Horror maestro Eli Roth lists the 5 films that scared him most
When you talk with horror movie maestro Eli Roth about the films that inspired him most, and scared him most, he begins with a necessary disclaimer.
“Every time you watch a horror movie, it gets less scary,” he says. “You’re never going to be as scared as the very first time you see it.”
KTLA spoke with the Hostel, Thanksgiving, and Cabin Fever director on Friday during its annual Summer Movie Preview to get his take on the scariest movies of all time, arguably the most subjective list in entertainment, but one with several familiar favorites. Roth, who was promoting his upcoming summer scare Ice Cream Man , laid it out succinctly.
No. 1: The Exorcist
“Nothing traumatized me like that.”
No. 2: The Shining
“It really freaked me out. It was different than I thought it was going to be. It was creepy and weird, and I’m still haunted by that movie.”
No. 3: The Evil Dead
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been that tense or that panicked watching a movie. It felt like the possession from The Exorcist times 100. My God.”
No. 4: Alien
“This is the movie that made me want to be a director. I sat there in the theater, and it felt like a combination of Jaws and Star Wars, which are my two favorite movies.”
No. 5: Jaws
“I’m a huge shark advocate now, and I’ve actually gone diving with great whites and other sharks to completely get over my fear. Yes, it is a work of fiction, but as a horror movie, and as a movie overall, it’s the film that created the concept of the summer blockbuster. The summer blockbuster did not exist before Jaws. It was started by a horror movie.”
Roth’s latest, Ice Cream Man, hits theaters Aug. 7.
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