Best Eli Roth Movies Ranked After Ice Cream Man

Eli Roth is back with yet another entry in the horror genre with Ice Cream Man. His latest film follows a suburban town that’s thrust into chaos after a mysterious ice cream man appears. The movie can be watched in theaters now, with an expected digital release likely coming sometime after.

For Roth, this is his 12th major film in a career that spans a ton of different genres. However, Roth has always stayed true to the world of horror, with most of his films taking place in the genre. Although Ice Cream Man doesn’t exactly make the cut, we’ve narrowed down Roth’s five best movies to celebrate the new release, and take a look back at his extensive career.

Best Eli Roth movies, ranked

5) The House with a Clock in Its Walls

Starting off this list without a horror movie seems funny, but The House with a Clock in Its Walls is genuinely one of Roth’s best works. The movie is based on the 1973 book by John Bellairs and written by The Boys’ Eric Kripke, and admittedly does feel out of place in Roth’s larger body of work. However, it’s still a fun time, and captures the tone of classic “children’s horror” movies of the 1980s, complete with some great character roles from Jack Black and Cate Blanchett.

It may not be for everyone, but it’s an accessible movie to the world of Roth, and never takes itself too seriously. It may not be anything too original, but it still succeeds at what it’s trying to do, and Roth deserves some credit for stepping out of his comfort zone for it.

4) Cabin Fever

Roth’s directorial debut still stands the test of time as one of his best. In 2002, Roth released Cabin Fever, following a group of college students who rent a cabin in the woods, and then things go absolutely wild. Much like most of Roth’s work, the film was extremely divisive upon release, but horror fans clung to it for its use of gore and weird tone that carried throughout the movie.

On top of that, the movie is also a great piece of storytelling. The main threat in the movie seems to be a flesh-eating virus at first. However, the real monster by the end is the humans in the movie, who become consumed with distrust and fear of one another. It’s something that’s been done in horror before, but rarely so well as here.

3) Hostel: Part II

Hostel: Part II came fairly quickly after the major success of the first film (more on that soon). Roth released the movie just two years after the first, and stepped things up even further. Like most horror sequels, Hostel: Part II takes everything the first movie did and turns it up to 11. The movie features even wilder effects, even more elaborate setups for scenes, but also manages to separate itself from the first in some key ways.

The first Hostel followed a group of guys being taken into a trafficking situation. The second movie largely features a female cast, with Roth even calling it a feminist horror movie back during its release. While that claim is up in the air, the movie does feature a ton of women kicking ass to some degree, and delivers on the thrill of taking everything from the first movie and giving us even more.

2) Hostel

As far as movies go, Hostel could easily be the top spot here. No movie has likely done more to damage the reputation of a hostel than this one, and no movie has likely catapulted Roth’s career in such a way either. The 2005 movie was a major success for Roth, and still sits as his highest-earning horror feature to date. For fans of Roth, it’s also undoubtedly ranked as either his best or second-best movie, and for good reason.

The movie follows a group of American tourists who are lured into a hotel in Slovakia, before being taken into a torture-focused trafficking ring. What follows is a movie made for the purest of horror fans, as Hostel sinks pretty far down in extreme effects and tone. It’s memorable for that alone, but the “final guy,” played by Jay Hernandez, provides some great moments toward the end of the film, with the movie actually featuring a satisfying ending for audiences, which is surprising given the general tone of it throughout.

1) Thanksgiving

For my money, no Roth movie has quite reached the highs that Thanksgiving has. Originally conceived as a spoof trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 Grindhouse movie, Thanksgiving is a classic take on the ancient slasher genre. The movie follows a small, quiet town that’s besieged by a killer who dons a John Carver mask. What follows is a movie that pulls no punches, and hilariously leans into every Thanksgiving trope you could possibly think of with a horror twist.

Of course, some of the standout moments in Thanksgiving are the kills. This includes an absolutely brutal sequence that takes place during a store’s Black Friday sales event, as well as a dinner scene reveal that was originated in the 2007 spoof trailer, but is ratcheted up in the feature film to truly outrageous degrees. The movie’s plot is also serviceable as far as slashers go, and it quickly became a classic for the season. At the very least, it’s a better Thanksgiving horror movie to put on than Thankskilling.

Source: Comingsoon.net