Q&A: 'Hostel: Part II' Director Eli Roth
Roth just wants to scare the crap out of you. But he promises that you'll like it (almost as much as he does).
By Eric Alt
For a guy whose films delve into the darkest and most unspeakable fears and desires of the human soul, Eli Roth comes across more like a prankster friend who will scare the hell out of you, then gleefully describe how he pulled it off. Roth's been called everything from a flagrant misogynist to a torture pornographer, but maintains that he's interested in nothing more than making sure audiences get their money's worth when they enter his twisted world.
The Hostel: Part II writer-director sits down with Premiere to discuss the joy of screaming, his Icelandic celebrity, and his surprisingly cordial relationship with the MPAA.
What has this movie allowed you to do that you couldn't do in the first one?
In Hostel: Part II I got to do a number of things that I always wanted to do but could never afford to do. Like shooting exterior night. [laughs] In Cabin Fever, there are only one or two scenes that take place at night. I think we could only afford two nights on Cabin Fever. And there were almost no extras. The average Hollywood budget is $80 million, we made Hostel for $3.8 million — and even shooting in Prague, that's pretty low budget. It's funny that I've made two horror films without a lot of stuff outdoors at night. So I wrote long, kind of extended night sequences with huge crowds and hundreds of extras in Hostel: Part II. I felt like Hostel: Part II was the first time I could show what I can do with a little bit more resources. But still, if you combine Cabin Fever, Hostel, and Hostel: Part II budgets, it's still well under $20 million. It's less than one major star's salary.
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