Eli Roth has reflected on the impact of streaming platforms like Netflix.
Eli Roth has bemoaned the impact of streaming platforms.
The 54-year-old director admits that streaming platforms, like Netflix, have dramatically changed the entire movie business.
Eli – whose new film is called Ice Cream Man – told Variety: “Decades ago, the studio owning the movie was fine because there was so much money to be made on home video, and we were all doing great.
“DVD was explosive, and then you would get residuals when it went to cable TV. But as the streamers came in, all of a sudden, the residuals were gone.
“When a movie goes on Netflix, you’re not getting any money.”
Eli admits it’s particularly tough to make a good horror movie in the modern era.
The filmmaker shared: “Part of horror is you’re being distasteful.
“And for people in studios, it’s hard to be distasteful because they’re making stuff that they want to be celebrated and socially acceptable. And part of what you’re doing by making a good horror movie is you’re being transgressive and you’re pushing the boundaries.”
Eli founded The Horror Section, an independent genre company, in 2025. And the director explained the advantages of taking control of his own career.
He said: “Novelists who write stories own the underlying rights, but filmmakers who write a screenplay don’t own the underlying rights, and that always felt like an imbalance to me.
“Stephen King owns all of his creations. Why should I create something and then give away ownership?”
Eli previously explained that he seeks to “spark discussion” with his film projects.
The director told IGN: “I think that as a filmmaker, the best thing you can do is spark discussion.
“I’m not out to convert everybody to my way of thinking, but I just want to raise issues and at least get people talking about it.
“I don’t think a movie can make everyone change their mind, but I do think it can raise discussions and make people see points of view they haven’t seen before and go, ‘you know, that is actually really screwed up.'”
Eli enjoys adding commentaries to his films, as it allows him to explain some of his ideas and ambitions.
The director feels frustrated that horror movies are so easily dismissed by critics.
He explained: “It’s because it’s a horror movie that people dismiss it as stupid mindless violence, and there are plenty of movies that are stupid, mindless violence, and I love them.
“But it also makes it difficult when you do put thought and other things into a movie, [because] suddenly you get dismissed, and I understand that, but that’s why I like putting the commentaries in there.”
Ice Cream Man director Eli Roth bemoans impact of streamers
