How to have a horror hit

'Hostel' director Eli Roth tells The TOMB how he did it.

Mar 24 2006

Having attended the film school at NYU, writer-director Eli Roth spent several years working on a variety of projects for David Lynch before bursting onto the horror scene with the enjoyably derivative melting-skin flick 'Cabin Fever' in 2003. Then, just as quickly as he arrived, he seemed to disappear without a trace. A sex comedy, a horror remake and even a proposed screen version of 'Baywatch' all became stuck in development hell, so the 33-year-old took matters into his own hands.

In little over a year, Roth wrote, shot and released his second film, 'Hostel', the disturbing tale of three youngsters who get more than they bargained for during a backpacking trip around Europe. Despite costing a pittance and featuring no recognisable stars, the film shot to number one at the US box office and has already grossed more than ten times its original budget. Here, in his own words, Roth explains how he did it…

Write something original
I read so many bad scripts. The horror screenplays I get sent are normally terrible – just a series of bad rip-offs. Studios aren't interested in making original movies. I sat down and decided to write a sick, violent horror film and make it independently. I had this idea about events I read about on the internet that were happening in Thailand, where really poor people were selling members of their family to organised crime, and businessmen from America and Europe were paying $10,000 to walk in a room and shoot them in the head. I was going to make a documentary about it, but the more research I did, the more terrifying it became and I realised that if I actually met any of the people involved it would be terrible. So I decided to make a horror movie based on the same premise instead.

Do-it-yourself
I employed a series of political manoeuvres to get the film made. First, I showed it to Quentin Tarantino, and he suggested I make it for just $3million, because at that budget it would be so under-the-radar that no one would pay attention and we could make it as violent as we wanted.
So I went to Prague, put myself up in a hotel, met a co-producer and went location scouting for ten days. Then, we sat down and found every member of the crew over there and met with a line producer to work out the budget. I went back to the States to cast the leads, and soon Sony got wind of the project and offered to buy it from us. But they started making demands, so I said 'We are moving ahead – if you guys want to be involved, you have to agree to these terms or I'm doing it without you.'
They agreed, which was great – I got to make my film independently, but with worldwide distribution at the end.

Cast clever
We could cast who we wanted because the budget was so low. It wasn't a $100 million movie so we weren't reliant on Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt or someone like that. I got to use who I wanted and who was right for the role.
I cast Jay Hernandez and Derek Richards, who are great actors, and I also used my Icelandic friend Eythor Gudjonsson. Sony asked who he was and I said, 'He's the Jim Carrey of Iceland.' In reality, he hasn't acted a day in his life, but I think he's funny so I put him in the movie. Everyone has a friend who they say: 'He's so funny, he should be in a movie', but to actually get to do it is amazing, and people have really responded to his performance.

Have friends in high places
We started shooting in Prague and the studio kind of forgot about us. Then they saw our dailies and said 'Jesus, this is really violent. This is too violent for us.' They were really worried, and that's when I thought seriously about making it a 'Quentin Tarantino presents...' movie. He'd been doing the same job as my other executive producers but without the title: he kicked me in the ass to do it, he went through the script with me and he was helpful during the shoot and the edit.
I asked Quentin whether he'd be an executive producer and he agreed. His name went on the movie and suddenly everyone responded to it differently. With him on board, suddenly the violence is considered 'art house' violence for some reason.

Pick the right release date
The release date kept moving around, but eventually it ended up as January 6 in the States, which was great because there was such a glut of big movies at Christmas that there was no room for a small film like this in theatres.
By January, people were ready for something different. There was no movie for college kids and teenagers to go and see, and 'Hostel' was the date movie that was ballsy. A lot of it was timing and luck, but I think people were also ready for this kind of film.

Reap the rewards
Miraculously, it all worked out. The opening weekend was amazing and now it's even being talked about in a social context – what it's really about, what the politics are, why people are responding to it…
Having turned down all those big movies that you know are going to get into theatres, it's really validating to do your own thing, completely outside the system, in Prague, casting whoever you want, and have a hit. It was just me and my friends thinking of what we'd want to see in a movie, but to actually have an audience go see it and enjoy it really gives you confidence.

'Hostel' opens today.

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