110+ Eli Roth Quotes On Religion, Culture And Writing

Eli Roth is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He is known for his horror films, such as Cabin Fever, Hostel, and The Green Inferno, as well as his contributions to the film Grindhouse. Roth has also directed several episodes of the Netflix series Hemlock Grove and the horror-comedy series The Last Exorcism Part II. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Eli Roth on life, religion, culture.

Top 10 Eli Roth Quotes

1. Much of my youth was spent in the parking lot or inside a Dunkin' Donuts.
2. I've always dreamed of having a year-round haunted house.
3. Anytime you're the first to speak out against something, there's going to be a backlash.
4. I've always been fascinated by the idea that there's no such thing as evil; it's all in your point of view. To one group a suicide bomber is the antichrist and to one he's a hero.
5. I think horror should never be safe, whether it's violent or non violent.
6. You know, the best thing you can say about a horror film is, 'Don't see it.'
7. When I was filming the death scene [in Inglourious Basterds], and I'm killing somebody, I had to work myself up.
8. I knew how to act and had studied acting and enjoyed it, but I'd never pushed myself to really perform as an actor, and create a role, and have the whole character's backstory.
9. Twitter is wonderful. You can kill rumours instantly.
10. Quentin Tarantino faced the same backlash when his films came out until eventually people felt they were actually much smarter.

Eli Roth Short Quotes

• All the copycat movies were always PG-13 and people said: "Nobody wants violence."
• Sometimes you have this tragedy which turns into an incredible opportunity.
• If someone gets up and walks out of the movie, it means it's really affected them.
• If you don’t want to be scared in a horror film, don’t close your eyes. Close your ears.
• When I go see an R-rated horror movie, I want lots of violence.
• It's very flattering to feel like you actually helped create a sub-genre.
• What is important to me is that people know I respect the business of making movies.
• What's important for me is staying healthy.
• When people direct insults at me, I can take it.
• I generally follow my own compass and make films about what's scaring me.

Eli Roth Quotes About Life

I want an iPhone 5, someone said something nasty on twitter, or my boyfriend isn't texting me back, like whatever the thing is that seems so major in your life, when a real disaster hits you suddenly strips it all away and you see what's really important and who you really are. — Eli Roth

Life is a series of avoiding horrible situations until ultimately you're dead. That's how I feel about things. — Eli Roth

The film, 'Aftershock,' for me is really about how the minor problems in life that we think are so major ultimately mean nothing when a tragedy happens, when a real problem happens. — Eli Roth

I think in life we get very caught up in the minutia and, unfortunately, it generally takes some sort of tragedy in your life to put things in perspective. — Eli Roth

One of the great joys of life, now that you can afford a nice suit, is getting one for free. That's why I like to do press tours - I always say making movies is just an excuse to get free clothing. — Eli Roth

Natural disasters are terrifying - that loss of control, this feeling that something is just going to randomly end your life for absolutely no reason is terrifying. But, what scares me is the human reaction to it and how people behave when the rules of civility and society are obliterated. — Eli Roth

Eli Roth Quotes About Culture

Possession and exorcism is something that’s in every religion and every culture. It’s a real primal fear: Is the body a vessel for our spirits? What happens if something else takes over it? Where does the spirit go? — Eli Roth

I want a movie that 30 years from now, people can look back and see it as a reflection of where the culture was at - as a barometer of the culture. — Eli Roth

Hopefully we'll get to a point where people realize movies don't cause violence. It just reflects the violence going on in the culture. — Eli Roth

Eli Roth Quotes About Writing

You have to write scenes and design scenes that are scary and horrific, but that are also watchable. I didn't want people to just feel like they got punched in the stomach. — Eli Roth

I've realized that I can't multitask in the writing department; I can only kind of do one thing at a time. — Eli Roth

I have the infinite galaxy from '2001 as my screensaver - so if I space out while I'm writing and it goes to screensaver, I can just stare off into the stars. — Eli Roth

I have so many different projects, I hear voices in my head - the characters talking all at once - and I have to write to make them stop. — Eli Roth

Creative writing and shooting are muscles that atrophy. But when you work them, you become a self-generator who can branch out. — Eli Roth

Once I got over the fear of writing female characters, it actually came quite easily and I was really happy with it. I just thought about girls I knew really, really well and I'd just have conversations with them and tried to relay how they talk about certain things. — Eli Roth

I look at careers like Ben Stiller and think that's a great career to have where you're doing movies that you write and direct, and also act in films, although he's primarily an actor. — Eli Roth

Eli Roth Quotes About Love

With 'Hostel II' I thought I had a very, very strong female audience so I'm going to make a movie that's going to appeal to them. The guys will love it, they'll have their moments. But there'll be a lot more male nudity in this one. I have a lot of sausage in this one! — Eli Roth

You can't help but be influenced by the things you love. Read more at: https://tr.im/ezGbq — Eli Roth

I've always wanted to make a big apocalypse movie. I love 28 Weeks Later, I think it's great but Cell is totally different. It's about people's dependence on technology, the collapse of society and watching everything fall apart. That's something I've always wanted to do, which I believe it can! — Eli Roth

My parents love it! They're on set. They make cameos in the movie. My father is a psycho-analyst and a professor at Harvard and he told me how many of the other professors at Harvard have gone and seen it. They love 'Hostel' and they love the thought behind it. — Eli Roth

I love movies that have that resonating scare, that really get under your skin and make you think. — Eli Roth

I'd love to see us get to a point where you can make a movie and not worry about the limits of the violence. Then I think they'd get so violent that people would get bored of it. — Eli Roth

Imagine trying to relive your worst break-up, your worst fight, the most painful death of a loved one, and just really relive it step by step, and bring it up and apply it to the scene you're in. — Eli Roth

I love historical movies. I want to make a violent medieval epic. — Eli Roth

Believe it or not, but I was a camp councilor for three years. I love kids. — Eli Roth

I love movies that are just straight-up exploitation, but the ones that endure and the ones that last are the ones where the filmmakers put in that extra level of thought; after 25 years you put them on in front of an audience, and they'll respond to it and enjoy it. — Eli Roth

Eli Roth Famous Quotes And Sayings

I think that many people are ashamed when they feel afraid. There's this thing in our society that you're not allowed to feel scared. You have to be a man and put on a brave face, but we all have fears. — Eli Roth

I always say that no matter what the torture is, or the tool is, first of all it's nothing worse than what's been done already and that wasn't done by the church and the state for over a period of 250 years during the European witch trials. — Eli Roth

There's something very scary about exposing yourself on camera, knowing that you're going to be put on thousands of screens around the world for everyone to judge, but there's also something very thrilling and exciting about it. — Eli Roth

Horror is like comedy. Woody Allen's comedy is going to be very different from Ben Stiller's comedy which is going to be different from Adam Sandler's comedy which is going to be different from Judd Apatow's comedy. They're all comedy, but they're all very different types and you can enjoy all of them. Horror is the same way. — Eli Roth

I have control issues. For sure, no question. — Eli Roth

Horror audiences don't need to see some TV actor they're familiar with. — Eli Roth

'Eraserhead' is a weird, horrible nightmare, and it doesn't narratively make sense. Stuff's happening, but you honestly feel like you're in a nightmare, and it has such disturbing imagery that it stays with you forever once you've seen it. — Eli Roth

It's the difference between hunting a lion and hunting a deer. If someone hunts a lion, it's like: "Wow, they're brave!" But if they're hunting a deer it's like: "That poor deer!" I know that. I know that guys getting killed is horrible but people have seen it before. You've seen The Evil Dead. With girls, it's like: "I don't want to see that happening..." I know that. — Eli Roth

The point of the first one was that it was about guys being lured by sex and the stereotypes... I always say it's like a horror version of Borat. Borat's not an accurate depiction of Khazakstan, it's an accurate depiction of America. That's what Hostel is. — Eli Roth

As a kid, I was the neighbourhood baby-sitter - very responsible, always in charge. — Eli Roth

You know, I'm from Boston, and in Boston, you are born with a baseball bat in your hand. — Eli Roth

I never put out a vanilla edition of a DVD. — Eli Roth

If you are having fun on the set, you are not getting things done. — Eli Roth

Even the European critics... They said Hostel is the smartest film they'd seen on capitalism and how it's gone too far. — Eli Roth

I feel like in the '90s, horror just lost its way and everything became so safe and watered-down. — Eli Roth

Everybody has to know where they're coming from, what they're doing, why they're doing it, who they are. These are essentials. — Eli Roth

You'd be lucky to get tortured to death in one of my films. It's the best thing that could happen to your career. But I'm very aware that as soon as you put women in this situation, all of a sudden people are like: "Wow, well wait a second!" Immediately, people become very sensitive to it. — Eli Roth

'Troll 2' is one of the rare sequels where you don't have to waste time watching the first one, since the films have absolutely nothing to do with one another. — Eli Roth

When I'm filming a kill scene [as a director], I just get happier and happier as we chop up body parts. — Eli Roth

I was listening to music to kind of pump myself up and get psyched up, like I was listening to Iron Maiden and Misfits and Dead Kennedys, and it was like my '80s Massachusetts parking-lot heavy metal and Guns N' Roses. — Eli Roth

One of the great elements of the supernatural is having that mystery and letting people's imaginations run wild with it. — Eli Roth

Everyone is so terrified of being labeled a racist. — Eli Roth

I think filmmakers, in general... There are some awesome, really great filmmakers - but on the whole, filmmakers, actors, I think they are the biggest bunch of whiny, over-paid babies on the planet. — Eli Roth

I started the film [Hostel Part II]with the girls in an art class and there's a nude male model. People think that women are objectified, well here you go! Here's a man being objectivized but now it's under the guise of art. — Eli Roth

Borat shows American stereotypes of Eastern Europe but it's an accurate depiction of what a certain type of American is. They think they can buy and sell these girls and then they get bought and sold. — Eli Roth

I want to have an ending where people say: "That's the most shocking ending I've ever seen in a mainstream horror film." — Eli Roth

I want it to be able to hold up in 30 years' time. So, I'm really thinking about everything. — Eli Roth

The one negative to horror is that it's always law of diminishing returns. When you go in the funhouse, the ride is never scary the second time. You will never have that pure experience as when you first watch it. — Eli Roth

If I don't come home covered head to toe in fake blood then I haven't done my job as a horror director. — Eli Roth

Look at comic books. It used to be something that only geeks were into. And now it's everywhere. — Eli Roth

As a kid, my idols were Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, and I get into crazy races with myself. Raimi was 21 when he made movies, and when I didn't get 'Cabin Fever' made that fast I thought I'd failed. — Eli Roth

Shooting at Quentin Tarantino movie was like a masterclass in directing. Although I went back literally right into rehearsal, started shooting... while I was doing it I had to write my Grindhouse trailer and I added two days of shooting. My brother was producing Hostel and the Grindhouse trailer and I was like: "Gabe, just figure this out!" — Eli Roth

I'm from Boston, and in Boston, you are born with a baseball bat in your hand. And actually, most of the bats in Massachusetts are used off the field instead of on the field, and we all had baseball bats in our cars in high school. — Eli Roth

Quentin [Tarantino] called me and said: "Yeah, you've got to be in my movie. You've got to be in Death Proof." But he made me audition. I was like: "Dude, I don't even want to do this..." So I left the casting of Hostel: Part II to drive to Venice, where Quentin was holding his casting, and the person ahead of me was Derek Richardson from Hostel 1 and he was like: "Dude, what are you doing here?" I said: "Don't ask!" — Eli Roth

Even post-WWII, nobody talked about the Holocaust. It wasn't until the '50s that people started talking about it. — Eli Roth

I don't want people to feel: "Why am I watching this? It's sick and sadistic." I want people to watch and think it's scary but they can't wait to see what happens next. I also wanted to make a movie that was watchable. — Eli Roth

Movie stars need to retain some of that mystique if you are a big movie star. — Eli Roth

We live in an age now where so many people watch movies based on what Netflix recommends. It learns your taste and they really understand viewer habits. — Eli Roth

I think you should make movies as long as the story dictates. — Eli Roth

I want people to see my name on a movie, pay money and know they're going to be entertained for 90 minutes. — Eli Roth

I need to eliminate 'like' from my vocabulary. I begin sentences with, 'That's seriously like ' I hear myself talking in this Los Angeles high-school student kind of way, and I hate it. — Eli Roth

I'm not interested in going after a part. I think if someone wants me for a part and approaches me then I'll take it on a case-by-case basis and see what that part is. — Eli Roth

'Beatrice Cenci' was an amazing film. If it were released today it'd win Best Picture. It's so well done, it's so contemporary, and the filmmaking is so smart. — Eli Roth

Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or and people said: "Wait a minute, he's actually smart and he knows what he's doing!" I feel that with Hostel, any time you make a film like that it's going to illicit a strong reaction and you can't worry about that. — Eli Roth

My phobias worsen as I get older. I'm scared of flying, driving. I'm terrified of sharks. I'm a germaphobe. But I try to face my fears; I do. Well, most of them. — Eli Roth

I hear what people say, I read all the reviews, all the blogs, and I am always curious to hear it, because you can't always listen to the good press, you have to hear the bad press, too. — Eli Roth

I think that horror films have a very direct relationship to the time in which they're made. The films that really strike a film with the public are very often reflecting something that everyone, consciously or unconsciously feeling - atomic age, post 9-11, post Iraq war; it's hard to predict what people are going to be afraid of. — Eli Roth

There's fear in everything, but we can't just succumb to that. We have to suppress it, so we get used to suppressing fear to make it through the our day. Otherwise, we'd become paralyzed by them. — Eli Roth

Horror movies are the best date movies. There's no wondering , 'When do I put my arm around her?' — Eli Roth

Well, anytime I make a movie, I like to load it up with more things than you could ever catch on the first viewing. — Eli Roth

For the fee of $10,000, anyone could be escorted to a room, handed a loaded gun and offered another human to kill. The concept made me nauseous. But it also felt real, and rang bells with my more cynical side. — Eli Roth

I have no tattoos. There's nothing I've even been that into to get a tattoo of it. — Eli Roth

Anytime you make a movie, the goal is a wide theatrical release, with the right distributor. — Eli Roth

Chile could work as a double for L.A.; it's very production-friendly and there's terrific talent down there. — Eli Roth

So when I was beating the guy, I started thinking, 'What if I was Hannah Montana?' . . . And little do they know that that's why I look so insane . . . I'm torturing myself with thoughts of, 'How could I actually pull off being a high school student and a pop star at night?' — Eli Roth

I think in a post-9/11 world, with the images coming back from Iraq, everybody knows more and more people who are going over there... the images on the YouTube phenomenon where the violence is so immediate. Direct people need something stronger to respond to. I think that there's definitely a wave of directors - who are labelled the splat pack - who really, really care about making great scary movies. — Eli Roth

I like movies like 'Mother's Day', where you watch it, and you've liked it for years as a horror movie. — Eli Roth

People want to be disturbed when they go see a horror movie. — Eli Roth

I have a strong art-history background. — Eli Roth

A comedy can actually get funnier and funnier. Even though you know the joke, you enjoy it so much, it's the facial expression, you laugh. The laugh doesn't wear off. It could be with you for thirty years. — Eli Roth

I love movies. I mean, I really, really love movies. — Eli Roth

I felt people responded to two things. One, obviously, is the gore and the scenes like the eye gauging. — Eli Roth

I get a little too obsessive with work. — Eli Roth

In musical theater, if you have a song, it has to advance the plot. If you have a song in a musical and it does not advance the plot, it gets dropped. — Eli Roth

Hopefully we'll get to a point where there are absolutely no restrictions on any kind of violence in movies. I'd love to see us get to a point where you can go to theaters and see movies unrated and that people know its not real violence. It's all pretend. It's all fake. It's just acting. It's just magic tricks. — Eli Roth

I can think of endless horrible things to do to people! — Eli Roth

I saw Alien when I was 8 years old. To me, it was like a combination of Jaws and Star Wars and that's the movie that made me want to be a director. — Eli Roth

When you're making a television show, it's about the story and arc of the show rather than any particular episode or director. — Eli Roth

It's just assumed that a horror sequel is going to be bad. It's never going to be as good as the first one. — Eli Roth

When I go see an R-rated horror movie, I want lots of violence. I want nudity. I want sex and violence mixed together. What's wrong with that? Am I the only one? I don't think so. — Eli Roth

You can pretend everything's fine, but if there's an unhappiness or you're not having sex or you're not communicating or you're made to feel third best in the house and you don't address it and you just try to put on a nice face and a smile, that kind of aggression and anger is going to come out in some sinister way. — Eli Roth

Life Lessons by Eli Roth

1. Eli Roth's work emphasizes the importance of taking risks and pushing boundaries in order to create something unique and memorable.
2. He also shows that a successful career in filmmaking requires dedication, hard work, and an understanding of the industry.
3. Finally, Roth's work demonstrates that horror can be a powerful tool for exploring complex themes and ideas.