Eli Roth says studio meddled with Borderlands to play it safe

If you have even the slightest interest in horror, you’ll know Eli Roth doesn’t exactly trade in subtlety. His latest blood-soaked outing, Ice Cream Man, is out — and for anyone wondering whether the man has mellowed, he absolutely has not. If anything, it’s Roth cut loose: more gore, fewer rules, and all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. That isn’t always a compliment, mind.

Ice Cream Man is Roth's first film with his own company The Horror Section, launched in 2025 to escape studio interference.

If you’re coming for a nuanced story, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Critics have already weighed in, and while horror fans might be thrilled by the carnage on display, let’s just say there’s not a lot of depth to be found. The consensus seems to be: it’s violent, entertaining in its way, but unlikely to stick with you after the credits roll. Think “switch your brain off” cinema — sometimes good fun, but rarely more than that.

Borderlands disaster

All this freedom stands in sharp contrast to Roth’s last go-round with the big boys: Borderlands. You might remember all the hype about the adaptation of the popular video game, not least because the studio, Lionsgate, splashed out a frankly mad $120 million to bring it to life. Roth, rather optimistically, thought he’d be able to make the film his own. Instead, the studio got cold feet — worried about risk, box office, ratings, all the usual corporate panic. The result? Notes everywhere, content trimmed down, and a desperate push for a family-friendly PG-13.

Here’s how Roth described what happened to Variety:

As things grow bigger, studios just naturally become more risk averse. My nature as a filmmaker is to do the thing that’s left of center, because that’s what has worked for me.

Lionsgate, perhaps terrified by the sums involved, tried to please everyone — and pleased, well, pretty much nobody. The rating meant the violence (i.e. what Borderlands fans expected) was neutered, the tone was all over the place, and no one walked away happy. Roth summed up the resulting mess like this:

You got something that belonged to nobody. It’s not a kids’ movie, but it’s trying to appeal to everybody. It’s for gamers, but it doesn’t have the violence the gamers want because it can’t be that extreme because it costs too much. You just wind up with a movie that’s neither fish nor fowl.

The film bombed, reviews were brutal, and Lionsgate likely needed a strong cup of tea afterwards.

Going it alone

Which brings us to The Horror Section, Roth’s company set up in 2025 with the aim of dodging the studio meddling that sunk Borderlands. The plan is simple enough: keep budgets low, keep control, and give horror fans what they actually want, rather than what a committee thinks might test well in Peoria. The company’s strategy is two to four feature films in UK and US cinemas per year, each one sticking around for a roughly 45-day theatrical window.

• Ice Cream Man – Roth’s opening shot; lots of blood, little restraint, low on plot.
• Stiletto – A slasher set in strip clubs, arriving autumn 2026.
• Don’t Go in That House, Bitch! – Currently in pre-production, with Snoop Dogg joining Roth for what can only be described as a wild collaboration.

Every project’s set to hit cinemas first before likely showing up elsewhere, following the current horror gold rush model: low cost, big thrills, high audience loyalty, and, crucially, no studio hacks watering everything down.