To me, this is good news: Eli Roth told journalists at the LA NME Awards that his next film will be a PG-13 disaster movie, which he described as in the vein of Cloverfield and Transformers. “This will be my first big-budget, PG-13, mass-destruction
movie,” he said. “I went total chaos and pandemonium.”
I felt that Eli shouldn’t have made Hostel Part II right after the first film; it was going to lock him into a specific image – that of the ‘torture porn’ guy. And it has. But Eli’s a talented filmmaker and a smart guy, and while he’s a gorehound at heart, he’s got a lot more to offer in his movies. Making a PG-13 movie can prove that, and it will readjust his public persona in a way that he won’t be getting asked about torture porn all the fucking time, sort of like how people don’t just hound John Carpenter about slasher movies.
It’s important to note that he hasn’t sold the film yet, although he says he’s taking it around to the majors. If he’s able to get it off the ground it would knock Trailer Trash back on his slate, which I also think is a good idea – that’s a movie Eli should be making after a hit, since I imagine its commercial prospects are limited.
When Eli does get this PG-13 movie made he won’t be completely leaving behind his past as a goremeister; he plans on shooting extreme stuff for an unrated DVD release. I love this – almost every unrated DVD has extra content that barely pushes the bounds of PG.