Eli Roth returns to the big screen with the Keanu Reeves-headlined Knock Knock.
Someone with visions and ideas and imagination, Roth is certainly not short of some fascinating ideas.
Its hard to forget how good a filmCabin Feveractually is.
But it gives a lot of context as to where horror cinema was at the turn of the century.
The defining American horror movie of the 1990s is basicallyScream.
And whileScreamhas some violence in it, its not what youd call a super-violent movie.
The violence isnt the point, its all about Kevin Williamsons then-revolutionary script.
You laugh when people die.
But just look howCabin Feversquares up to those films.Cabin Feveris about a killer flesh eating virus.
Its a slasher film, without having an actual slasher in it.
Thats some clever sly subversion on the formula.
But more importantly, its really goddamn gory.
When someone gets killed in aScreamknock-off, they get stabbed and thats it.
Its a plot point.
The generation didnt have its Tom Savini or anything.
InCabin Feverbody parts slowly fall off.
Character deaths get a visceral reaction, rather than a laugh.
To other trashier films, thats a fair enough accusation, but its a reductive take on Roths films.
Its not a real country where people live.
Its about the world, and Americas place in it.ScreamandThe Facultyare just about other horror movies.
I wouldnt go that far, but its a worthwhile point.
The 90s were characterised by being about the most carefree decade in living memory.
For most people in the west, it was a time of relative peace and economic prosperity.
The biggest thing America had to worry about was the President sleeping with someone who wasnt his wife.
We had time to chill and discuss the wacky rules of horror movies.
The world became a darker a place, and darker entertainment was to be expected.
Theres another potential source of this violence though: foreign cinema.
It was only a matter of time before they broke through into mainstream American cinema.
And Eli Roth was an unashamed fan of extreme Asian cinema.
He gave Takashi Miike a cameo inHosteland acted in Fruit Chans J-horror remakeDont LookUp.
But hes still been a prominent face, pushing horror and genre cinema forward.
Hes delved into genre TV with NetflixsHemlock Grove.
And most importantly, hes helped other filmmakers get their films off the ground.
He producedThe Last Exorcism,Aftershock,andClown, and acted in the latter two.
