Eli Roth: doing his bit to scare Americans away from travel

Rating: 1/10 (15 July 2006)

if Eli Roth is scared of Slovakia, all the better.
Why don't people just abandon Hollywood movies?
99% of them are at least as bad as "Hostel." Eli Roth, who, by setting this film in Bratislava and filming it in Prague demonstrates in 4 ways why so many people hate Americans:
(1)he went to a far-off country, Czech Republic, to tell an American story - a particularly retrograde horror film with the 'fear of travel' motif. The 'moral' of the story is not lost on Americans who widely and falsely believe Europe is far more dangerous than the U.S.;
(2)by going to another country and writing a script for foreigners to perform - for money - he is basically saying 'clearly they - whoever they might be - are better off letting us present them the way we want them to be seen.' Why is it you wont see Slvoaks representing themselves at your local googleplex?;
(3)he affirms to the Slovak people that they are only as useful as their labor is cheap and,
(4) he comes back to an absurd level of press accolades (absurd meaning more than zero).
Where else but in Hollywood could someone be so publicly rewarded for being so anti-social, mediocre, and self-glorifying? ...Washington?
heres the article:
Movie news
Hostel director scared of Slovakia Director Eli Roth claims he is scared to visit Slovakia after the government responded angrily to his controversial new horror movie 'Hostel'.
The film portrays the story of several backpackers, who meet a nasty end in Bratislava when they are lured into bed by beautiful women before being tied up and tortured to death by bored businessmen.
And Roth reckons the Slovakian authorities are not too happy with his portrayal of their capital city.
He said: "The head of the tourist board got pretty angry, and invited me to Slovakia to show they don't just murder and torture people for fun.
"I have a feeling that now I've made the film, I will get beaten and tortured in Slovakia." Roth also explained he decided to shoot the movie on a small budget in Eastern Europe after a conversation with cult director Quentin Tarantino.
He added: "When I told him about 'Hostel', he went, 'Oh man, that is the sickest idea for a horror film I've ever heard! You've got to make it!' "And then he was saying, 'Don't do it for $20m, do it for three million bucks, go to Eastern Europe, use local crews.' Sometimes you need that validation from someone you can trust."