Ti West

Ti West is very concerned with being sincere. This concern probably stems from defending and explaining his choice to set his newest feature film The House of The Devil in the Eighties and go as far as possible to make it in the style of an Eighties horror movie. The movie had an extremely limited theatrical release and it’s doubtful that anyone who reads this publication had seen it until it aired on the HD Network and was subsequently leaked online. The plot of House of The Devil is simple. A young girl in need of cash takes a babysitting job during a full lunar eclipse, only to discover her employers are devil worshipers.

Praised for its daring pacing and commitment to creating an authentic Eighties horror atmosphere, the film’s director is adamant that nothing about it is a joke. This might seem out of touch in a society where virtually everything can be appreciated ironically and Ti West is aware of that. He is part of a generation of filmmakers that have grown up watching The Simpsons and he speaks with confidence and sarcasm. He is a smart ass, but not a prankster. He takes his (and all) films seriously and he thinks you should too.

Why are Satanists so creepy?
Why are they so creepy? I don’t know, maybe they’re just misunderstood. I think for me I just grew up in the suburbs and I have a really distinct memory of America in the early Eighties and there was a cultural phenom called “Satanic Panic.” I just remember like “oh don’t go down to the park by yourself or a van with no windows will come along and kidnap you and sacrifice you to the devil.” And it seemed totally preposterous to me, but at the same time it was really terrifying because it was the devil, he was the ultimate bad guy. I just always found that to be really fascinating. It turns out none of that was true. It was just this weird cultural hysteria and I always thought that was really interesting that people got swept up in something that was so clearly NOT something to worry about. But the fact that society still sort of obsessed over it… I’ll always remember it. That’s kind of where the idea of making that movie came from.

Hasn’t goth culture made it impossible to be scared of Satanists now?
I don’t know, maybe if you’re like, an old woman then you might think goth culture is spooky. I mean I don’t know, it’s a trend. People nowadays have become very tolerant of trends. A goth doesn’t directly associate with this stuff. A goth is just like black nail polish and clothing, and I think that’s what people associate it with. So if you’re a goth and you’re really intense about it I don’t think anyone treats you that way… That’s probably kind of frustrating for them.

Last night’s episode of Law and Order featured Juggalos that murder people because they listen to Horror Core…
If there’s anything to be afraid of… Juggalos might be it.

Your female protagonist is really naive. She’s motivated by money, but her decisions seem really poor. Is that something you based on the naiveté surrounding Satanic Panic?
I think that was a big part of it. I mean I think it was also part of like a personal film of my perspective of my memories of the time as well. I wrote the movie when I just got out of college and was living in New York and was broke. If you’re doing anything artistic in life you have two types of friends: The friends who are like, struggling with you, and then the friends whose parents pay for everything and have no problems. And so that’s what I remember, all of us who were sitting around in our shitty little apartments eating rice every single day just trying to figure out how to get a movie made and then people who lived in their fancy places being like “You know what man, you just gotta keep at it, it’s all gonna fall into place.” And how frustrating that was. And so that was kind of the other idea. Like it was a two-part thing. Early Eighties memories Satanic Panic scariness and then scariness of you’re out of college there’s no excuses left to not be an adult but you’re like “ah this sucks I’m not really ready to be totally responsible.”

The Grindhouse revival movement is sort of winding down now, but since your movie is sort of a deliberate Eighties throwback I’m curious where you stand on that.
If you’re doing it for kitsch value, I feel it’s a bit lame. It becomes like an SNL skit or something. I mean with House of The Devil, it took place in the Eighties. It wasn’t supposed to be cool like that. If it took place in the Fifties maybe I would made it look like a Technicolor movie. I don’t know… It’s supposed not to be like, elbow in your ribs. It’s just because that’s what I picture that time period looking like in my head and that’s kind of how I want to represent it. I mean I LIKE all the sort of Grindhouse stuff but what’s great about the REAL Grindhouse stuff is that whether the movies are good or bad, the movies are sincere. I mean the movies now that are imitating it are so aware that they’re imitating it that it’s this crutch of like “if you don’t think the movies scary, that’s because it’s not supposed to be because it’s a silly Grindhouse movie.” It becomes this weird crutch of style over substance, and that is a bummer. But other than that, you know… I just think people should make sincere movies.

Your IMDB Photo is you holding a handgun and wearing a headband. You’re also part of a generation that is culturally very post-modern, sarcastic and savvy. Is it really possible for you to be sincere when you’re so aware of what your doing? Especially in the case of a film like House of The Devil, how can you be sure you’re not directing from a comfortable ironic distance?
I think there’s an element of post-modernism that pops in no matter what just because of being aware. The kitschiest part of House of the Devil is probably the title sequence. Which is like, very similar to early Eighties movies and not so many movies now. But like, I don’t know if I did that like, just to make it seem like an Eighties movie or did I do it because it was just really satisfying and made sense for the movie? Like that happened to be both. So it’s like, there’s that post-modern element where I’m aware like, “That’s something that’s visually evocative of a specific time period.” I also just really enjoy that. You know what I mean? It’s like I’m not doing it because “Oh it’s cool cause it’s like those movies”, so much as I just like seeing titles like that. So you know, it’s a little bit of both I suppose. But hopefully any element of irony or post-modernism isn’t so in your face that it becomes the theme of the movie. Because that’s when I feel like the movie itself is no longer that valid and it’s just sort of these tricks that you’re doing and that’s lame. It just makes the movie sort of vapid entertainment and not any steps above it.

It seems like most horror movies now are lame. When did horror
movies start becoming so lame?
You know I think that’s true. I think the reality is horror has become kind of lowest common denominator because it’s been successful. And movies that are successful are not always good. And movies that are successful are always like, you know, copied, so you know I really just kind of put the blame or responsibility on the audiences for that. Everyone bitches and moans that they’re copying Friday the 13th. But then it makes like $45 million in three days so I guess it was the right thing to make it because people went and saw it. It doesn’t make the movie good and no one liked it, but you know, it did make a lot of money, so they’re gonna make another one. And you can’t blame anyone for making another one because from a company standpoint it made $45 million in three days. So that’s a good idea. But then Sam Rami’s film Drag Me to Hell is like, “Woah! Sam Rami’s return to horror, new original horror from Sam Rami not a remake!” Nobody really went and saw it…. and that’s really the audience’s fault because if you don’t want remakes, stop spending money on them. So if you want original horror, support original horror because otherwise you’re not going to get anymore. It’s very simple. But I think people have become so lazy and if they don’t have any real…

(Long Pause)

I mean no one has any responsibility about anything I don’t think. Certainly in America. I don’t think most people think about the fact that if they go see small movies, more small movies will be made because there’s audience for it. Instead it’s like, “oh, yeah, I don’t know, let’s just go see whatever” and I think that’s sort of dangerous for, you know, our culture. But it’s just the reality unfortunately.

Couldn’t they just start making the movies more interesting anyway?
Friday the 13th was kind of crammed down peoples’ throats? It was abysmal and even though it’s a remake it could have been done in a way more interesting way.
Ah, but they didn’t HAVE to, so why should they? I mean ideologically you are 100 percent right and I will not disagree with you but like they could just make a shitty movie and have it make a bunch of money. Why make it good? It’s harder to make it good. Until audiences go “I’m not gonna just see this!” They’re gonna keep doing it because they can get away with it. Most of the people who are involved in it are not the creative people. They’re people who have a job from 9-5 and their only job is to make sure the company stays profitable otherwise they get fired. They don’t care if the movie’s good. They don’t care. They just want it to make $45 million in three days. That’s all they’re interested in.

Words: Kellen Powell @kellenw
Illustration: Travis Collier

House of the Devil from Ray Brown on Vimeo.