Eli Roth Working on Sci Fi Flick 'Endangered Species' Next

His role as the bat-totting, Nazi-hating, Bearjew in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds aside, Eli Roth is best known for pretty much one thing: Making bloody, controversial, R-rated horror movies. Things have been quiet on Roth's directorial front, however, since 2007's Hostel: Part II failed to top the box office the same way his first journey to the seedy underground world of torture clubs. His initial follow-up project was supposed to be a film adaptation of Stephen King's sci-fi/horror hybrid novel Cell, but his involvement faded as the project transitioned from the big screen to the small screen.

Now, however, it looks like Mr. Roth has dropped the horror side of the hybrid all together and has decided to go completely science fiction on his next directorial project. The only detail currently known about his mystery film is that it's called Endangered Species, that Quentin Tarantino has once again helped him as an unofficial story editor, and that Roth tells Variety, "I haven't been this excited about an idea since the first Hostel", which coincidentally is another film in which Roth's pal Tarantino lent a refining hand in the scripting department.

And while the Variety article only mentions the name of the project and the fact that Children of Men producer Eric Newman is on board, connecting the dots would have us believe that Endangered Species is the title of the untitled Cloverfield-esque blockbuster Roth was writing months ago. Back in April he told MTV, "I don't want to say what [the monster is] yet," Roth added. "Once it gets set up, I will let everyone know. It is not aliens or robots or a virus - it's a little more grounded. But when people hear it they are going to be like 'That is going to be insane!'."

So with a title like Endangered Species, one could further connect the dots that Roth is essentially trying to make a giant monster movie but with something that, conceivably, once lived on Earth. Considering giant sharks, mega octopuses, and T-Rexs are all old hat, it'd be nice to think that Roth's 'insane' idea has more to do with something out of the left field of evolution than something we've already seen on screen. Personally, I'm hoping for a Giant Sloth, it's the slowly creeping giant terror no one ever expects.

Now while we're all eagerly awaiting Eli Roth's dive into science fiction (and we are all eagerly awaiting it, right?), we can get our fix of the Cabin Fever director by way of Cotton, a film he produced for Strike Entertainment about a person who performs sham exorcisms that comes across an actual possession. It doesn't have a release date yet, but Roth will be shopping it to the Sundance programming committee in the coming weeks with a hope of debuting it there in January.