Eli Roth is returning to clown horror again with his new horror franchise, Clownpocalypse. Roth has been a major name in horror since his directorial debut, Cabin Fever, in 2003. After that, Roth added his name to a growing list of horror directors like James Wan, Darren Lynn Bousman, and Rob Zombie with Hostel, which was released in 2005.
Hostel fit perfectly within the “torture porn” horror films of the early 2000s, and earned Roth a place in horror’s “splat pack”, which is given to directors whose work focuses on controversial and over-the-top gore and violent content. Roth’s new project is a joint venture with James Frey, who rose to prominence in 2003 with his book, A Million Little Pieces, and another book, My Friend Leonard in 2005. Frey’s book, A Million Little Pieces, was picked up for Oprah’s book club in 2005; the author ended up the subject of controversy in January 2006 when Frey was accused of fabricating details in his books, which were both marketed as memoirs.
According to Deadline, Roth has been working on the Clownpocalypse project with Frey for a while, and the franchise will be financed by 3BlackDot, a digital entertainment studio that works with creative, community-focused innovators. Recently, 3BlackDot created, produced, and co-financed Queen & Slim, which is connected to Frey as well, as he created the story, which was later turned into a screenplay by Lena Waithe. Roth is known for pushing boundaries with his work, but it seems he’s finally found the right team to take his out-of-the-box thinking to the next level. Said Roth, “For years I’ve had people tell me ‘You can’t do that in a game, it’s too insane’ and I finally found partners who said, ‘Let’s take this a step further.’” Roth’s role in Clownpocalypse is as a producer, not director, and the search for a director is currently underway.
Eli Roth’s Clownpocalypse Will Include A Movie, Game, And More
Roth’s announcement of the upcoming Clownpocalypse movie is tethered to more than just a singular film; it will also include an AR video game, live event, short form digital content, and merchandise. According to 3BlackDot, “for the seasoned horror fan looking for their next thrill, this is a nightmare come true. Our approach is to build worlds that meet the needs of the current cultural norms. Clownpocalypse embodies the fluidity of our experiences from online to offline, from gaming to movies and experiential events, all under the umbrella of a single narrative.” Production on Clownpocalypse - the feature film portion - will be getting underway in the first quarter of 2020 according to 3BlackDot’s website.
The screenplay for Clownpocalypse was written by Philip Gelatt, who was a writer for Netflix’s Love Death + Robots. While plot details are unknown, Roth has some experience with clown horror, as he was the producer of Clown in 2014. Though Clown wasn’t a massive success, clowns have become terrifying again for horror audiences, partially due to the success of Andy Muschietti’s IT and IT Chapter 2, which released in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Though Roth has been somewhat absent in the hardcore horror scene, his recent series on AMC, Eli Roth’s History of Horror (2018) was a successful documentary series that explored the genre and allowed the director to showcase his broad knowledge and clear love of horror movies. History of Horror got renewed for a second season from AMC in 2019.
Eli Roth has made a lasting impression on the genre, and Clownpocalypse seems like it’s posed to make a splash that could potentially change the game for large horror franchises through its mixed-media endeavors.
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Source: Deadline
