It is fair to say that earlier this summer, Obsession and Backrooms took the world by storm. The two original horror movies were both directed by young filmmakers (Curry Barker and Kane Parsons, respectively) who had spent years making work for YouTube and then were given the chance to step into the realm of professional feature film. The results speak for themselves, as both Obsession and Backrooms cultivated huge online buzz that manifested in bona fide box office returns in some pretty staggering ways.
In the months since the release of these films, much has been made about how their success signifies a new era of filmmaking, with many studios now actively looking to online platforms such as YouTube to try and find the next generation of potential hit-makers. Amidst all of this, many established filmmakers have also spoken out about the success of these films and the ways in which the industry is shifting, and now the latest among them is none other than Eli Roth.
Hot off the heels of the absolutely disastrous critical and commercial reception of his own new horror film, Ice Cream Man, Roth has been ruminating on what the success of these new up-and-coming filmmakers means for the horror genre and industry at large across multiple interviews. On the one hand, Roth has said that he believes these films may be “signifying a new era for Hollywood,” comparing the current shift in market interests to those of old, like the transition to ‘the New Hollywood’ in the ‘60s.
However, the filmmaker’s comments have also taken on a more cynical and apprehensive angle, saying that he hopes this doesn’t result in a new crop of YouTube-based filmmakers getting the keys to the kingdom just for the sake of it. “Don’t just throw them into the system.”
All of this is made all the more interesting by the fact that Roth clearly sees so much of himself in these young filmmakers and their success. Roth similarly got his start with a scrappy independent horror movie, Cabin Fever, back in the '90s and has actively compared that film’s success to Obsession’s. Furthermore, Roth recently struck out completely on his own, founding his own media company, The Horror Section, through which he is producing and distributing original horror films, including his own. Ice Cream Man was the result of this: an unrated horror film made entirely outside of the established studio system. As it turns out, in recruiting young filmmakers to come aboard The Horror Section, Roth actually admitted he reached out to Kane Parsons and attempted to get Backrooms, but was ultimately too late.
All in all, Roth’s comments have elicited a good deal of controversy online, and given the relative quality of Ice Cream Man and his flagrant use of AI-generated materials within it, it isn’t hard to see why. But to his credit, he seems mostly happy for these young filmmakers and their successes, if a bit envious that his own films aren’t getting those same kinds of recognition and that he wasn’t able to mine these kinds of low-budget success stories for himself and The Horror Section.
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