Spring Break
Internet sparks 'Hostel' idea for violent horror film
Writer/director Eli Roth sits down to discuss how other film industry friends turned an idea into 'action!'
By Jeremy Reynolds/Features Writer
Issue date: 1/11/06 Section: Entertainment
Writer/director Eli Roth came up with the idea for his first film "Cabin Fever" after getting a flesh-eating virus in Iceland and taking off half his face while shaving one morning. His second film comes from something darker.
Friend Harry Knowles, during a late-night conversation, turned Roth onto a Web site where he found the inspiration for what later would become the film "Hostel."
"We were talking about the sickest thing you could possibly find on the Internet," Roth said.
And then they found it.
"Something that went beyond the usual bestiality, skateboarding accidents or even those two Japanese girls vomiting into each other's mouth in a bathtub."
Somewhere deep in the heart of Thailand was a business that thrived on society's fetish for fear and adrenaline. For a fee of $10,000, anyone who was so willing could be escorted into a room, handed a loaded weapon and then given another human being to kill.
"It made me sick because it's true," Roth said. "Somewhere out there is someone so bored, and hookers and drugs just don't get them off anymore."
The Web site stated that the practice was legal because the victims participated at their own freewill. They were supposedly desolate, poverty-stricken people who had families starving to death. Sacrificing themselves was the only way for them to make enough money to help their loved ones survive.
"The Web site made it sound as if the prospective killers were benefactors, like they were doing a service for the victims by way of this bizarre life insurance scheme," Roth said.
The Web site, along with an idea about backpackers being lost in a foreign land, stayed with Roth. He said shortly after "Cabin Fever" hit theaters, becoming the top-grossing film of the year for Lion's Gate Pictures, he began getting offers for other films.
"The stories were good, but the scripts sucked," Roth said.
One day, while chitchatting with fellow writer/director Quentin Tarantino, Roth gave him the idea about "Hostel" and he said the response from Mr. "Pulp Fiction" was immediate.
Friend Harry Knowles, during a late-night conversation, turned Roth onto a Web site where he found the inspiration for what later would become the film "Hostel."
"We were talking about the sickest thing you could possibly find on the Internet," Roth said.
And then they found it.
"Something that went beyond the usual bestiality, skateboarding accidents or even those two Japanese girls vomiting into each other's mouth in a bathtub."
Somewhere deep in the heart of Thailand was a business that thrived on society's fetish for fear and adrenaline. For a fee of $10,000, anyone who was so willing could be escorted into a room, handed a loaded weapon and then given another human being to kill.
"It made me sick because it's true," Roth said. "Somewhere out there is someone so bored, and hookers and drugs just don't get them off anymore."
The Web site stated that the practice was legal because the victims participated at their own freewill. They were supposedly desolate, poverty-stricken people who had families starving to death. Sacrificing themselves was the only way for them to make enough money to help their loved ones survive.
"The Web site made it sound as if the prospective killers were benefactors, like they were doing a service for the victims by way of this bizarre life insurance scheme," Roth said.
The Web site, along with an idea about backpackers being lost in a foreign land, stayed with Roth. He said shortly after "Cabin Fever" hit theaters, becoming the top-grossing film of the year for Lion's Gate Pictures, he began getting offers for other films.
"The stories were good, but the scripts sucked," Roth said.
One day, while chitchatting with fellow writer/director Quentin Tarantino, Roth gave him the idea about "Hostel" and he said the response from Mr. "Pulp Fiction" was immediate.
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