Cutting-edge writer and director Ti West is famous for his innovative approach to horror pictures, crafting a reputation as an indie cinema visionary. His 2005 debut feature film The Roost established the low-budget aesthetic he would become synonymous with, and showcased his innate talent as an exciting and explorative storyteller.
Ti West has helmed multiple horror projects, including the supernatural haunted house flick The Innkeepers and his critically-acclaimed homage to 1970s and ‘80s slashers,The House of the Devil. Though initially making a name for himself in the horror genre, West has successfully directed both a Western and a thriller, with the filmmaker eager to branch out and showcase his unique perspective on all types of cinema styles.
West is set to make his return to the horror genre after a nearly ten year hiatus with the upcoming erotic slasher X,which will follow a group of young filmmakers in the 1970s who set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, only to find themselves fighting for their lives when things take a violent turn. Featuring a diverse cast including Mia Goth, Brittany Snow, and Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi), and produced by the now-legendary A24, Xhas horror fans excited and eager for its forthcoming March 18th release. The project is sure to further cement the director’s status as a highly-revered and remarkable storyteller. Here’s every movie directed by Ti West.
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7 Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
Lionsgate
The 2009 horror comedy Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever centers on a high school prom that quickly turns chaotic when deadly flesh-eating bacteria spreads through a popular brand of bottled water. It is the follow-up to the 2002 Eli Roth cult classic and features appearances by the original film’s stars, Ryder Strong and Gisueppe Andrews. Director Ti West has been extremely vocal about his disdain for the final product and has even attempted to disown the horror flick completely, citing massive interference and re-editing as his major grievances.
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West requested to have his name removed from the picture and replaced with the popular pseudonym Alan Smithee, but since he was not a member of the Directors Guild of America, his pleas were denied. West is adamant in his feelings that the sequel is more a product of the producers and executives than his own, having said: “That was a film that was really made by a bunch of other people on that production. And it’s unfortunate… It didn’t work out for a bunch of reasons and I wish they had given me the ability to finish the film.”
6 The Roost
Paramount / Showtime
Ti West’s first feature film was the 2005 horror movie The Roost, which follows a group of four friends who find themselves marooned on a famous farm in the Pennsylvania countryside and are terrorized by vampire bats and zombies. West’s small budget debut and low quality horror fodder became synonymous with the director, with Variety praising his vision and innovation: “West takes advantage of his low budget every step of the way, including a cast of mostly unknowns who never feel like they’re recycling old horror chestnuts, and whose unfamiliarity only turns the suspense screws tighter.” The impressive homage to low-budget ‘70s horror flicks garnered appreciation from critics and audiences, with many being fans of West’s camerawork and intensely controlled Hitchcockian tracking shots; the barn used in The Roost was coincidentally the same one featured in Alfred Hitchock’s 1964 psychological thriller Marnie.
5 The Sacrament
2013’s found footage horror thriller The Sacrament is based on the real-life events of the Jonestown Massacre of 1978, and stars several directors in acting roles, including Joe Swanberg, who has also directed Ti West as an actor in several of his films. The Sacrament depicts a pair of VICE video journalists (including Swanberg) who document their co-workers’ attempts to find his missing sister, leading them to the reclusive religious commune named Eden Parish. Renowned fellow horror director Eli Roth produced the picture, and described the project as “West’s first mainstream movie.”
The Sacrament premiered at the Venice Film Festival, with West describing it as his most horrific film yet; he set out to make the thriller’s violence intentionally upsetting to audiences. On what drove him to craft the edgy found footage flick around a cult premise, West told FilmLinc Daily, “It’s something that I’ve always been fascinated by, because of the pop culture, ‘drink the Kool Aid’ sort of jargon of it all. I don’t think people remember or paid attention to how crazy of a thing it was… It’s really a story about people who were manipulated into a mass murder rather than a mass suicide.”
4 Trigger Man
Glass Eye Pix
For 2007’s Trigger Man Ti West decided to switch lanes by writing and directing a thriller picture, centering on three friends from Manhattan who are stalked by a mysterious figure while hunting in rural Delaware. When they realize they are being targeted by a sniper, the trio have no choice but to fight back if they want to get out of the menacing forest alive. The suspenseful and smartly shot film takes on the cat-and-mouse concept of hunters becoming the hunted, with Trigger Man utilizing sparse dialogue, edgy and drawn out shots, and a foreboding score that amps up the tension and overall nerve-wracking atmosphere. The New York Times commended West’s sophomore creation, writing: “Devised for minimum fuss and maximum tension, Trigger Man is the little thriller that could.”
3 The Innkeepers
Magnet Releasing
The 2011 supernatural horror flick The Innkeepers features the talent of Sarah Paxton, Kelly McGillis, and Pat Healy, and follows two employees at the Yankee Pedlar Inn who, during its last weekend of operations, attempt to document the hotel’s haunted past and paranormal activity. Ti West was inspired to write the picture following production of his previous project The House of the Devil, during which the cast and crew started believing the place they were staying at was in fact haunted; the Yankee Pedlar Inn was the hotel that inspired The Innkeepers and was where the horror ended up being filmed.
He told IndieWire, “I wanted to make a ghost story. I was trying to think of how to do it cheap. Then I thought, ‘Why not make a movie we lived?’ The place let us there before, so they were likely to let us do it again. That’s how it all came to be.” The Innkeepers earned positive reviews from critics, who praised the slow burn build-up, spooky atmosphere and chilling grand finale.
2 In a Valley of Violence
2016’s Western drama In a Valley of Violence includes an impressive A-list ensemble cast like Ethan Hawke, John Travolta and Karen Gillan, and follows a mysterious drifter (Hawke) on a journey through the desert of the Old West, who stumbles upon a once-popular mining town now controlled by a group of violent misfits. The picture is one of the rare Blumhouse productions that was not of the horror genre, with founder Jason Blum revealing that what drew him to the project was “West’s approach to filmmaking, I love. He pitched me this idea and I thought it was really cool.”
The director had heard that Ethan Hawke was very interested in doing a Western, so he wrote the part of Paul with the esteemed actor in mind. In a Valley of Violence had its world premiere as a headlining film at South by Southwest, debuting to critical acclaim, though infamously made less than $70,000 at the box office. The Austin Chronicle commended West’s shift in genre, saying, “Suffice to say, this departure from West’s usual run of seriously freaky spook shows is a brilliant piece of work cordite-scented sorrow and last-laugh gags stabbed through with a discernible lust for life.”
1 The House of the Devil
MPI Media Group
Arguably one of Ti West’s greatest and most critically-acclaimed creations is the 2009 horror flick The House of the Devil, which focuses on a young college student who takes on a strange babysitting job at an isolated mansion, and stumbles upon a terrifying secret her new clients are harboring. Since the horror mystery is set in 1983, West shot the picture on 16mm film, giving it a retro stylistic look that matched the decade; much of the cinematography also reflects methods used by directors during the 1980s.
West told Filmmaker Magazine, “This story is ultimately a very old-fashioned horror movie story with all the classic tropes, but there’s something about them that’s presented a little bit differently, and that’s what I was interested in.” The House of the Devil debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, garnering rave reviews for its homage to slasher and haunted house pictures, its innovative direction, and overall nostalgic design. Empire Magazine called the flick a, “Slow-building dread rather than all-out splat, House keeps you guessing which way the sneaky plot is going, all adding up to a satisfying shocker.”
