Eli Roth's Horror Movie Recommendations

Eli Roth told us what to watch on Halloween.

By 
Oct 26, 2015
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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Say what you will about Eli Roth's movies, but the dude knows movies. You can ask him a question about one of his own movies, like The Green Inferno or Knock Knock, which both came out within a month of each other this year, and he'll end up launching into a thesis about Peter Jackson's early work. It's just how the guy's brain works. He's a Tarantino-level cinephile, especially when it comes to the horror genre.

So with Halloween around the corner, we figured, who better to ask for some horror movie recs? He was more than happy to give a few suggestions, and even talk about some of his other favorite movies. But honestly, Roth would have found a way to impart his knowledge to us whether we asked or not. Take notes.

As told to Erik Abriss. 

Halloween's Must-See Movies

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I think you should watch John Carpenter's Halloween. It's a classic. Even if you're at a party and you put it on, everybody loves it. Even if you're not scared by it anymore, it's a great movie.

[Also], Evil Dead, because now Ash vs. Evil Dead is gonna be a TV series. Shot on 16mm by a 21-year-old Sam Raimi. It's a classic.

You should watch It Follows. You can watch It Follows as a companion piece to Halloween, with its camera work, and it's really fun. It's really creepy.

I also love Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You can never go wrong with that! The '70s look, clothes—the whole aesthetic of that movie. It's one of my favorites.

And then The Shining. Just a classic haunted house movie that only Stanley Kubrick could do, with one of the most insane performances from Jack Nicholson.

Some More Horror Inspiration

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I wrote both The Green Inferno and Knock Knock with my writing and producing partners, Nicolas Lopez and Guillermo Amoedo. But The Green Inferno was my mic drop. We couldn't have taken a crew farther than we went, literally, in the Amazon for The Green Inferno. [But] after going to the jungle I wanted to do something more contained. The Green Inferno's so violent and so I wanted to do a 180. I remembered what Peter Jackson did after Braindead, which is the wettest movie ever made. Then he went right to Heavenly Creatures, which only has one kill. So I said, "I want to do a movie that basically has one drop of blood," and show that I can have that same kind of tension. Not make a horror movie, but really make a sexual thriller that is Fatal Attraction for millenials. 

But Also Some Comedy Recs!

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I remember seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail and I just couldn't believe you were allowed to chop off heads for comedic effect. The Three Stooges too—they were so unbelievably violent and so unbelievably funny. Woody Allen is also a huge influence. His diologue is the greatest and his characters are unbelievable. And of course Mel Brooks. What Mel Brooks did, whether it was The Producers with the Nazis or Blazing Saddles and what he did with racism—it was stuff you weren't allowed to do, yet he did it. And he did it so brilliantly. 

The older I've gotten, I've seen more. I love Bámbola and the Italian sex comedies. I love Santiago Segura and the Torrente movies. I love all kinds of comedy—I'm not a comedy snob. I loved Zapped! with Scott Baio, I love '80s comedies like Porky's. Boaz Davidson is one of my favorite directors and The Last American Virgin is one of my favorite films. But I also love stuff that is really, really dark and fucked up. Like Very Bad Things—that kind of humor is really fucked up and yet you're laughing hysterically.

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