YES. All of the ridiculous '80s slasher flicks are more progressive than anything he's done. I think Hostel has interesting premise concerning the horrors of sex trafficking in Eastern Europe and paralleling it to the selling of tourists for torture/entertainment, but such material needs to be done with care and consideration and with a more than competent director at the helm. Along with that, such a film wouldn't need sequels, as the subject matter is horrific enough without turning it into a wretched franchise.

Yeah. I'm kind of pissed off because the IDEA is actually kind of great, but the execution is... eh. I think that's kind of the frustrating thing about him. He's not stupid, and he has some good ideas in there. They just get lost in all the id, and it's like no one will take him aside and tell him he's not making the movie he thinks he's making. I mean, yeah, there's something to be said for standing up for your works, but there's also something to be said for admitting there's a possibility you fucked up.

Also, yeah, Roth doesn't seem to realize when something is done. I know you don't like the Thanksgiving trailer, but I kind of thought it was good at what it was supposed to be -- which was basically just seeing how many times it could cross the line twice in four minutes, but whatever. But then he decided it needed to be made into a full-length movie. Which completely misses the point of the only thing that made the trailer successful, which was cramming all the over the top things in right together to shock you so much you became horrimused. As an actual movie, it wouldn't even be successful at that. (Although it does raise the question of if a filmmaker goes into a movie trying to make a bad movie and the movie is bad, was it successful?)

On the other hand, unlike above comments suggest, he's not actually involved in Hostel 3, afaik?

What made it hard for me to fully dislike him was that he has a vast knowledge of film, particularly the Italian film industry of the 1970s; reading interviews him was a pleasure as I was able to discover some great films (though he seemed to miss the points the films strived to make). I think Roth is capable of one day making a good film, as long he matures and learns some restraint. When Hostel 2 came out and bombed, he blamed it all on people downloading it, whining that we have PG-13 horror films because of them. Roth seems to fancy himself as a subversive, renegade director like those of the '70s (and like QT), so if there's a problem with his work or his attitude, it's not him, it's us.

I didn't terribly mind the trailer for Thanksgiving, but that knife-in-the-vag got to me. However, he absolutely the feel of a nasty grindhouse film from 1981 down perfectly (even the voice-over was perfect) and I loved Michael Biehn in it. And you're right, it would not work as a full-length film. Initially, there would be the fun of spotting all of the trailer moments in the film, but what else is he going to cram in there? It's basically going to be Roth at play with his imagination and pretending he's Fulci or Carpenter or even Sam Peckinpah (who was about as stunted as Roth, but a very talented man, which can make his films even more infuriating). Though such an attitude could make Thanksgiving successful, as long he goes into the project with the purpose of having fun with it instead of making a purposefully awful film with grotesque imagery. There are more than enough wanna-be schlocky horror films that are failures because they specifically force themselves to be campy schlock, instead of letting it happen naturally. It especially ruins the appeal when the actors are knowingly in on the joke.

After some googling, it indeed appears that Roth has no involvement in Hostel 3 and it may in fact end up straight-to-DVD (which would be hilarious if it turned out to be the best of the Hostel films).

I completely agree with this entire comment, and I think I need to step back from thinking about the ways in which Eli Roth frustrates the living hell out of me. Because it's like, if he weren't such a defensive fuck-up convinced he's on the CUTTING EDGE, he might actually be an all right dude. But instead, no. We got the Eli Roth of this universe. And I think I need to not indulge my hate crush. Or my actual "but he could be cool! someday!" crush that is currently in hiding but might come out again if i'm not careful.

I'm now transferring rage onto the list of big important Hollywood people in support of Polanski (who I LOVE as a director) and it's making my brain scream at me. I have a perfectly good early Eric Stoltz film that has finally been released on DVD (after taking care of an ancient vhs out of fear of losing it forever) and it could use some attention. My dad and I are very close and work at the same library, so I actually talked to him about these rage-inducing topics and while he agreed with me, he quite pleased that I'm outraged over all of this.

If your crush ever resurfaces, just remind yourself of FOURTH-WALL FREED CREATIVELY EMPOWERMENT.

Oh my god, that list is actualfax ENRAGING. Like, are fans the only people who know how to deal with someone making work they like also being a HORRIBLE PERSON? I mean, I know that it's hard to find someone who's your friend a horrible person but HE DRUGGED AND ANALLY RAPED A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL. HE PLED GUILTY AND THEN HE FLED THE COUNTRY. I'm not seeing the gray area here. Then again, Hollywood is basically rapeland sometimes, so I shouldn't be shocked.

YES. I know I shouldn't be shocked and bothered or surprised by all of this, but I am. I can be terribly naive, I suppose, but I like to think that people can easily agree that rape is a horrendous crime and that one must be punished for it. Your average French citizen can agree to that, including many of us internet weirdoes.

I've never cared for Debra Winger, so it's good to know I'm not missing out on anything by continuing to not like her.

I did get a good horrible laugh out of Woody Allen being the first name on the list on the ONTD post. That was just me having a heart attack and dying of not surprise.

The list has vindicated my dislike for quite a few of the so-called classy actors in Hollywood. Asia Argento was already falling out of my good graces for getting comically awful implants but her signing the petition has sealed the deal.