Eli Roth blasts studio system after Borderlands failure

Eli Roth says studio interference turned his $120 million video game adaptation Borderlands into a film that “belonged to nobody”.

The 53-year-old horror director – best known for directing cult horror films including Hostel, Cabin Fever and The Green Inferno – hit out as he explained why he has abandoned the traditional studio system in favour of independently financing and releasing his latest ultraviolent feature Ice Cream Man.

Eli also told Variety the commercial failure of Borderlands in 2024 convinced him to take full creative control of his future projects.

The adaptation of the hit video game franchise starred Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt and Edgar Ramírez among others, but struggled with audiences and critics following its release.

Eli’s comments come as Ice Cream Man prepares for its US cinema release on 7 August through his independent production and distribution company, The Horror Section, which he founded in 2025 as part of a move towards lower-budget, filmmaker-owned horror productions.

Speaking about Borderlands, Eli told Variety: “As things grow bigger, studios just naturally become more risk averse.

“My nature as a filmmaker is to do the thing that’s left of center, because that’s what has worked for me.”

Eli also said the pressure to secure a PG-13 rating fundamentally altered the finished film.

He added: “You got something that belonged to nobody.

“It’s not a kids’ movie, but it’s trying to appeal to everybody. It’s for gamers, but it doesn’t have the violence the gamers want because it can’t be that extreme because it costs too much. You just wind up with a movie that’s neither fish nor fowl.”

The director said his latest film represents the opposite approach. Ice Cream Man centres on children who become homicidal after eating ice cream, with Eli saying the concept emerged from a disturbing twist on the story of the Pied Piper.

He said: “I thought, what if it’s like the Pied Piper, and the ice cream truck music triggers a Pavlovian response?

“I had this image of the kids killing their parents and teachers and then eating more and more ice cream.”

Unlike Borderlands, Ice Cream Man has been produced outside the studio system.

Eli financed the film’s reported $5.5 million budget largely through foreign pre-sales and tax credits after shooting in Canada. The film will be released without an age rating, allowing the filmmaker to avoid negotiations over violent content.

The Horror Section plans to release between two and four horror films each year in cinemas, with Stiletto scheduled for release later this year, followed by Don’t Go in That House, Bitch!, a horror project that will reunite Eli with rapper Snoop Dogg.

Jon Schnaars, chief executive of The Horror Section, told Variety: “We have set the film up so that the floor is very high.

“It really does not need to do a lot domestically for us to be well positioned as a company.”

Eli said retaining ownership of his films had become increasingly important as the economics of Hollywood have changed.

He said: “Novelists who write stories own the underlying rights, but filmmakers who write a screenplay don’t own the underlying rights, and that always felt like an imbalance to me.

“Stephen King owns all of his creations. Why should I create something and then give away ownership?”

Discussing the changing financial model for filmmakers in the streaming era, Eli said: “Decades ago, the studio owning the movie was fine because there was so much money to be made on home video, and we were all doing great.

“DVD was explosive, and then you would get residuals when it went to cable TV. But as the streamers came in, all of a sudden, the residuals were gone. When a movie goes on Netflix, you’re not getting any money.”

Eli added releasing Ice Cream Man without a rating would allow him to make the kind of horror films that established his reputation with Hostel and Cabin Fever, saying: “Part of horror is you’re being distasteful.

“And for people in studios, it’s hard to be distasteful because they’re making stuff that they want to be celebrated and socially acceptable. And part of what you’re doing by making a good horror movie is you’re being transgressive and you’re pushing the boundaries.”