Eli Roth knows a thing or two about crafting a horror movie, which makes his seal of approval that much more coveted for the people behind “Dream Eater.”
His new Horror Section selection hits select theaters on Friday, and filmmaking trio Mallory Drumm, Alex Lee Williams and Jay Drakulic can proudly call the scary movie icon a peer after he stumbled upon their independent parasomnia/ sleepwalking film.
“When I saw the film, I was just really, really, really f–king scared. I was watching this, going, ‘This is the scariest movie I’ve seen in a long time.’ I would go out on a limb and say the last 15 minutes of this movie, I don’t think there is a scarier ending released in 2025,” Roth told TheWrap at an exclusive, early October screening. “I would put this movie up against any other movie; and these are great movies that the studios are making, we’ve got a fantastic year for original horror. But in terms of pure adrenaline rush … You can’t replicate it on a phone. You can’t replicate it on a TV. You have to see it in a theater. I had that adrenaline rush where I was dreading what was going to happen next. My palms were sweating.”
The director himself is responsible for beloved horror movies like “Cabin Fever,” “Hostel,” “The Green Inferno,” “Knock Knock” and “Thanksgiving,” just to name a few. However, he had to get his start somewhere — so he also made sure to highlight the people who helped give him his start.
“Look, there were filmmakers that supported me very early on that really took me seriously as a director: David Lynch, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Rodriguez, Sam Raimi,” he shared. “When those people that inspired you take you seriously and respond to your work, it’s just the most incredible feeling in the world, nothing else matters. I was dead-ass broke at 30 because I put everything into trying to make ‘Cabin Fever.’ I know that feeling of ‘I don’t care what happens’ … if I can make my movie, nothing else matters.”
That’s a mindset he shares with the “Dream Eater” team, who opted to cast themselves as main characters Mallory and Alex.
“I thought they had made it for $1.5 million, $2 million. When they told me they made the movie for $50,000 Canadian/$40,000 USD, my jaw was on the floor,” Roth noted. “Those kinds of filmmakers are why I created The Horror Section. It’s to help put on filmmakers like this and help them get the attention where a movie like this could very easily have gotten lost. If I’m in the position to put this in a theater so that I can give people the experience that I got seeing ‘Blair Witch,’ ‘Paranormal Activity,’ ‘Rec’ or even ‘Last Exorcism,” that’s exactly what this is all about.”
“I think horror fans really respond to authenticity and they know when someone truly loves the genre and when something is innovative and creative,” he concluded. “I believe in them as filmmakers, I think they’re going to have a long and incredible career … They’re true filmmakers and they have an incredible voice, and they deserve it.”
“Eli Roth Presents Dream Eater” is now playing in select theaters.
