Fans of thehorrorgenre, Eli Roth and Paul Giamatti have a reason to celebrate today. While that trio may not appear to go together on paper, it’s going to potentially lead to seeing one of Roth’s more high-profile releases getting to continue its brand of traveling overseas torture on the Peacock streaming service.
Per Variety, theHostelTV series is officially being developed at Peacock, with Paul Giamatti attached to star. The project wasfirst announced in 2024with Giamatti’s involvement, but it had yet to find a home. Roth will write, direct, and executive produce the series, while Chris Briggs and Mike Fleiss, who have been involved since the original 2005 film, will both serve as executive producers on the project. While plot details are unknown, it will likely continue the franchise’s tendency to make audiences fear being hunted as tourists in a foreign land.
Eli Roth: Every Movie He’s Directed, Ranked
Here we rank every movie directed by a modern provocateur and master of horror, Eli Roth, from his start to Thanksgiving.
While Giamatti’s pedigree as a two-time Oscar nominee might make some believe he would turn his nose up at the horror genre, the actor has expressed in the past that he wanted to pursue horror projects. He’s a big fan of the genre, so this endeavor with Roth andHostelseems right up the alley he’s been looking to pursue.
‘Hostel’ Remains An Eli Roth Horror Classic
Released in 2005 and written and directed by Roth,Hostelstill remains one of his signature projects. The original film followed American tourists who end up in Slovakia and have their international travel horrifically halted when they are captured by the Elite Hunting Group, an organization that allows people to pay a high price to torture and kill those unlucky enough to come across them. The film stars Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson as the American tourists who find themselves on the wrong side of their vacation.
Hostelreceived mixed reviews upon release, registering a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes with a consensus that reads, “Featuring lots of guts and gore,Hostelis a wildly entertaining corpse-filled journey, assuming one is entertained by corpses, guts, and gore, that is.” The film helped shape the “torture porn” horror movement, which kicked off a few months earlier with 2004’sSaw. Roth made a big impression on horror fans and the industry at large with his 2002 filmCabin Fever, which put him in thesights of Quentin Tarantino, who ultimately stepped in as a producer on Hostel.
The movie proved to be a big success for Roth, going on to gross $82 million worldwide on a $4.8 million budget. Its success spawned a theatrical sequel,Hostel: Part II, in 2007 and a direct-to-DVD sequel,Hostel: Part III, in 2011. Despite not being as successful as its predecessor,Hostel: Part IIstill turned a profit by grossing $35.6 million worldwide on a $10.2 million budget, and it has gone on to become a bit of a cult classic in its own right.
Source:Variety
