clear that he’s a fan of the genre. I admire what he’s trying to do.
I hated cabin fever, i joust thought it was a triete and predictabe film, but i was pleasanty surprised by Hostel and I enjoyed Hostel 2 even more. I think he gets better with each film. Now I don’t think he is the second coming of horror ike some people do. And I think Thanksgiving day was the best faux traier from grindhouse.
I just think he’s a hack and I don’t know that he’d be able to finish a film without all the source material to lift from. The day that I see a film from him that isn’t full of “homages” and is more than just one shocking scene strung together with the next I’ll append my opinion but as it stands he’s really not done anything more than your Ryan Nicholsons and your Fred Vogels. Credit where it’s due and he’s just not due.
How do you figure he’s a hack? What has he lifted from other films? Hostel is a rather complete package. I can’t think of another film that it is similar too. The first film sets up the world and the second film takes the established conventions and takes it to the next level. The two films compliment each other very well. As for Cabin Fever, sure it’s not original but give me a horror film done in the past ten years that isn’t influenced from a movie done in the 70’s or 80’s.
As for shock value or “torture porn”, the gore isn’t there just to shock, it is actually works within the context of the story and adds gravitas to the events. Take Murder Set Pieces, that film is done merely for shock value. It has no artistic merit except to be outlandish.
I don’t have the hate for him some people here do, but the three main features of his I’ve seen I found remarkably underwhelming. It doesn’t seem like he’s found his own voice, and I think that it shows in his filmmaking. His movies just seem ... I don’t know. Hollow?
hes like tarintino in the sense that he is able to entertain up the yin yang, but has VERY limited original thought put into his films. yes, he steals. yes, i own cabin fever and hostel. no, i dont think he deserves all the credit and praise he recieves.
i forgot who was talking shit on him. some director recently. anyone have a link?
i do however think he is a very able filmamaker in most technical senses.
That’s the one thing that everyone seems to overlook. His films look good.
I think it was Danny Boyle that was trashing him.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with Eli Roth. He loves horror and I find him relatively intelligent when he talks about the genre. I would like to see him move into something a little more challenging within the genre and branch out from the torture porn of the 2 Hostel films.
The one thing that I don’t get is how so many fans have trashed his films for being unoriginal yet manage to praise a film like Hatchet for being a throwback to ‘80’s horror. Hatchet was one-dimensional and boring. At least Cabin Fever tried to flesh out the characters.
One thing is for sure, people seem to love him or hate him.
I think I fall squarely in the middle on the Eli Roth debate - don’t love him, don’t hate him, and I think his films are just OK. But one thing that gives me some sense of hope for him in the future is that I think his films have gotten progressively better. Cabin Fever was kind of fun, but basically underwhelming. Hostel was a little better, definitely looked more refined, and I actually thought Hostel 2 was better than the first in terms of structure and suspense. I think part of Roth’s problem might be that he isn’t great at telling a story. Someone on the show said recently that to be a great filmmaker you need to be a great storyteller, and I’m not sure Roth has that in him. Much like Rob Zombie, I’d like to see Eli Roth direct something he didn’t write. Considering he seems to get better with each film, in my opinion at least, I’m still going to give him a chance. Hey, at least he’s not doing remakes!
Now don’t start in on Danny Boyle, because that’s a losing battle. Hands down a better filmmaker than Roth and most others out there. I actually dug Sunshine, but you kind of have to go along for the ride in the last third of the movie or I can see where it could be disappointing. The Beach was “meh”, but I blame DiCaprio’s inability to act insane at that point in his career as the biggest negative in that film. But in terms of style, technical competency and sheer artistry, Boyle’s pretty darn good and I’ll watch anything he does. I’ll forgive someone “A Life Less Ordinary” if they’re going to give me Shallow Grave, Trainspotting and 28 Days Later.
ALSO, when you look at the MASTERPIECE that is À L’Interiéur, it completely pulls the rug out from under any argument anyone may have about “It’s Exploitation filmmaking… what do you expect?”
I liked Cabin Fever. It had that Phantasm-like surreal feel—kinda both ridiculous and creepy at the same time. As a plus, both Cerina Vincent and Jordan Ladd are super sexy. Both Hostels sucked.
As for Danny Boyle, I loved 28 Days Later. I would place it as easily one of the top three horror films of this decade.
