I want to have an ending where people say: "That's the most shocking ending I've ever seen in a mainstream horror film."

Eli Roth

Categorized in : People Want Horror

My phobias worsen as I get older. I'm scared of flying, driving. I'm terrified of sharks. I'm a germaphobe. But I try to face my fears; I do. Well, most of them.

sharks flying trying

'Eraserhead' is a weird, horrible nightmare, and it doesn't narratively make sense. Stuff's happening, but you honestly feel like you're in a nightmare, and it has such disturbing imagery that it stays with you forever once you've seen it.

nightmare forever stuff

Las Vegas is a 24-hour city. It never stops. by Eli Roth

Las Vegas is a 24-hour city. It never stops.

las-vegas vegas cities

Dawn Of The Dead is about how we're just a country cannibalizing itself, turning into one shopping mall, and everyone at the mall is just brain-dead, wandering around. Capitalism gone awry, and the worst parts of human nature coming out. All these different things that people read into the films that are all there, very strong anti-Bush sentiments that went into making those films. It's great. I like it when people get it the second or third time, when someone else points it out to them. They don't realize it's been there all along. Those are my favorite movies.

shopping strong country

It's just assumed that a horror sequel is going to be bad. It's never going to be as good as the first one.

sequels horror firsts

If you are having fun on the set, you are not getting things done... by Eli Roth

If you are having fun on the set, you are not getting things done.

done ifs fun

What's important for me is staying healthy. by Eli Roth

What's important for me is staying healthy.

whats-important healthy important

I'm from Boston, and in Boston, you are born with a baseball bat in your hand. And actually, most of the bats in Massachusetts are used off the field instead of on the field, and we all had baseball bats in our cars in high school.

boston baseball school

Once I got over the fear of writing female characters, it actually came quite easily and I was really happy with it. I just thought about girls I knew really, really well and I'd just have conversations with them and tried to relay how they talk about certain things.

girl writing character

When I'm filming a kill scene [as a director], I just get happier and happier as we chop up body parts.

scene body directors

When I was filming the death scene [in Inglourious Basterds], and I'm killing somebody, I had to work myself up.

killing scene

I knew how to act and had studied acting and enjoyed it, but I'd never pushed myself to really perform as an actor, and create a role, and have the whole character's backstory.

roles acting character

Imagine trying to relive your worst break-up, your worst fight, the most painful death of a loved one, and just really relive it step by step, and bring it up and apply it to the scene you're in.

painful-death death-of-a-loved-one fighting

I was listening to music to kind of pump myself up and get psyched up, like I was listening to Iron Maiden and Misfits and Dead Kennedys, and it was like my '80s Massachusetts parking-lot heavy metal and Guns N' Roses.

iron gun rose

I like movies like 'Mother's Day', where you watch it, and you've liked it for years as a horror movie.

mother watches years

I don't want people to feel: "Why am I watching this? It's sick and sadistic." I want people to watch and think it's scary but they can't wait to see what happens next. I also wanted to make a movie that was watchable.

sick people thinking

You have to write scenes and design scenes that are scary and horrific, but that are also watchable. I didn't want people to just feel like they got punched in the stomach.

design writing people

It's the difference between hunting a lion and hunting a deer. If someone hunts a lion, it's like: "Wow, they're brave!" But if they're hunting a deer it's like: "That poor deer!" I know that. I know that guys getting killed is horrible but people have seen it before. You've seen The Evil Dead. With girls, it's like: "I don't want to see that happening..." I know that.

hunting differences girl

All the copycat movies were always PG-13 and people said: "Nobody... by Eli Roth

All the copycat movies were always PG-13 and people said: "Nobody wants violence."

copycats want people

I think in the late '80s and early '90s horror was dead. by Eli Roth

I think in the late '80s and early '90s horror was dead.

late horror thinking