“I’ve always wanted to have my own shop where I could write, produce, direct, and now release my own films,” veteran horror filmmaker Eli Roth explains when quizzed on the origins of his newly launched, horror-focused indie studio The Horror Section.
“And we’re off to a great start,” he adds, pointing to Jimmy and Stiggs, the company’s first official release, and the latest feature from cult indie horror filmmaker Joe Begos, which hits cinemas next month.
Written and directed by Begos, the film follows an out of work filmmaker called Jimmy who, after a shitstorm of bad news, spirals into an out of control bender in which he claims to have been abducted by aliens. Fearing they’ll come back, he contacts his old friend Stiggs to help him gear up for war.
The film debuted at Beyond Fest before playing Sitges. Roth describes the gory flick as “one of those rare experiences” where a cinematic vision is brought to fruition by a “filmmaker who’s truly possessed.”
“He started shooting this film thinking it would be like maybe six weeks. Then it was six months, and it became four years of photography,” Roth says.
“Joe Begos is a filmmaker I love. He made Bliss, VFW, and Christmas Bloody Christmas. But like Ti West or some of these other directors that horror fans know about, he hasn’t broken out into mainstream because his films haven’t been supported theatrically.”
Cult horror filmmaker West, best known for his cult X film series, was actually the person who recommended Roth check out Begos’s film.
“He called me as soon as I announced the company and asked if I’d seen Joe’s film. He described it as an unrated Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, gore fest, that’s completely insane, shot on film with all practical effects,” Roth says.
“So I reached out to Joe and asked what he was doing with the film. He wasn’t sure because he knew it was too crazy for the studios, but that sounded right up my alley. Then I watched it, and I was genuinely stumped at how he did a lot of the stuff in the movie.”
Roth says he has locked the backing of AMC and other major theatre chains despite the film being unrated, and The Horror Section is prepping to launch the film wide across the U.S..
“I want to do 1500 or 1600 screens,” Roth says. “We’re going wide theatrical. We’re trying to do what Terrifier 2 did. That’s the model, where you spend a low marketing cost going right to the horror fans.”
The theatrical market, Roth explains, will be the backbone of The Horror Section’s business.
“I want to do four releases a year where we can be really selective,” he says. “Movies I produce, direct, or acquire. And just give audiences an awesome and steady pipeline.”
One of the next titles will be Ice Cream Man, written and directed by Roth. The filmmaker says he will begin shooting the film this summer, and it will tell the story of an “ice cream man who comes to a town, and let’s just say his ice cream is not as innocent as people think.”
“It’s one of those ideas that I’ve had for a long time. I was gonna make this movie after Cabin Fever,” he says.
“I’m doing it low budget. I want to make it unrated and unhinged. I need to get a couple of those out of my system.”
Jimmy and Stiggs opens August 15. You can see a behind-the-scenes look at the film below.
