Summary
FromCabin FevertoBorderlands,Eli Roth has had a lot of ups and downs in his filmmaking career, but which one of his movies is the best (and which one is the worst)? Roth first broke out with his low-budget debut featureCabin Fever, about a group of college kids who travel to a remote cabin in the woods, where they encounter a deadly flesh-eating virus.Cabin Feverput Roth on the map and established him as one of the most exciting new voices in horror cinema.
What followed was a surprisingly varied career. Roth has switched between grisly horror films, like his gory cannibal thrillerThe Green Infernoand theHostelfranchise – which pioneered the so-called “torture porn” subgenre – and family-friendly fare likeThe House with a Clock in Its Walls.He’s made movies on an ultra-low budget, like the schlocky home-invasion chillerKnock Knock, and he’s made big studio movies on massive nine-figure blockbuster budgets, likeBorderlands. Throughout his career, Roth has produced both great films and terrible films.
Every Eli Roth Movie, Ranked (According To IMDb)
Eli Roth is best known for his unique and meta-analytical horror work, but how do all of his film creations rate according to IMDb score?
Roth reached a new low with his big-budget film adaptation ofBorderlands. TheBorderlandsgames aren’t as renowned for their three-dimensional characters and emotionally layered storytelling as, say,The Last of UsorRed Dead Redemption. They’re more renowned for their ridiculously gruesome violence and their colorful cast of lovable scoundrels. Still, a movie adaptation could’ve succeeded just by copying those elements.
Borderlands ignores everything fans love about the games and offers nothing exciting for newcomers.
But by going for a PG-13 rating and casting bafflingly against type – like choosing Kevin Hart to play stoic gunslinger Roland – theBorderlandsmovie couldn’t even manage that.TheBorderlandsgames play like an even zanier revamp ofMad Max, but the movieplays like a mediocreGuardians of the Galaxyknockoff.Borderlandsignores everything fans love about the games and offers nothing exciting for newcomers, so who was this movie made for?
After it had languished in development hell for over a decade, Roth took on the long-gestating remake ofDeath Wishin 2018.The originalDeath Wish, released in 1974, is one of the most controversial movies ever made, thanks to its perceived endorsement of vigilante justice. The movie sees a mild-mannered everyman taking the law into his own hands when his family is attacked and the police do nothing. Bruce Willis replaces Charles Bronson in the role of Paul Kersey and Hollywood flash replaces gritty thrills.
The originalDeath Wishmight not be a masterpiece, but it was made with passion and righteous post-Watergate rage against the machine. Butthe remake is too bland and uninspired to spark such outrage. There was controversy around its release, but that was more to do with the timing than anything in the film itself.
Inspired by the “cannibal boom” of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s – particularlythe notorious 1980 cult classicCannibal Holocaust– Roth set out to make his own cannibal thriller with 2013’sThe Green Inferno. It revolves around a college freshman who goes into the jungle with a group of activists and ends up running afoul of a cannibalistic tribe.The Green Infernotaps into a rich satirical vein,mocking young people who get involved in activism for the praise rather than the cause.
It revolves around a college freshman who goes into the jungle with a group of activists and ends up running afoul of a cannibalistic tribe.
But it doesn’t have an awful lot to say about the phoniness of that kind of modern activism. Stylistically,it is a fun throwback to the gruesome B-movies that would grace the screens of grindhouse drive-insin the ‘70s and ‘80s. It strikes that unique balance of being hard to watch but impossible to look away from.
After the unexpected box office success ofHostel, Roth quickly got to work on a sequel,Hostel: Part II, set right after the first one.Hostel: Part IIdoesn’t do much to reinvent the wheel. Much like the first movie, it revolves around a group of American tourists who are unfortunate enough toend up in a Slovak village where an underground organization kidnaps and tortures people.
Hostel 2: Why Killing Off Paxton Was The Sequel’s Biggest Mistake
Hostel Part 2 had its share of problems, but its biggest mistake was quickly killing off Paxton, the likable main character of the first film.
Hostel: Part IIpretty much just offers more of the same. But since it had already been done,it didn’t feel as exciting and revolutionary as its predecessor.When the firstHostelcame along, it was unheard of for a horror film to just cut out the middleman and offer 90 minutes of non-stop gory terror. But when the sequel was released, not only had the firstHostelalready done it; all theHostelrip-offs had done it, too.
Keanu Reeves stars inKnock Knockasan architect who stays at home alone to work while his wife and kids go on vacation. In the middle of the night, during a rainstorm, two young women – played by Lorenza Izzo and an early-career Ana de Armas – arrive at his front door, claiming they’re trying to find the address of a party nearby. After he reluctantly lets them in, they seduce him, then end up trapping and torturing him.
Knock Knock: One Change That Would Have Made The Movie Better
Knock Knock, starring Keanu Reeves, would have been a better movie if it featured one not so insignificant change to the protagonist’s character.
It would be generous to say thatKnock Knockis an intriguing genre metaphor for a married man facing disastrous consequences for an extramarital affair.The movie isn’t really smart enough to make that point – it’s pure exploitation. But Reeves’ performance just about carries the film. He’s committed enough to take the audience along on his character’s wild journey.
In 2018, Roth set out to do something completely different. The director ofCabin FeverandHostel, who had pushed on-screen gore to all-new levels, set out to make a kids’ movie. With his adaptation of John Bellairs’The House with a Clock in Its Walls,Roth intended to create a horror film for children in the style of Amblin’s classic ‘80s efforts. It set out to beThe Goonies, but it ended up being more like a third-rateHarry Potterclone.
There’s nothing in The House with a Clock in Its Walls that hasn’t been done in other movies.
Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, and the film’s young star Owen Vaccaro all give terrific performances in the film, elevating C-material to a B-plus. There’s nothing inThe House with a Clock in Its Wallsthat hasn’t been done in other movies (and done better in other movies), andan abundance of exposition makes the story feel uneven. But the movie succeeds when it just focuses on having fun.
With the backing of executive producer Quentin Tarantino, Roth helmed his second feature film,Hostel, in 2005.The movie revolves around a group of American tourists who wind up getting abducted by a shady organizationthat brings unsuspecting torture victims to an underground network of sadists. There’s not much more toHostelthan gory, over-the-top violence, but it delivers the goods for fans of that kind of horror.
Hostelblazed the trail for the controversial “torture porn” craze of the 2000s; in fact, the term “torture porn” was coined to criticizeHostel. There’s something to be said for pioneering a whole new subgenre. Even if the term is applied in a derogatory manner,Roth still managed to do something that felt new and fresh in horror cinema– something they didn’t yet have a name for.
Roth was hailed as a prodigious new voice in horror cinema when his debut featureCabin Feverburst onto the scene.Cabin Feversees a group of college kids renting a cabin in the woods over October break, isolating themselves from the outside world, and unwittingly contending with a deadly flesh-eating virus that’s infected a bunch of locals.Cabin Feverpolarized critics, who either really loved its blend of relentless gore and weird humor, or really hated it.
The genius ofCabin Feveris that none of the characters are actually killed by the virus;they’re all killed by their paranoia and their distrust of each other. In that sense, it’s sort of like a horror version ofThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre. This hilarious twist puts a refreshing ironic bite over all the gore.
2Fin
Distributed By Discovery + (2021)
In 2021, Roth directed his first documentary,Fin, in which he joins a group of scientists, activists, andresearchers to expose the dark history behind the extinction of sharks. The doc received backing and support from organizations like Oceana, Sea Shepherd, and Wild Aid, and was executive-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Nina Dobrev. Millions of sharks around the world are being killed, andFinsets out to find the truth about what’s happening to them.
It’s a really righteous cause, and Roth is clearly very invested in this subject matter.Fincaptures both the majesty of sharks and the evils of finning. Most of Roth’s filmography is made up of gruesome horror films that indulge in gore for gore’s sake.Finis one of his only movies that’s actually about something and has real substance.
In 2007, Roth madea fake trailer for a holiday-themed slasher calledThanksgivingfor the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez-helmed double featureGrindhouse. It revolves arounda serial killer dressed as a Pilgrim who picks off his victims around Turkey Day. For years afterward, Roth tried to get a feature-length adaptation of that trailer off the ground.Thanksgivingbecame his passion project. When the feature version finally came together in 2023, it didn’t disappoint.
The kills are devilishly creative, the satire of the insanity of Black Friday is spot-on, and theScream-style whodunit mystery is genuinely engaging. At a time when slashers had become very rote and uninspired,Thanksgivingcame along to give the genre a much-needed shot in the arm (or a corn-holder to the ear).Thanksgivingstarted off as a fake trailer, but it ended up becoming arguably Eli Roth’s best film.
