free counter with statistics Eli Roth Wants To Remake Funhouse | Pajiba - Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People

elinoshame.jpg
He’s Not Giving In To Your Negativity Again

Eli Roth Wants To Remake Funhouse / Agent Bedhead

Trade News | June 10, 2009 | Comments (24)

Say what you will about Eli Roth (and you do), the man never rests upon his gory laurels. In the midst of producing Cotton and formulating his next two projects—Endangered Species, a sci-fi mass destruction flick, and Thanksgiving, a feature-length version of his Grindhouse faux-trailer—Roth also has designs on remaking Tobe Hooper’s 1982 flick, The Funhouse. Of course, this is sort of a non-news tidbit that’s buried towards the end of Fangoria’s recent two-part interview, during which Roth reimagines a more consistent version of The Funhouse:

“I’m talking with Universal about that one,” Roth reveals. “The Funhouse is a movie where the first half is brilliant—they set up these great characters—-and then they pay off none of them. You have Marco the Magician sawing his daughter in half, the brothers who run the carnival and the funhouse setting.

That initial set up sounds a lot like the halftime show at Roth’s very own bar mitzvah ceremony, but then he details a substantial diversion for the second half of the remake:

“And then it’s all about this weird mutant thing. It should be about the kids getting killed in horrible ways, put in different contraptions in the funhouse and the final girl being strapped into the ride and sent into the tunnels to be confronted by terrifying tableaux of her dead friends. A smart remake could be so much fun. Kill the kids in fabulous ways and continually reuse the bodies by making them freaks in the freak museum, sew their eyes shut, waxworks.”

Well, there are the unavoidable comparisons to the recent The House of Wax remake, but as long as Paris Hilton isn’t involved in Roth’s vision, a remake of The Funhouse should fare better in terms of dollars. Even if you don’t like his movies (though I gotta ask whether you’ve actually watched any of them), it’s hard to argue against a director who’s never lost money on a movie. Although, Roth does needs to saddle up and start directing one of these projects pretty soon, or some enterprising Palme d’Or director is gonna rope him into another acting gig.


← Worst Lays -- Fictional Movie Character Edition | Rob Cohen Directs Medieval →



Comments

Christ...someone hasn't shot him yet?

Posted by: DeistBrawler at June 10, 2009 5:34 PM

It should be about the kids getting killed in horrible ways, put in different contraptions in the funhouse

So, Saw, then.

Posted by: Anna von Beaverplatz at June 10, 2009 5:36 PM

And in response to your question I have seen Hostel and Cabin Fever...

Hostel disappointed me with its gore...the original Day of the Dead was ten times better.

As for making money...his budgets are shit...which explains why he can make crap movies and still gross money off of them.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at June 10, 2009 5:41 PM

"...it’s hard to argue against a director who’s never lost money on a movie. .."


Yup, it's an investors game, and this asshole delivers.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at June 10, 2009 5:57 PM

a director who’s never lost money on a movie.

I was under the impression that Grindhouse bombed... The Hostel movies are awesome... I'm glad you didn't shoot this remake down immediately like almost every other remake. Remakes are not made to ruin your childhood. Remakes are made to introduce a film to a whole new generation and why not? I would have been oblivious to the existence of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre if not for the 2003 movie. And I quite liked it. Sure the original is better and I'm not by any means saying that all remakes are good but I think most of them are not aimed at people who saw the original but introducing the film/franchise to new people. Shooting down a remake simply for being a remake is wrong. Give it a chance first.

My burning question remains. Can't studios make money by giving full releases to old films in theatres again instead of remaking them? Maybe they can remaster them to improve overall sound and picture but leave the original. It would be cheaper and both new kids and old fans could enjoy them. I would love to watch The Apartment on the big scren or the original Friday the 13th and so many movies which were produced before I was even born. Can anyone tell me why this does not happen?

Posted by: barf at June 10, 2009 6:06 PM

I get the creepiest feeling that Roth has a whopper of
a boner as he comes up with these "horrible ways".

Yeesh.

Posted by: Skitz at June 10, 2009 6:09 PM

Sounds like this gaymo was watching tv stoned or drunk and switched back and forth between Saw and House of a Thousand Corpses. Genius.

Posted by: Sad Rockstar at June 10, 2009 6:20 PM

I thought Hostel: Part II bombed horribly?

Posted by: Case at June 10, 2009 6:22 PM

Barf sounds like an executive at The Weinstein Co.

Bottom Line: REMAKES SUCK, THEY ARE MADE TO CREATE PROFIT

Posted by: Mijo at June 10, 2009 6:22 PM

"Shooting down a remake simply for being a remake is wrong. Give it a chance first..."

----------------------------------------------

I'll keep that in mind when McG decides to update The Godfather and Shamalamadindong decides to give Taxi Driver a surprise ending.

While we are at it, why don't we give some young up and coming "artiste" from The Village a shot at replacing the original Mona Lisa, just throw the original in the garbage.

See where I'm going? SHIT DOESN'T NEED TO GET REMADE! either come up with something NEW or let the current generation discover the originals. If they don't have the motivation to sit their asses down and watch/read/view/listen to the classics THEN FUCK THEM, they don't deserve it.

You know why? Because 99% of remakes are SHIT, garbage, soulless. Made by people who know fuck-all about what the original was all about.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at June 10, 2009 6:24 PM

^ Somebody's channeling Star Trek. Again.

Posted by: t at June 10, 2009 6:33 PM

According to BoxOfficeMojo

Hostel
Budget $4,800,000
Worldwide Gross $80,578,934

Hostel 2
Budget $10,200,000
Worldwide Gross $35,619,521

Cabin Fever
Budget 1,500,000
Worldwide Gross $30,553,394

Posted by: DeistBrawler at June 10, 2009 6:35 PM

^ Somebody's channeling Star Trek. Again.

Posted by: t at June 10, 2009 6:33 PM
--------------------------------------------

Nobody here is bringing up that particular film chief, except you trying to be an ass.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at June 10, 2009 6:38 PM

"REMAKES SUCK, THEY ARE MADE TO CREATE PROFIT"

Most movies are made to make a profit. That's why it's called the movie INDUSTRY. There are some movies which are true labours of love where the director don't care one bit about a movie's marketability but the truth is most movies are made for a profit.

"See where I'm going? SHIT DOESN'T NEED TO GET REMADE! either come up with something NEW or let the current generation discover the originals"

Sometimes it's not about getting off your ass and discovering the original. How can you do that if you have never heard of the original? How do you expect some young kid to discover a classic movie from the 40s if the media doesn't mention it. They would only mention it if it was getting remade.

I agree that most remakes are bad and feel useless. That's why my question is: why not instead of remake give a new lease of life to the original? put it in cinemas, posters, spanking new dvd etc. I know old films do get rereleased on DVD but why not go big with the rerelease instead of remaking the bloody thing?

Remakes can be good when they are a reimagining or reinerpretation. I once went to an art exhibition inspired by Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles D'Avignon It was all reimaginings and reinterpretations of this painitng. There were paintings, sculptures, video clips and art installations. It was fascinating. No one was suggesting throwing the original painting in the bin. It made us understand more and go back to the original painting to see how truly inspiring and great it actually is.

Posted by: barf at June 10, 2009 6:45 PM

I'm willing to give Eli Roth a free pass on most shit only because in his myspace artist on artist interview, he engineers the greatest potential films of all time: Farmaggedon and NASCAR Dog.

Posted by: Marra at June 10, 2009 6:50 PM

Was "Funhouse" the movie where the tagline was "You pay to get in, you pray to get out!"? Cause that one was hysterical. My friends and I used to watch bad horror movies all the time in high school that one ranked pretty high up there with the one about the snowman.

Posted by: ami at June 10, 2009 7:07 PM

@barf Eli Roth didn't make Grindhouse...that was Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. He just had a fake trailer at the beginning (Thanksgiving) which was awesome. IDK, The Funhouse was great for what it was back then, but I can see how so much more could have been done with it. And honestly, if you're going to remake something, make it better or don't make it at all.

Posted by: James at June 10, 2009 7:24 PM

I used to love sh*tting all over remakes until I read this comment thread. Now I see I have been keeping bad company.

So many good things are ruined by the people who enjoy them.

Posted by: Flea at June 10, 2009 8:27 PM

Great hairy Fatherpus, Sonopus and Holyghostopus, I believe I've seen "The Funhouse," and James is right, it could have been better. Not that I'm going to see a reboot, I'm just saying.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 10, 2009 8:55 PM

people take his movies way too seriously- I've seen worse gore on tv. Eli Roth movies are hilarious and fun- I love them! People need to lighten up.

Posted by: snarla at June 10, 2009 10:00 PM

Hmmm...well color me shock. Hostel II actually made a slight amount of bank. Well...Roth is still a bag of douches.

Posted by: Case at June 10, 2009 10:46 PM

I dont fuckin care what anyone says, Cabin Fever was a fucking entertaining movie for me.

Posted by: gilp at June 10, 2009 11:21 PM

I guess I'm just cursed with the ability to read between the lines.

Alas.

Posted by: t at June 10, 2009 11:50 PM

*sigh* well, here it is, my nightly "suck justification" (is my taste -really- so bad?)


i liked hostel 2.

*spoiler*
*SPOILER*, i say.

buying your way out was an unexpected loophole.

and "mischa, no!" was the absolute pinnacle of enjoyment for me, ever. EVER.

i own it. i watch it (and you know HOW i do it). and i'm not ashamed.

speaking of cabin fever, ryder strong tends to skeeve me out a bit. don't know why. but my therapist is working on it.

Posted by: gp at June 10, 2009 11:55 PM