Killer Reviews got to share some time and space with producer, director, writer and actor Eli Roth last week while he was town to curate a screening of a film at the Bell Lightbox Theatre in Toronto.  Eli spent 30-minutes discussing horror, his projects and thoughts on a variety of topics.  Here is just a brief sampling of some of his thoughts:

On which cannibal movie is his favorite
“For me, it is Cannibal Holocaust.  It is the one that holds up. It’s so compellingly real, so horrifying disturbing.”

About the possibility of there ever being a sequel to Cannibal Holocaust
“Deodato has been talking for years about a sequel to Cannibal Holocaust.  I think it is just a matter of funding”

On his fascination of cannibals
“I think it is the last boundary that is still repulsive to people.  I think that we have become so technologically connected …that the idea that there are parts of the world that are uncontaminated is fascinating to me.”

On whether Eli Roth is still working on The Funhouse remake?
“The Funhouse remake is kind of on hold at the moment.  We haven’t really quite cracked the script in a way that anyone is quite happy with it.  There is a script that we can go and shoot, and the kills are fun, but we aren’t quite there with the stories.

On The Man With The Iron Fists
“I wrote it with RZA and Russell Crowe is in it.  It has the feel of my other films, but it is a different genre for me and I don’t even know how to call it.  We set out trying to make a Kung-fu, Hip-Hop, Star Wars…it’s as weird as it’s out. It’s really fun and insane.”

On using the internet and other technology to promote a project still in production
“I think there is going to be a pull back.  I think [filmmakers] try and hold back as much as possible.  I think we can reach fans in a different way [and fans want to be kept in the dark].”

On Goretorium opening this September in Las Vegas
“I am so excited.  Every year in Los Angeles, they do these haunts.  At Universal, they did this thing called Universal Horror Nights.  There are these incredible incredible mazes where you walk through and it was like being in the movie.  And I remember like 12 years ago, even before the movie came out, they had a House of 1,000 Corpses maze.  And it was the scariest most tense experiences I have ever been through.  There was people getting chopped up and bodies and I was like ‘I gotta do one of these’.  So I talked to them about doing a Hostel maze.  I gave them the set designs, construction, props, everything and it was like, being in the movie.  But I can up with new stuff.  Like ‘how about a meat grinder’?  We had people fainting and puking and pissing.  They were getting between 2,000 and 2,100 people an hour going through. It was crazy.  So for years, I wanted to do a year round haunted house.   So with this other partner we found some space [on Las Vegas Boulevard] and we are putting a lot of money into building the most high-tech terrifying [attraction possible].  We are going to even have a zombie feeding.”

On the possibility of Thanksgiving (a faux trailer Eli did for the Planet Terror/Death Proof films) ever happening
“Actually, my co-writer Jeff Riedell who played the Pilgrim in the trailer – we kind of buckled down a few months ago and cracked the story and there are two writers who are close to [signing a deal to come on].  I can’t not make it.  It’s one of those ideas that won’t let you go to sleep. [I literally can’t die before making it] and those are the ideas that I listen to.  If I don’t …my life is a failure.  I have to do it.”

On what movie posters he has in his basement where he watches movies
“Eaten Alive, Cannibal Ferox, Manhattan Baby, Cannibal Holocaust”

What he sees as the next wave of horror films
“It is impossible to predict these things.  I don’t think about what is coming next.  Just about what I want to see”