For nearly 20 years, Eli Roth has been behind some of the most shocking visions American horror cinema has had to offer.

Beginning with the horrific flesh-eating virus story “Cabin Fever” in 2002, Roth unveiled the tastes of the macabre saga of tourists in peril in 2005 “Hostel” and “The Green Inferno,” his horror homage Italian cannibal, in 2015.

Roth described his new movie, “End”, as “the scariest movie I’ve ever made”. The blood, guts, and devastation it details are real.

Broadcast via discovery + as part of the company’s Shark Week programming, “End” is a disturbing account of the shark hunting business. As shown in the movie, 100 million sharks are killed around the world each year, an average of over 11,000 sharks every hour of every day.

“I want the Shark Week audience to see it because I kept saying ‘There won’t be another Shark Week because there won’t be any more if this continues,’ Roth said. . “I mean, they’re, I think, 10 years from total extinction. Now scientists will never say that exactly, because who is going to go out into the ocean and count? But if you add up to 11,000 an hour and it takes some sharks 18 years to reach sexual maturity to reproduce, what do you think will happen? “

Roth, who previously hosted the talk show “Shark After Dark” for “Shark Week,” wrote, directed and produced “End.” Also produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Nina Dobrev, the film follows Roth around the world as he raises the curtain on shark hunting for use in shark fin soup, cosmetics, and other products.

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“I just wanted to do something. I wanted to use my voice. I wanted to use my power as a filmmaker. I wanted to convert people who normally don’t like sharks or fear them or hate sharks or want them to die, “Roth said.” I wanted everyone to say, ‘Whoa, that. are we doing? This is insane. ‘

“You know, we are the ‘Jaws’ generation, and it’s up to us to protect the ocean so that future generations can benefit from the sharks. The ocean produces half of our oxygen and the function of sharks is to keep the clean ocean, so what are we leaving behind?

Happy Shark Week! Memorable sharks on screen

Prepare your gills, because it’s … shark week! And for those who want a little extra to go along with their viewing pleasure, we’ve got you covered with the best sharks in pop culture. So before you get ready to watch one of TV’s greatest nature marathons, here are some underwater friends to remind us how awesome it is to be a shark.

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The theme of humanity’s perilous connection with the environment was apparent as early as “Cabin Fever,” as the viral threat from that film spread through the local water supply. And Roth’s horror roots are certainly apparent in “The End,” particularly in the poignant footage from the Monster Shark Tournament in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the music of the infamous 1980 film “Cannibal Holocaust”.

“I feel like I have a reputation for films that are shocking and disturbing and (that) provoke and that you’re almost a little nervous to watch,” Roth said. “And I was like, ‘I want to bring this to the movie.’ “

But Roth is working for something beyond cheap fears or preaching to converts.

“I didn’t want to do a ‘shock doc’,” he said. “I wanted something that would make people feel emotional, but I didn’t want to make a movie just for activists. I knew if I could get the horror fans in they are so passionate and most of them are really animal lovers and vegans. And so I thought if I could make it so that the people who aren’t normally the ones watching this, that’s the audience I want to have.

Beginning in 2016, Roth worked on “The End” alongside other projects, and the film marks a turning point for both Roth’s career and the fight to protect sharks.

The Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2021 was introduced in both the US Senate and House of Representatives in April, and the “Fin” website (finthemovie.com) lists a number of ways viewers motivated to act can get involved.

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Meanwhile, Roth’s narrative fiction has shifted from horror to the family fantasy “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” (2018) and the upcoming action-adventure video game adaptation “Borderlands”.

That’s not to say that Roth has completely abandoned the horror genre: he’s working with “Ghost Adventures” host Zak Bagans on the discovery + anthology series “The Haunted Museum”; a “A Horror Story” on AMC; and will bring “A Ghost Ruined My Life,” about people with supernatural stalkers, to Travel Channel, in addition to his work of producing horror films by other directors.

It’s all about personal growth and a change of perspective.

“You grow up as you learn, live and see life, and travel the world,” Roth said. I see the world completely differently. I am concerned about different things and I am more educated about some things, and other things that bothered me before, I’m like, “My God, why was I so crazy about this? Why was I so crazy and craving attention?”

“… What I really should do is just focus on making good movies, that’s all. Like, stop talking. So that’s my journey over the last few years, and it’s what I wanted to put in the documentary. I was like, ‘Just shut up and say it with work.’ It’s kind of my new philosophy now.

“Fin” is now broadcast on discovery + as part of the company’s “Shark Week” programming. For more information on the film, visit finthemovie.com.

Alex Biese has been writing about local and national art, entertainment, culture and current affairs for over 15 years.