During a panel for Eli Roth’s upcoming AMC Visionaries: Eli Roth’s History of Horror , which will be released on October 14, 2018, the director said that he sees something besides reality TV as the next wave of horror.
According to Roth, he believes that everyone will be seeing a new kind of horror hit that depicts and taps into America’s current state of political “nightmare.” Roth pointed at the wildly popular The Walking Dead , which debuted back in 2010, and which many pundits have linked to the 2008 mortgage crisis and many people’s fears of being displaced. Apparently Roth thinks such a connection is fair, and sees another smash horror hit doing a similar thing within the next few years:
“I do feel like in two or three years a horror show will reflect the political divide in the country.”
Movie star Robert Englund also spoke out at the TCA, as the horror legends discussed not just movies, but what truly scares people, particularly in America right now.
Deadline reported on the event, referring to Englund’s remarks surrounding his idea of multiple casting choices for actors to play Freddy Krueger. Englund said he never thought he should have been the only guy taking on the role of Freddy, which provoked conversations among horror fans in general.
As reported by the Nerdist , Englund envisioned a budget that would allow him to cast each victim’s own version of Freddy:
“And then at the end, it would be the ultimate victim and we see Freddy peel [his face] open and maybe it’s yours truly revealed. And it’s the essence of Freddy.”
“I don’t think Freddy is an ’80s villain,” Englund said. “There’s a huge nostalgia for the eighties for a variety of reasons, but so many horror films and characters transcend that decade.”
Englund also said he believes reality television will take the form of “watching a snake eat a pig…you can’t look away.”
Viewers have the upcoming series to look forward to on AMC this fall. There will be seven episodes, each one an hour long. The series’ storyline will take an in-depth look at horror films, with Eli Roth playing the role of host.
Other horror icons set to be featured on Eli’s show include none other than the master of horror himself, Stephen King, as well as: Rob Zombie, Haley Joel Osment, Jack Black, John Landis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Englund, Linda Blair, Tippi Hedren, Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peele, and Jason Blum.