Eli Roth gives in to Nikki Finke?
A while back I wrote a commentary defending Eli Roth from Nikki Finke.
Now comes the news that Eli Roth has contacted Finke and declared that he is all but out of the torture business of horror. Finke, no doubt, is doing jumping jacks right about now, probably feeling her moral authority has been validated in someway.
Roth: “As far as violence goes, I think at this point I’ve pushed the boundaries of horror as far as I can, and it’s someone else’s turn to take over spilling blood and guts. I have new challenges and much more ambitious ideas that are not horror related that I’m working on, as well as other artistic endeavors outside of film. I love directors like Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, who pushed the boundaries of gore and horror in their early career, and then took that same energy and aesthetic and applied it to other genres. I’ll always love horror and I’m sure I’ll make more horror movies, but once you’ve spilled that much blood, you kind of have it out of your system and look for other ways to make audiences scream and cheer and vomit.”CHUD has a commentary (from a Pro-Roth supporter) that raises some genuine questions such as “What the hell is Roth trying to do by appeasing Nikki Finke?”
In my previous post analogy, I likened Roth to defending a family member you can’t stand. I find it difficult to defend him now. This is now a case of said family member rejecting your support and “joining the enemy”, so to speak. It’s perfectly reasonable for Roth to want to venture into other things besides horror. That’s probably a good thing in his case. But to essentially bow before Finke and validate her point of view? Unforgiveable, in my opinion. Roth would have had my respect if he had told Finke that he was personally moving in a different direction, but that she could shove her self-righteous opinion up her ass and that he would strongly support any “torture porn” horror film. The CHUD title asks if Eli Roth is “Selling out”. I don’t know if that is the correct term, but I hereby take back any defense of Roth that I previously stated. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t defend the horror genre to some people and then turn your back on it to others. Especially to people who are not “within” the community and have trashed it. This is a perfect example of why I’ve always felt Roth was a douchebag.
I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the back by someone I didn’t even like to begin with 
I don’t know, what do you guys think?
Filed under: Commentary, News
Ronin said:
Part of me wants to think that he’s giving up on horror because of his shitty horror movies. But most of his movies have been pretty successful. So that anit it. The other part of me wants to think that maybe it has something to do with Hostel 2. We all remember how that movie got leaked out and no one went to go see it. Roth was begging fans to “go see it and save horror!” Perhaps this is him saying “fuck you” the horror fans that ‘turned there back on him’. Or maybe it’s because the “torture” flick fad is dead and that’s his money maker. Perhaps he’s a pussy camel toe? Maybe he wants to pose nude some more? Who knows really.
Jeff said:
I pretty much never use the term “sellout”, I think it’s lost all meaning by now, so I definitely would not call Roth a sellout.
I don’t get what he’s trying to say to Finke, though. Maybe Roth really didn’t realize that he sounds like he’s sucking up to a person who trashed him? Does he not realize that Finke didn’t respect anything he was trying to do with his previous flicks? Could he be that oblivious?
Frank Zanzibar Rose said:
what a mooly and after all the suport we all gave this hack eat a dick eli roth
codEy said:
Why would Eli Roth support ” any torture porn film” when he so vehemently disagrees with the label “torture porn”? How is this move likened to selling out at all? He’s not giving in ANYWHERE in his entire statement. This is just a way for him to announce this move in another direction, and connect that statement with negative journalism, which is now rectified with his new direction.
Did you think before making this post?
Jeff said:
codEy, I think what’s puzzling us is that Roth is being a little too nice to Finke after everything she said about him. We’d like to see Roth stand up to her a little bit.
Just click the link and look at some of the titles of Finke’s other stories, they’re listed right under the excerpt of Roth’s letter to Finke. They have headlines such as “More Eli Roth Whining About Anti-Torture Porn Media” and “‘Hostel’ Eli Roth, Lover Of Torture Porn”
So that’s the way Finke has been treating Roth, and we’d like to see him be tougher in his response to her.
MaT said:
When I say “any torture porn” film, I mean that generically; the concept of these films (extreme gore, torturing of people, etc.)
Roth may not agree with the label “torture porn”, but the fact is that these films DO have specific conventions and narratives that are adhered to. Roth knows this. That’s the reason Hostel and Saw are different from something like The Wolf Man, for example. In other words, Roth may not like the label given to these films, but in the context of an argument, he knows exactly what is meant by that particular label.
Finke even says in her article that she has targeted Roth specifically in some crusade against films like Hostel. The fact that he is now pandering to her, offering a “truce in a way, is pretty lame in my opinion.
Have some balls. If you feel Hostel and Hostel 2 are relevant, then stand up for your films. Don’t validate Finke’s position and concede to somebody who knows nothing about the genre community or its films. It makes him look stupid and that’s why the “sellout” comments start getting thrown around.
Ronin said:
Didn’t Finke admit to not watching Hostel? The fact that Roth would puss out and not call her on that ONE fact if nothing else is a strange fact. Considering how much he begged people to watch Hostel 2. Any film maker would at least point out that the bitch anit seen the damn movie and make her look a little foolish in return. Roth is just scared that this woman is gonna write some more bad things about him. Pussy. Musta been his dick that got chopped off in Hostel 2.
MaT said:
Don’t forget, Finke is also the same person who helped cite Oldboy as the reason for the Virginia Tech shooter and blaming critics who enjoyed it
“I just don’t understand how critics with even a shred of humanity keep supporting films that celebrate violence in all its awfulness”
apparently, I’ve got no humanity because I like Oldboy?
Jeff said:
Whoa whoa whoa… Finke actually wrote about Oldboy in the context of VA Tech? I never respected her, but if she’s saying things like that, then I’d have to say she’s just (pardon my French) an ignorant bitch.
Tanya said:
It’s funny he’s saying this, what is he going to do about ‘Cell’ then? The opening sequence in the book is ridiculously gory and violent, is he going to back down from doing that because he want’s to grow as a director? I think this response from him is a “wah-wah” reaction to the poor box office sales that Hostel 2 received and he can’t get over the fact that people didn’t go see his movie not because of piracy but because the movie just sucked. And it’s sad to see Roth, a self-professed horror fanatic, not even try to defend horror movies against someone so narrow minded and ignorant of the genre.
Fake Larry said:
I’d comment on this, but I’m too busy waving bye-bye to Roth on behalf of horror movie fans everywhere. ’scuz me…
BYE BYE ELI!!
SEE YOU RIGHT BACK HERE WHEN THE STUDIOS BLOW YOU OFF AND YOU FILM THE FULL VERSION OF “THANKSGIVING”. YOU’LL BE EATING A BIRD, BUT IT WON’T BE A TURKEY.
Daniel said:
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding Eli Roth gives in to Nikki Finke?, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong