Quentin Tarantino is undoubtedly one of the most influential directors in Hollywood. There is one filmmaker who was influenced and guided by Tarantino and went on to become a prominent name in the horror genre. Eli Roth’s film, Restaurant Dogs, was a clear homage to the Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. The duo later became good friends and collaborated on several projects over the years.
Roth’s films had their fair share of acclaim and criticism, depending on the audience of the film. He was put on the horror genre map with his controversial film franchise, Hostel. He went on to make Knock Knock with Keanu Reeves, which some fans consider as Reeves’ most disgusting movie.
Eli Roth And Quentin Tarantino Bonded Over Their Love For Horror Films
Eli Roth‘s works are mostly categorized as splatter films, a sub-genre within the horror genre. His earlier films were largely inspired by Quentin Tarantino‘s style of filmmaking. Roth got to meet with his idol when he was meeting a producer for his first directorial feature film Cabin Fever. He approached the director and told him about his movie aspiration. The Django Unchained director wished him luck for the film. Roth shared this first meeting story on the ReelBlend podcast:
“Quentin meant the world to me. I always call myself the original Tarantino rip-off. One of my first meetings on Cabin Fever with a producer, when I had a script, was at this restaurant Birds. And someone’s like, ‘Quentin Tarantino’s right over there.’ And I went over to him and like, ‘Sorry to bother you. I’m a huge fan. I’m trying to make a horror movie.’ He was like, ‘Oh man, good luck with that. Just go make a great movie.’ And that was it.”
KNB EFX Group, the American special effects company and frequent collaborator with Tarantino, worked on Roth’s Cabin Fever. The company put in a good word about Roth’s film to the Pulp Fiction director when they went on to work for Kill Bill. Tarantino came to the screening of the film and called the then-up-and-coming director “the future of horror” during his interview with Premiere Magazine in 2004 (via IMDb).
In his interview with ReelBlend, Roth shared that Tarantino treated him like a friend after his first film. As they got to know each other better, they realized that they had the same influences in filmmaking and both had a pure love for horror movies. For Roth, it was meeting “another alien” who speaks the same language of films as him. The Green Inferno director shared:
“He treated me like a friend. Like we grew up together in the video store. We had parallel childhoods and same influences. And he knew that my love of horror movies was so pure, just like his. So finally, it’s like meeting another alien on your same planet who speaks that same language as you. We could reference that movie, and that movie. It’s incredible. What Quentin has done for me, it’s more than a friend, it’s a brother, it’s a family member.”
Roth was just 21 when he directed Cabin Fever. His big break came after the release of the first film in the Hostel franchise in 2005. Tarantino was one of the executive producers of the film and the promotional material all carried the tag, “Quentin Tarantino Presents”, which significantly increased the film’s reach and credibility.
Eli Roth Made A Fake Trailer For Quentin Tarantino’s Film
In 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez released the double feature titled Grindhouse, which included the former’s film Death Proof and the latter’s Planet Terror. In an interview with EW, Eli Roth recalled the time when Quentin Tarantino called him and said, “Do you want to do a fake trailer [for Grindhouse]?” Eli Roth already had the exact idea for the fake yet convincing thriller, a concept he had developed with his friend Jeff Rendell.
This trailer later became the holiday slasher thriller, Thanksgiving, which was released last November during Thanksgiving week. He and Rendell shot the fake promo while filming for the second Hostel film. The 2023 film became a critical and commercial success for the director. Tarantino also gave him his best-remembered acting role, playing Donny Donowitz in Inglourious Basterds.
Eli Roth is infamous among certain sections of the audience for pushing the boundaries of horror films. His Hostel films were infamous for their explicit violence, while his film with Keanu Reeves, Knock Knock, was widely considered a disturbing film. Roth’s ex-wife, Lorenzo Izzo, starred alongside Ana de Armas as two women who try to seduce Reeves’s character in the erotic thriller.
Eli Roth’s new film, Borderlands, will hit theaters on August 9, 2024.
