In a Valley of Violence (2016) - West defeated in the West

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The two stars, in traditional western getup, look about ready to shoot each other to death on this poster for Ti West's In a Valley of Violence

A soldier who has possibly deserted from the army, is on his way to Mexico and makes a stop in the small town Denton, where the local Marshall's braindead son bothers him to such a degree that he ends up staying there.

 

In a Valley of Violence is written, directed and edited by Ti West (The Roost (2005)).

West attempts a western in the beloved Sergio Leone style here, but the result is more of a dull-brained pastiche than a staggering homage. Ethan Hawke (Training Day (2001)) is miscast as the protagonist, who loses his dog and murders freely as revenge, not unlike the contemporary Keanu Reeves in the popular present day-set John Wick (2014). But where Reeves in that film seems a cool and justified avenger, Hawke at times here is risible, and generally a hard-to-justify postulate. Furthermore it is hard to grasp what makes the charming Taissa Farmiga (The Mule (2018)) fall for him here.

West adds brutality and blood, but that doesn't elevate the level for this poor western, which does have John Travolta's (Lucky Numbers (2000)) Marshall going for it. Best here is the score (by Jeff Grace (The Artist's Wife (2019))), Ennio Morricone inspired (of course) but with modern edges.

 

Related posts:

Ti West: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

V/H/S (2012) - Energetic, periodically intensely creepy if flawed found footage horror anthology (segment writer-director)  

The House of the Devil (2009) - West's energetic, scary throwback period horror 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 10 mil. $

Box office: 61k $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.006 times its cost)

[In a Valley of Violence premiered 12 March (South by Southwest Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place on film from June - July 2014 in New Mexico. The film opened #58 to a 29k $ first weekend in 33 theaters in North America, where it only played one more weekend, grossing 61k $. The film's only other release market (despite festival screenings) was Mexico, where the gross result went unreported. The-numbers.com asserts that the film additionally made 1.5 mil. $ on the domestic home video market. West returned with 8 TV-series prior to his theatrical return with X (2022). Hawke returned in The Phenom (2016); Travolta in American Crime Story (2016, TV-series) and theatrically in I Am Wrath (2016). In a Valley of Violence is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of In a Valley of Violence? 

The House of the Devil (2009) - West's energetic, scary throwback period horror

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An effective, spine-tingling poster that includes the pretty awesome tagline for Ti West's The House of the Devil

A college student desperate for some money takes a babysitting job one night in a house in the country, where she is to sit for an old woman, whom she never sees, while the aging couple who employ her assign themselves to a lunar eclipse.

Four racing, big hearts go out to this retro-styled horror from writer-director Ti West (The Innkeepers (2011)). SPOILER Greta Gerwig (You Wont Miss Me (2009)) gets brutally murdered early on, (around 30 minutes into the film, echoing the iconic Janet Leigh death of Alfred Hitchcock's horror classic Psycho (1960)), which establishes an 'anything-can-happen' type of anxiety. This works terrifically for the following 45 minutes of the film, which follow a less-is-more approach to horror and achieve a high general scare level. West also treats us to around 100 camera zooms and other neat stylistic and musical references to the 1980s, which the film is set in; the horror films of the 1970s and 1980s are paid satisfying homage to in this way. Also note the stand-out poster works for the film, which also smell wonderfully of a bygone cinematic era.
SPOILER When The House of the Devil 'goes nuts' in blinking lights, blood and ritualized violence, the fright quickly leaks from it. It suddenly seems to adopt a believe in more-is-more at this late point towards its end, and it comes across a bit like the common script issue of tying up a satisfying end in the third act. Leading up to this, though, The House of the Devil is a damned scary companion.

Related post:

Ti West: V/H/S (2012) - Energetic, periodically intensely creepy if flawed found footage horror anthology (segment writer-director)

Watch the great opening credit sequence from the film here

Cost: 0.9 mil. $
Box office: 101k $ - North America only
= Mega-flop
[The House of the Devil premiered 25 April (New York's Tribeca Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place in March 2008 in Connecticut on 16mm film. The film opened #58 in 3 theaters to a 25k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked in 7 theaters and never attained a higher position and grossed 101k $. In foreign markets, it almost only played at festivals, and its gross from these ventures are unlisted. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal to the rating it gets here. The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Despite the disappointing theatrical run, West was employed on other projects immediately after, and it is likely that the film has made a tidy sum through TV, VoD and home video. The House of the Devil is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The House of the Devil?

V/H/S (2012) - Energetic, periodically intensely creepy if flawed found footage horror anthology

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The inventively designed, sinister poster for Batt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Chad Villella, Ti West and Adam Wingard's V/H/S

Some very simpleminded guys get a job of breaking into a house to locate a VHS-tape. In the house they find a dead man, - and a lot of scary tapes. - They nevertheless try their best to complete the job ...

This accounts for the framing story of anthology horror V/H/S. Both that and the first story within the story, (all coming from tapes found in the house), are about really awfully dumb people, who yell brainlessly and break stuff. This combined with the nausea-inducing shaky camera technique that is the modus operandi for much of V/H/S makes for an inauspicious beginning that might lead some audiences to simply leave or switch off the film. It is a general problem for V/H/S that its stories are inhabited by too many foolhardy loudmouths.
But it also offers some well-functioning and extremely creepy periods, - SPOILER especially the motel break-in story (Second Honeymoon), the Skype woman (The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger) and the concluding, wild 1998 Halloween haunted-house story (10/31/98). The video aesthetic lends an uncomfortable realism to the film's best sequences, although many of the glitches and shakings are a bit much.
Still, V/H/S is an energetic and inventive anthology, - obviously made by true horror-lovers. It is made by a very long row of people, so take a deep breath: Conceptualized by Brad Miska (co-founder and editor-in-chief of Bloody-Disgusting.com); Tape 56 (frame story) written by Simon Barrett (Blair Witch (2016)), directed by Adam Wingard (Blair Witch); Amateur Night written by Nicholas Tecosky (SiREN (2016, based on characters created by) and co-writer-director David Bruckner (Southbound (2015, writer-director); Second Honeymoon written and directed by Ti West (In a Valley of Violence (2016)); Tuesday the 17th written and directed by Glenn McQuaid (Chilling Visions: 5 States of Fear (2014), writer-director); The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger written by Barrett, directed by Joe Swanberg (Happy Christmas (2014) writer-director); 10/31/98 written and directed by Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Chad Villella (Devil's Due (2014), all)).

 

Here is an unrelated video of what is supposedly a real found-footage video found in Croatia of something very creepy ... Watch if you dare

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 1.9 mil. $

= Unknown (likely a big flop)

[V/H/S premiered January 22 (Sundance) and runs 116 minutes. Filming took place in California. Magnolia Pictures purchased the distribution rights for around 1 mil. $ at Sundance, where it was reported that two movie patrons had to be seen to by paramedics, one of them collapsing after tumbling out during a screening of the film. Notoriously horror-bashing Roger Ebert gave the film a 1-star review. The film opened #52 in 16 theaters to a 36k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked in 19 theaters but didn't go above #52 and grossed just 100k $ (5.3 % of the total gross). If projected at a very modest 1 mil. $ budget, the film remains a big flop theatrically, though it has likely made money through home-video and VoD. Besides normal home-video releases, V/H/S has also been released on VHS in 2013. It has spawned two sequels, V/H/S/2 (2013) and V/H/S: Viral (2014) and the Amateur Night spin-off SiREN (2016). V/H/S is rotten at 55 % with a 5.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of V/H/S?