Exclusive: Eli Roth Gives Us the Lowdown on His Goretorium and Talks The Last Exorcism 2
Steve Barton
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He’s only been active in Hollywood for the last ten years, but in that time Eli Roth has managed to redefine the modern horror genre with films like Cabin Fever and the Hostel franchise as well as establish himself as an actor after his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
Yet, he still somehow found time to produce films like 2010’s The Last Exorcism and several upcoming projects including The Man with the Iron Fists and The Last Exorcism 2, which is currently in post-production.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Roth is now set to redefine the haunt industry with the opening of his Goretorium on September 27th at The Delmont in Las Vegas, which promises to be one of the scariest haunt experiences ever and will also feature a 60’s inspired lounge complete with caged zombie go-go girls, another horror-themed bar, a kickass gift shop and a wedding chapel for all you ghouls out there who are looking to infuse your upcoming nuptials with a little horror flavor.
Dread Central had the opportunity to catch up with Roth on the phone to hear more about the Goretorium and what he’s been planning for fans over the last five years. We also asked Roth about what we can expect from the lovely Ashley Bell’s character in The Last Exorcism 2. Check out the highlights from our interview with Roth below, and look for more on Eli Roth’s Goretorium soon!
Dread Central: Even though you’ve scared the crap out of fans on the big screen for about ten years now, what made you decide it was time to try something unique like the Goretorium?
Eli Roth: I had always dreamed of building my own house of horror so this is just great; I remember at last year’s Halloween Horror Nights so vividly seeing the fans get scared going in and out of the Hostel house that I was just so excited by all of that. What they do at HHN is absolutely fantastic, but it’s only something like 18 days out of the year so I wanted to do something that would be year-round.
Horror fans are always looking for that experience – something that scares them – and most haunted houses aren’t open year-round so we wanted to make a place where they can visit regardless of what month it is and get to experience what I think is going to be the scariest haunt experience at the Goretorium.
We’ve incorporated a lot of modern effects into the Goretorium as well as a bunch of old-school techniques which I think fans will love. I think people sometimes even forget that there are places in the world where Halloween isn’t even celebrated so this will be a great place for people visiting Las Vegas to celebrate horror and Halloween all the time. Vegas is the perfect place for something like this because there’s always something fun going there, and that’s what people want – an experience when they’re traveling. And we’re going to give it to them.
The Goretorium isn’t going to be just a haunted house either; it’s going to have a wedding chapel, a 60’s style Gothic lounge, go-go zombie girls in cages – everything horror fans could possibly want. It’s an experience.
Dread Central: So will the Goretorium incorporate themes from your movies then, or will this be entirely new material that fans will be seeing?
Eli Roth: It’s going to be an original experience; we will re-theme it, too, along the way. It was important that we could change out aspects of it so that fans will always be surprised so at Thanksgiving you may have something completely different, and then at Christmas we can do killer Santas and elves, things like that. We can even do something My Bloody Valentine themed for Valentine’s Day so yes, the themes will evolve because I want fans to come back again and again. I want the Goretorium to be ground zero for horror fans everywhere.
Dread Central: How involved in all of the planning have you been along the way? Are there cues that you took from things that scare you as a horror fan and incorporated them into The Goretorium?
Eli Roth: I’ve been involved every step of the way over the last five years that this has been in the works. It was important to me that I was involved in everything because it is something that means so much to me. Last year I even worked at HHN in the Hostel Maze as one of the scare performers, and it was exhausting just after 20 minutes. But I thought it was important to experience that so I know every aspect of this business. The only thing that has mattered to me since we began planning this five years ago was that fans would come away from this having the best possible haunt experience ever so that’s what we’re striving for. I’ve been working with Scott Weitz on the Goretorium, and he definitely knows how to create the ultimate scares.
Dread Central: Ashley Bell is quickly becoming one of my favorite young actresses after both The Last Exorcism and The Day; I know you can’t say much about the sequel, but considering how physical her role was in the first movie, are you guys going to push her character even further in The Last Exorcism 2?
Eli Roth: I love Ashley and think she’s an amazing actress so it’s not surprising to me to hear wonderful things about her because we knew she had something when we did The Last Exorcism, and it’s great to see her getting other fantastic roles, too. It’s funny – our dads actually went to high school together, but she never told anyone until we were already well into production so that just goes to show how small the world can be sometimes.
But The Last Exorcism 2 is totally catered to her and her character; it is going to be an even more physically challenging role than the first film, but we knew she could handle it. She’s fantastic, and I can’t wait for people to see what happens with her in the sequel.
Special thanks to Eli Roth for taking time to speak to us today!
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