Eli Roth cut his teeth in the horror genre, and gained a reputation as one of the forefathers of the torture porn craze after helming Cabin Fever and the first two installments in the Hostel series, but in recent years he’s been actively looking to broaden his horizons and dive headfirst into new genres.
2015’s erotic home invasion thriller Knock Knock was followed three years later by big budget family fantasy The House with a Clock in Its Walls, the latter of which generated some of the strongest reviews that Roth had seen throughout his entire career. He’s now moved firmly into action blockbuster territory with big budget video game adaptation Borderlands wrapping production last week, but the trailer for his upcoming documentary FIN might just be the filmmaker’s most terrifying yet.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Nina Dobrev are two of the famous names credited as executive producers on the project, which saw Roth work with a group of scientists, researchers and activists from all over the world to try and uncover the truth about the criminality of the shark trade, which sees millions killed annually and has contributed heavily to the endangered status of many species.
It’s an entirely true story, but the machinations behind the shady industry are a lot more troubling than anything cooked up in the wave of fictional shark attack thrillers to have arrived over the decades. Roth worked with experts and charitable organizations in order to put FIN together over a number of years, and he’s hoping to shine a light on the conservation of sharks in the same way as orcas, whales and dolphins have been afforded in recent years when the doc comes to Discovery+ on July 13th.