Eli Roth Credits 'Terrifier' for Sparking His Indie Horror Ambitions

Eli Roth, the bloke behind some of the most notorious horror flicks in recent years, has revealed just how much the 'Terrifier' franchise has influenced his latest creative choices. Known for films like 'Hostel' and 'Thanksgiving', Roth has always had a reputation for pushing the envelope, but it turns out the success of 'Terrifier' gave him the nudge he needed to go fully independent with his next project, 'Ice Cream Man'.

In a recent chat about the 4K re-release of 'Cabin Fever', Roth reflected on the challenges of making horror under the watchful eye of big studios. Earlier this year, he took a leap and launched The Horror Section, a production outfit backed by fans and designed to support the kind of extreme films that mainstream studios usually steer clear of. Roth admitted that 'Ice Cream Man' has been on his mind for two decades, but it was only after seeing what 'Terrifier' achieved outside the studio system that he felt emboldened to finally make it happen.

Breaking Away from Studio Constraints

Roth explained that the journey to get 'Ice Cream Man' off the ground has been a long one. He first had a script ready back in the early 2000s, not long after 'Cabin Fever', but it never quite came together. The landscape changed, though, when he saw how 'Terrifier' managed to find a massive audience without studio backing. That, he reckons, was a game-changer.

"I think that you just got to do your own thing. And sometimes you're ahead of the wave, sometimes you're right on the wave, sometimes you're behind it. You can't control it. I've had Ice Cream Man in my head for 20 years. We had a script written in 2003, 2004, right after Cabin Fever. It was never there yet. And then I rewrote it.

But then when I formed the company, I think what Terrifier did was it showed that unrated movies are mainstream. I was like, 'Okay, we're done.' The violence that I fought for that I had to take out of Thanksgiving, then Terrifier 3 comes out, and I'm just like…

But you have to do it independently because it's the Sony Corporation, and they have their own set of rules. And even they shut down Thanksgiving at one point because they saw dailies and they're like, 'We're not going to start this again unless you reshoot that.' And I was like, 'I still got it.'"

Uncompromising Vision in Horror

Anyone familiar with Roth's work knows he doesn't shy away from gore or controversy. His films are notorious for their intensity, and he’s always managed to sneak in the most shocking scenes, even when studios have tried to rein him in. 'The Green Inferno' and 'Thanksgiving' are prime examples, but 'Hostel' stands out as a film that nearly didn’t see the light of day because of its content.

Roth shared that the original studio behind 'Hostel' got cold feet after seeing the daily footage, fearing it would damage their brand. He recalled:

"They saw something, and they were like, 'This is so awful,' which is what happened on Hostel, where they saw the dailies and they went, 'This is so awful. People will stop buying Sony Electronics if they see this. We cannot put this out.' And that's why they went to Lionsgate. And then they, of course, loved it when it was a huge hit."

Indie Horror’s New Wave

With 'Ice Cream Man', Roth is determined to sidestep the usual studio interference and deliver a film that’s as raw and unfiltered as he’s always imagined. The rise of independent horror, fuelled by the likes of 'Terrifier', has shown that there’s a keen audience for films that don’t play by the old rules. Roth’s new production company is set up to back exactly that kind of bold, boundary-pushing work, giving both filmmakers and fans something to get excited about.