Film Director Case Study

Eli Roth

“Roth has been enormously good at turning his name into a brand”

Drew McWeeny

“From the blood-curdling Cabin Fever to the hackfest Hostel, Roth has become the master of turning little films that could into bona fide Hollywood blockbusters.”Ask Men

The Man HimselfBorn Eli Raphael Roth, 18th April 1972, Newton Massachusetts U.S. Son of Cora Roth, a painter, and Dr Sheldon Roth, a psychiatrist, had 2 siblings.Made 50 short films from the age of 8, before graduating at Newton South High School, and then later going to film school in New York University. By the age of 20, Roth was still a student at NYU, and ran an office of producer Frederick Zollo, but quit to devote his time to writing.Caryeim Manheim gave him one of his first jobs in Hollywood, putting him as an extra on The Practice. He Graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1994 from NYU.

Roth’s CareerIn his final years (1993/1994) at NYU film school, Roth wrote and directed a student film called Restaurant Dogs as a homage to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. The film was nominated for a Student Academy Award in 1995, and won its division.Through his internship with producer Fred Zollo in years prior, Roth met David Lynch and remained in contact with him over the years, eventually producing content for Lynch with his fledgling website in the late 1990s.Roth moved from NYC to LA in 1999; shortly thereafter he wrote, directed, edited, produced, animated, and provided voices for a series of animated shorts called Chowdaheads for Mandalay Sports Entertainment. After receiving financial backup from the website Z.com to deliver a 5-minute pilot, Roth wrote, directed, animated and produced a series of stop-motion shorts in mid-2000 called The Rotten Fruit.

Films and Projects By Eli RothCabin Fever:

-Co wrote by Randy Pearlstein, his university room mate.-Made in 2001, sold to Lionsgate-Highest grossing film of the year

Hostel:-Made in 2005 on a 4 million dollar budget.-Number 1 at the box office in 2006.-Empire Magazine readers voted Hostel the Best Horror Film of 2007

Other Films included-Hostel Part 2-Thanksgiving-Endangered Species

Film Director Producer Writer Actor

Cabin FeverTables from the crapper2001 maniacsHostelHostel Part 2Death ProofThanksgivingDont Look Up Inglorious BasterdsNations PrideThe Last ExorcismPiranha 3DThe Man With The Iron FistsAftershockEndangered SpeciesClown

“I want to make movies that are interesting and different, and that make people think. I mean, I want to make a movie that they can have a great time, that they can watch over and over and over and that 30 years from now that people will still be watching.”

“If I don't come home covered head to toe in fake blood then I haven't done my job as a horror director.”

“Make a date movie, make a popcorn movie, or a Friday night movie and just do it well. That's all I ever wanted to do.”

Eli Roth’s Cinematic Style

Classical Film Making Style: Roth photographs, edits and films in the style of 1970’s drama’s. He does not use the modern "MTV" style of fast cutting, and prefers the filmmaking techniques not to be noticed, and to take a back seat to the story and performances.Eli Roth prefers to create movies that have an unfolding narrative rather than a situation narrative, where predictability becomes noticeable. He also prefers people to know nothing about the movie until they go to see it. The horror in his films comes in the psychology of his characters, whose selfishness, hedonism, desperation, or ignorance causes them to behave in frightening ways.“You’d have to let the camera roll for a while, until they get tired and have that moment where they are staring straight ahead, which gives a horror effect.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqC3TKdfbeo

According To Roth...In the following YouTube clip, Eli Roth is interviewed about his cinematic style in The Last Exorcism:

Film Trailers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NcYXzZCQsE

Hostel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d5_lrn9v-g

Cabin Fever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoJWIXj1VvM

The Last Exorcism:

What made these movies so successful?The Last Exorcism: The film was successful because, the narrative itself was creepy and this is why Eli Roth wanted to produce the movie. The fact that a handheld/documentary camera was used throughout also made us feel like there was no barrier as an audience. Considering Eli Roth was involved in this movie there was not a lot of gore, which appealed to audiences, because it is unusual for Roth not to use gore.

Hostel: The film's opening weekend North American box office gross was $19.5 million, making it the top grossing film that weekend. It went on to gross a total of $47.2 million in the U.S. The film's budget was around $4.8 million, and the film went on to gross over $80 million at the box office worldwide. The movie was inspired by true events, which led to the audience believing in the movie. The movie was full of gore, which a typical of Roth, and this makes it appealing to horror fans.

Cabin Fever: Grossing $33,553,394 at the box office worldwide, the film was marked No. 3 and the highest grossing film released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment in 2003. Critical response to the film was mixed to positive, with a rave review from the New York Times and Film Comment magazine. Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 63%, with the consensus "More gory than scary, Cabin Fever is satisfied with paying homage to genre conventions rather than reinventing them. Once again, the movie is full of gore and blood, which is a typical horror convention which appeals highly to audiences. Cabin fever is a typical slasher movie, in the woods, which could happen in real life.