I do not like Eli Roth. I think his films are ludicrous, and the only sort of entertainment they serve is akin to that of a Jerry Bruckheimer film: mindless entertainment forgotten as quickly as it came. In the face of my extreme disdain for his films, I respect him much in the same way I respect George W. Bush. Both men are true to their convictions, despite almost every choice they make and every word that comes out of their mouths is nothing but utter bullshit.

Case in point: the following interview referenced in an interview with Mr. Roth wherein the controversial director defends his choices to that little imp Neil Cavuto.

While I agree wholeheartedly that horror movies can be seen as a means of escape and release, the notion that horror films are made specifically as a reaction to the current political climate is, to agree with Cavuto, a huge leap. Taking every opportunity he had to criticize Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, Roth makes the claim that the recent influx of popular horror films is a direct result of the actions of a few men, in what I can only see as thinly-veiled attempt to defend his own film. Eli Roth once proclaimed that his Hostel was a parallel to the atrocities committed as Abu Ghraib, a bold claim that is hard to clearly see in a defenseless Japanese girl getting her eyeball drilled out by a sociopathic American. When questioned by Cavuto over the political circumstances surrounding the release of Psycho, Roth incorrectly asserts that the film was an indictment of Ed Gein, which is no more true than saying the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an indictment of Black & Decker. But to defend the graphic depictions of torture in your films by saying they’re intended to make a point about the war is needless extrapolation to defend your terrible films.

Whatever happened to horror for the sake of horror? Not everything has to be a huge missive railing against something. While they do exist (Dawn of the Dead anyone?) I would have much more respect for Roth if he would just fucking admit his is not.

The winner of Best Short Film and Best Concept at the 2006 Horror Film Festival in Chicago, The Life and Death of a Pumpkin is a darkly comedic look at the morbid practice of jack-o-lantern carving on All Hallows Eve told from the point of view of a pumpkin. Plucked from its pumpkin patch and family, an unnamed pumpkin undergoes torture and ultimately death at the hands of sadistic revelers and children. Directed by Aaron Yonda and produced by Blame Society Films, it manages to combine the shocking horror of pumpkincide with sporadic bits of deadpan humor. It is not to be missed.

Once I get my site revamped, I intend on making a videos section where all the wonderfully whacky and horrifying videos I find on the interblags will make their home.