Movies
Eli Roth Updates ‘Thanksgiving’ and more
Arriving in theaters August 21 from Universal Pictures and the Weinstein Company is Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. One of the main stars of the film is horror maestro Eli Roth, who plays a Nazi killer by the name of “Bear Jew.” This afternoon B-D’s own BD caught up with the director of Cabin fever and Hostel who updated us on a few of his forthcoming projects, including his feature-film version of Thanksgiving, the faux trailer in QT and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse.
Out promoting his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (which is QT’s best film in over a decade), Eli Roth dropped a few bits concerning Thanksgiving, which has been talked about quite a bit lately.
“My co-writer Jeff [Rendell] just landed yesterday in Los Angeles. He flew out for the premiere and so we can finish the script, Eli tells us adding that it won’t be coming anytime in the near future. “I don’t want to do it as my next film but I want to get the script finished. The sci-fi film, Endangered Species, is what I’m doing next.”
He also stresses that he has no direct involvement with Hostel 3. “No, I’m done. Somebody will, that was part of the deal – that they were allowed to continue doing them without me. And that’s what the fans want, clearly there’s a demand for it. But I have left it to go on to other things.”
In the meantime, Eli fans can check out Inglourious Basterds on August 21st – it might not be a horror film, but it’s a damn good one.
In the wake of Backrooms and Obsession, everyone is prowling YouTube for horror shorts to adapt and horror filmmakers to scoop up, so don’t be surprised to see a whole bunch of upcoming articles about YouTube success stories crossing over into theaters. One horror short that’s already been picked up for expansion is Dolly director Rod Blackhurst’s Alone Time.
The 12-minute short was uploaded in 2014 and has amassed nearly 2 million views at the time of this article being written, and Deadline reports that it’s getting a feature adaptation.
Witchcraft Motion Picture Company & Fever Dream will turn the viral short into a feature film.
Alone Time follows Ann Saunders, a young NY professional whose carefully constructed life begins to unravel following a devastating personal loss. “Seeking refuge from a collapsing relationship, a deteriorating family situation, and mounting emotional trauma, Ann reluctantly joins her closest friend on a remote camping trip deep in the Adirondack wilderness.”
The synopsis continues, “When her friend mysteriously disappears, Ann becomes convinced that an unseen figure is stalking her through the forest. What begins as a survival nightmare slowly transforms into something far more disturbing as fractured memories, conflicting realities, and hidden truths force Ann to confront the possibility that the greatest threat may not be lurking in the woods at all, but buried deep within her own psych.”
“Alone Time has quietly followed me for over a decade,” director Rod Blackhurst said in a statement. “What began as a short film about isolation and the weight of life now feels more relevant than ever. The original short found its audience organically online long before that was considered a legitimate path for filmmakers. Bringing it to life as a feature allows us to explore those themes on a much larger and more psychologically unsettling canvas.”
Blackhurst is directing the feature length expansion.
You can watch the original Alone Time short film below.