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Eli Roth Wants to Remake Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse

by Alex Billington
June 9, 2009

As much as I'm looking forward to seeing Eli Roth bring us his sci-fi action flick Endangered Species, we can't forget that he's still a horror director. One of the other projects he's got on his slate is a remake of The Funhouse, a creepy horror film from 1981 directed by Tobe Hooper. Roth revealed to Fangoria that he's currently "talking with Universal about that one." I'm not familiar with the film, but apparently Roth is a big fan - at least of half of it. "The Funhouse is a movie where the first half is brilliant—they set up these great characters—and then they pay off none of them." We'll let him explain what he wants to do in this remake.

"You have Marco the Magician sawing his daughter in half, the brothers who run the carnival and the funhouse setting. And then it’s all about this weird mutant thing," Roth tells Fangoria.

"It should be about the kids getting killed in horrible ways, put in different contraptions in the funhouse and the final girl being strapped into the ride and sent into the tunnels to be confronted by terrifying tableaux of her dead friends. A smart remake could be so much fun. Kill the kids in fabulous ways and continually reuse the bodies by making them freaks in the freak museum, sew their eyes shut, waxworks… That's the stuff I want to do in a remake of The Funhouse."

If you're not a fan of horror or either of Eli Roth's Hostel films, then that sounds instantly disgusting and unnecessary. But if you are a fan of Roth's work, than that sounds pretty damn cool. Maybe it'd even turn out like a not-so-shitty version of House of Wax with better actors than Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert. I actually like Eli Roth, unlike most people, and have an appreciation for the Hostel films, even though I don't really like either of them. As long as he carries through with his plans to make Endangered Species and Thanksgiving then follow those with The Funhouse, I'd be happy. Until then, pick up the original on DVD.

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d

Isn't he doing the remake of Mother's Day or was that someone else? if he isn't, he should do it.
zach

so this is basically final destination but they cant see it coming?? kinda lame hostel 2 was tea bagged he needs to work a little harder on his films in my opinion He should team up with Wes craven and make a really great movie they both bring a different kind of brilliance to the table
LSP

It's Final Destination, House of Wax, and...what was that other movie...oh, duh, Hellraiser. Ya know, where Pinhead doesn't kill people but makes them into freaks and they're still alive. Yeah. Heck, sure, why not? Be fun to watch at least.
d1rEct

rubbish, he should think of his stuff.
d1rEct

#4 - I meant to say "his own stuff" Also Alex, Funhouse came out in 1981.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

This sort of is his "own stuff" d1rect... He's basically taking the concept and extending it further, doing things that the original didn't. His "own stuff" was Hostel and people hated that shit. I like this idea...
Gab

Hey Alex! Wasn't he supposed to direct the movie from the book of Stephen King's The Cell? What happened to that project?!
Garrett

I love Eli Roth's work very much. His stuff is an acquired taste. It helps to not be a pretentious tool and be able to enjoy things on a more basic level. Tits, gore, and cheesy jokes. Good times. I love how his critics act like they're better/smarter than him because he likes different things. Ranting aside, I'm very excited for this remake. I know he could do tremendous things with it for us horror/tits fans.
Fisherr

Don't like Roth or his work but i could give this movie a go.
Dan Walimaa

"It should be about the kids getting killed in horrible ways," - Oh Boy...Like that hasn't been done before like about a million times already. This Roth guy sounds like an idiot.
Wil

C'mon, the recent House of Wax remake wasn't that bad, sure it had Paris Hilton, but let it go, besides who doesn't like Elisha Cuthbert? I'm most looking forward to Eli Roth's Thanksgiving though, the trailer left many questions, such as how could he top the cheerleader on the trampoline doing the splits on the knife?
Kevin

I have to admit, I LOVED Hostel. Hostel 2 not so much. But I thought the 1st one was brilliant...it is miles above crap like Saw, which it gets lumped in with. So, I'm actually excited about this. I always thought that Funhouse SHOULD have been a classic, but it just isn't. I hope Roth can succeed where Hooper did not.
SuicidalOptimist

#12 I disagree. No way was Hostel better than the first Saw movie. Saw was completely different than anything else at that time, and the story was orginal. Hostel had American tourists chasing pussy in East Europe. Come on...that's like National Lampoons gone wrong. But, they do have one thing in common, and they get lumped in together for a good reason. They try to come up with the most disturbing and disgusting ways to die, nicely wrapped into some kind of story, which really sucks for the most part, especially in the sequels. Don't get me wrong, I watched them all, but my point still stands. Saw was better than Hostel.
LSP

I think we all very clearly made out, this is not his own stuff. All very general and non creative ideas. The original was on the other day actually, not bad. Made me laugh, just being cheesy but I could see it being scary. There were some very very very slow parts though.