Director/producer/actor Eli Roth wants to return to his torture porn roots (Hostel, Hostel Part II). Though Roth had previously told Deadline.com’s Nikke Finke that he was ready to move from such gruesome tales, today he flipped-flopped and exclusively reported to Deadline that “old habits die hard.”
Clown is an upcoming horror flick Roth will likely serve as a producer on. Partners Jon Watts and Christopher D. Ford are set to direct and pen the script, respectively. Watts and Ford created a “mock trailer” for the movie which found its way onto YouTube and captured over 100,000 hits in a month and more importantly Roth’s attention. The concept is simple yet killer. When his son’s sixth birthday is looking gloom since the clown-for-hire doesn’t show up, a father puts on a clown suit that transforms him into a homicidal killer. The mock trailer is embedded above and it’s super creepy and I’m pretty stoked about it. Roth talked Cross Creek Pictures and Vertebra Films into financing a feature transfer.
Says Roth on Clown: “It’s new territory to make this a version of The Fly, where this guy can feel himself changing, blacking out only to find blood all over his clown suit. You’re sympathetic toward a monster until the monster actually takes over.” He continued to tell Deadline, “With horror, you have to live in the danger zone. People are hungry for the next Freddy Krueger, Michael Meyers or Jason Voorhees, and while that has to be earned, we think this cursed clown suit can do it. I am giving us permission to go as hard at this as possible. I know I said I was moving away from horror, but old habits die hard. You think you’re over certain kinds of music and then you hear a Dead Kennedys song and say, ‘Why did I stop listening, I love the Dead Kennedys.'”
Roth also has Aftershock, a thriller based on the aftermath of the February 27, 2010 Chilean earthquake, and a sci-fi flick Endangered Species waiting in the wings for theatrical releases. No word on when Clown will hit theatres, but I look forward to the real trailer to arrive.
[Via Deadline]