Blu-Ray Review: Eli Roth's History of Horror (S1)

OCTOBER 5, 2020

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
SOURCE: BLU-RAY (OWN COLLECTION)

One of my favorite things about the polarizing The Green Inferno was actually in the end credits, where Eli Roth provided a list of similar movies for people to check out, on the (often correct) assumption that it would be the first of its type that many audience members saw. Inferno was far less unsettling and disturbing than many of its influences (i.e. Cannibal Holocaust), so it worked as a sort of introduction to the sub-genre - if you couldn't handle it, you certainly wouldn't be able to deal with the violence and imagery of the others, but if you enjoyed it for what it was, here was a handy list of what to watch next. The seven episode Eli Roth's History of Horror, which aired on AMC in 2018 and is just hitting Blu-ray now ahead of a second season premiere, serves a similar purpose.

Wrangling an impressive (if anything, overwhelming - more on that soon) roster of horror icons and experts, each episode tackles a different sub-genre (zombies, ghosts, monsters, etc) and treats us to a highlight reel of films from that group along with commentary from the guests, narrated by Roth (who also occasionally appears in more conversational chats with some of the higher profile guests like Jordan Peele and Stephen King). These aren't necessarily linear walks through the sort of rise and fall of any particular, and box office only comes up sparingly - they just pick a half dozen or so examples from each type and link them with some kind of throwaway line from Roth before a commercial break. So (not an exact example) after Elm Street he might say something like "And Wes would reinvent the genre again with a little help from Ghostface!", meaning Scream would be coming up next after AMC ran through fifty more Walking Dead ads.

On that note, don't be too upset or surprised if your favorite _____ movie doesn't come up in that episode's discussion, because it aired on basic cable and thus those hour long episodes are really only forty minutes, and with the aforementioned glut of talent, there's simply no time to get to everything. Even the slasher episodes (yes, plural - it's the only sub-genre to get two episodes, *heart emoji*), still skip over a number of prominent entries, though perhaps there would be more time if the likes of Saw and Hostel weren't included. Yes, in order to cram in as much as possible, some sub-genres are lumped together, so traditional monster movies like The Thing are grouped with animal attack movies like The Birds for "Killer Creatures", and "Ghost Stories" is a mix of ghost films like Sixth Sense and haunted house movies such as Poltergeist.

You, the die-hard horror fan reading this site, can cry foul if you want, but ultimately you and I have to accept that this is not aimed at the hardcores. Sure, it's fun to watch, and only those among us who have pored through all of our DVD bonus features can appreciate that he got Stephen King to sit down for a while, since he is pretty erratic when it comes to showing up for these things (nice to get him talking about Creepshow for a bit since you never get to hear from him on the otherwise exhaustive Blu-ray for that film), but our primary use will be comfort, background viewing. No, this is something I might keep on hand for the (hopeful?) day where my son decides he likes scary stuff after all and wants to know what to watch - these episodes are like "Horror 101" for both movies to watch and people to pay attention to.

In addition to highlighting the milestones of each genre (Halloween! The Exorcist! Dawn of the Dead!), social commentary is also offered, though it's not exactly an in-depth discussion. The AIDS crisis of the '80s giving a new leash on life for the vampire film or the allusions to civil rights movements in Night of the Living Dead are covered briefly, basically just enough to clarify that these movies aren't just scare machines for dummies, and at times I wish the credits had taken cues from Green Inferno and given horror neophytes some additional titles to track down, both feature films and other, more thorough documentaries. Seeing the great Tananarive Due and Ernest Dickerson chime in on things like NOTLD and Candyman is nice, but I couldn't help but think about how they said similar things - with more context and focus - in the excellent Horror Noire documentary, which is a must-see (available on Shudder) for horror fans new and old, whereas this is fun but hardly essential.

No, here the idea is basically to comfort us with clips and highlights from our favorite movies, and smile whenever another beloved face appears. I mentioned King but he is just one of many titans who show up across these three hours of nostalgia-driven television. You get some of the old school Masters of Horror (Joe Dante, John Landis, Stuart Gordon), their heir apparents (Peele, Leigh Whannell, Ana Lily Amirpour, etc), a whole bunch of actors from the classics being discussed (Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bruce Campbell... I could fill a paragraph here), and even a few famous horror fans like Slash for good measure. And that's just on the "from the movie!" side - there are just as many authors and journalists, critics like Leonard Maltin, and even my boy Ryan Turek babbling about Dead Heat or something. The number of people introduced in the first episode would have been impressive enough for a full season, but even by the 6th and 7th episodes you'll still be saying "Oh they got them too?"

But in a way that proves to be a bit of a check against the show, because in the race to get everyone on-screen, it reduces intelligent people who could have probably taken up an entire episode to a few brief sound bites. The presence of certain talent dictates the focus on occasion too; I don't have anything against Josh Hartnett, but it seems his showing up for an interview is the only reason we get a large chunk of the "Vampires" episode devoted to 30 Days Of Night, far more than the likes of Fright Night or Blade are afforded. And Hartnett (along with others who have similar narrow contributions to the genre) rarely appears elsewhere, so it cuts into the time that others could have been called upon to bring their expertise to any subject. I mean, say what you will about Rob Zombie's films, but the man is intelligent and an encyclopedia of horror knowledge, yet barely even contributes to the conversation. His appearance stems from what appears to be a dinner/chat with Roth and Greg Nicotero, but the latter man dominates all of these scenes, leaving Roth and Zombie with little more than "Right, me too!" kind of contributions after Nicotero gushes over seeing Jaws as a kid or whatever.

In fact, as the series continued I couldn't help but wish that the ONLY interview clips were from these kind of sessions; Roth is seen chatting with those two, King, Peele, Slash, and maybe one or two more, while everyone else is presented in a traditional talking head style, presumably talking to director Kurt Sayenga instead of Roth. Nothing against these people or their contributions to the genre or this show, but those "one on one" segments are much more fun to watch; there's something charming about seeing these horror luminaries come off like a couple of horror fans like us, geeking out over watching The Exorcist as a kid or something. Certainly more appealing than a static shot of Harry Manfredini explaining the "ki-ki-ma-ma" motif for the millionth time, at any rate. "Eli Roth sits down with Jordan Peele for an hour to discuss possession movies" would be fascinating, I think, but what we get is "Jordan Peele occasionally says something about a possession movie, and so do fifty others", which is less novel.

Unsurprisingly, the highlight of the bonus features are longer interviews from these sessions, especially King who, again, isn't as likely to appear in these things as some of the others (I believe it's a law that either Dante or Landis has to appear in any modern horror documentary). Here we get more candid thoughts about this or that movie, including The Shining which he likens to a beautiful car with no engine (he's also changed his tune slightly in the wake of Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep, so it's a somewhat dated take from the man). These extended interviews, plus a few other random deleted scenes, run almost as long as the entire season and get their own disc, so you're certainly getting your money's worth. TV shows on disc are an increasingly tough sell with so many streaming options, so it's smart for them to actually make a purchase worthwhile by essentially doubling the content. A shame they continued to censor the occasional profanity though; let them F-bombs fly!

What say you?

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