WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
It’s very rare that I’ll say I have a favourite director but in horror I definitely have a few and Eli Roth is one of them. There’s not a film of his that I haven’t enjoyed which I’m sure you’ll notice as you read through this article that I will basically wax-lyrical about all of them. From home invasion to horror to slasher film – is there anything this man can’t turn his hand to?
The Green Inferno
If there’s one thing I can say about this film is that when s*** hits the fan (in one person’s case their head kind of does), it becomes pretty damn intense! You realise very quickly that no character is safe. I think Roth made a great choice in Lorenza Izzo to play the lead character of Justine because, much like Samara Weaving in Ready or Not, she has such an expressive face. Now, I think I’ve mentioned before that it is hard to make me uncomfortable – but what the tribe do to Jonah while HE’S STILL ALIVE I found extremely difficult to watch. I don’t think it helped that he was such a sweet character. I actually put this film in the same category as Midsommar with how surprisingly disturbing it is but honestly, and as sick as it sounds, that is what makes it so good! You want to know the worst part, I actually hate Alejandro more than the cannibalistic tribe!
Thanksgiving
Whoever had the bright idea to put a slasher movie in the dark, twisted hands of Eli Roth….was an absolute genius! For any of you that have seen the other films discussed in this article, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I say that Roth has an attention to detail, especially in this film and Green Inferno, that some other horror directors lack. For example, and remember I warned you about spoilers at the beginning, when the front of the ship goes through the drivers head during the parade attack – Roth leaves his nose still attached to the torn away part of the face! So many other films would have shown just a mess of blood! I’ll be honest, as an avid slasher film viewer – I was shocked by the reveal but think it was absolute genius!
Hostel Part I & II
I’ll say this much, I panicked when I started watching the first film as it opened with ‘Quentin Tarantino presents’ but thankfully it is an Eli Roth directorial. Truthfully, I also felt that it must be good for Tarantino to put his name to it. The funny thing about the first film is that it actually starts off feeling like your typical buddy, ‘guys on tour’ film with all the sex because the violence doesn’t actually start until about 1 hour into it. That’s not a criticism by the way, I actually think it makes what happens even darker because you start to wonder exactly how long the boys had been set up for. The second film picks up directly from the first, with us seeing Paxton unconscious and bleeding on the train. OK, this turns to part of a dream sequence but still. Due to the way the first film goes – you end up really suspicious of EVERYONE the girls interact with in the second. Both films follow a similar format, and normally that can be a bad thing but I really don’t feel that way with these. Especially as we start to see more regarding the Elite Hunting Club.
Cabin Fever
I talked about this film recently as it was remade in 2016, but what I didn’t mention is that Eli Roth actually has a couple of cameos in this film – one near the very beginning where he plays Grim, a weed smoking stranger that stumbles across the group while they’re sitting round the fire, as well as the happy bald guy in Paul’s story. What I love about this film is that very little happens for a while but the story about the bowling alley massacre begins to build the tension early on. In my opinion, and I probably said this before, what makes this film better than the remake is that it’s more terrifying having no actual reason behind them getting sick. Yeah, we see the infected guy’s body end up in the water but then, what made him sick? And there’s something about Grim’s reaction to the rain that says there’s more to it – but it’s never actually referenced.
Knock Knock
I think a lot of people wouldn’t look at this so much as a horror film nowadays because nothing really violent happens. It’s just a simple invasion of privacy tied with the threat of being labelled a paedophile. But isn’t that a genuine fear for men of this day and age? You could naturally assume a girl is in her 20s based on the way she’s dressed, behaves and you don’t want to offend by asking her age – but she could easily turn out to be 15. Not only that, a simple act of kindness turns into a dark saga. Anyway, what I love about this film and quite a bit of Roth’s work is that it starts out so ordinary. Problem is, I do and don’t feel sorry for Keanu Reeves’ character of Evan, because he does cheat on his wife…but I guess he doesn’t exactly deserve what happens because he was just being a good Samaritan.
