As an emerging voice in horror, writer/director Ti West is assembling a team of recognizable faces for his latest feature that is bound to attract attention. His upcoming revenge-Western In A Valley of Violence has added notable actors including Ethan Hawke, John Travolta, Taissa Farmiga, and Doctor Who‘s Karen Gillan (of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy) to its strong cast. For Hawke and Gillan, Violence will mark a return to Blumhouse Productions (the studio behind successful horror franchises Paranormal Activity and Insidious). Hawke recently starred in two Blumhouse features, Sinister and The Purge, and Gillan headlined Blumhouse’s April horror release Oculus.

Filming for the revenge-Western is set to begin in late June, produced by Jason Blum of Blumhouse, and exec produced by previous Ti West collaborators Peter Phok and Jacob Jaffke. The story reportedly follows Paul (Hawke), a drifter looking for revenge on the thugs that killed his best friend. Farmiga and Gillan will portray sisters that operate the town’s motel and ultimately help Paul on his vengeance quest. Ti West’s last feature, The Sacrament, will be released on June 6th of this year.

I’m a horror aficionado. I have watched everything from Melie’s Le Manoir du Diable, Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and other early film depictions of the spectacular and creepy, to today’s special effects riddled gross-out filled shock-fests. My final thesis in film school focused on horror films and it’s easily my favorite genre. While it’s been fun to see horror transition into new things, such as The Blair Witch Project‘s popularization of found footage films, some experiments have been outside of what I enjoy about horror, such as torture porn revitalized in part by Eli Roth with his Hostel series. Roth is one of more than a dozen producers on The Sacrament, the latest from Ti West (The Innkeepers, The House of the Devil, V/H/S), and his influence isn’t heavy-handed but is certainly evident. But what’s different about The Sacrament isn’t a new horror style, but instead its distinct use of near-reality to disguise its horror.

For most of The Sacrament you will truly believe you are watching a documentary, albeit made by naïve journalists, about an atrocious historical event. Three Vice media journalists–one a photojournalist, one a video journalist, and the third an investigative journalist–travel outside the U.S to an undisclosed location. One of them, Patrick the photojournalist, has a sister who has recently written him about how she’s joined a commune after getting clean. Patrick fears for her safety and soundness of mind, while his editors see the chance at a potentially hot story. Upon their arrival outside of Eden Parish, the community his sister has joined, they are met with armed guards, immediately giving their trip an ominous feel and the environment one of distrust. They sort things out with Patrick’s sister, Caroline, and are granted admission into the community as well as the freedom to film. Patrick goes off with his sister while the two others, Jake and Sam, wander the commune interviewing those who will talk to them. Everyone speaks highly of their new life outside the U.S. in this veritable paradise, and ALL of them refer to ‘Father’, the man who made all of this possible.

They are allowed to interview ‘Father’ at the evening’s celebration and this is where the film begins its true tension. Father (Gene Jones) is the definitive charismatic cult-leader. He answers Sam’s questions with a distinct superiority and defensiveness for his ‘family’ and the safety of their home from the outside world. It’s at this point that anyone old enough to remember or know about the Jonestown massacre will feel the hair on the back of their necks raise. Father’s words sound eerily close to ones used by Jim Jones, leader of the People’s Temple cult and mass executioner of over 900 of his followers. But the similarities don’t stop there, and the inspiration for West’s film is so obvious it suddenly makes everything uncomfortably self-conscious.

In the end the film’s make-you-watch devices are what push the film over the edge, causing too much distress by the violence to satisfy the true horror film lover’s thrill-seeking addiction. The fun of horror, at least to this fan, is the roller coaster ride of fright and calm within a story. Without that sense of safety, the thrills can’t seem quite so thrilling. But there is rarely a moment of safety within The Sacrament, so the thrill becomes painful by the end. West’s forceful editing leaves nothing to the imagination, and he knows what Thomas Edison also knew way back in 1895 with The Execution of Mary Stewart, that one of the most ghastly charms of film is its ability to show everyone exactly what death can look like. Whether you want to see it or not.

Perhaps The Sacrament is just being promoted wrong. West’s straight-forward film and its historical similarities can’t help but be taken somewhat soberly, which strangely makes what happens on the screen even more frightening. Unfortunately it’s a kind of scare that feels irreverent, albeit thought-provoking. It will surely be a divisive film among critics, but this horror film lover will probably stick with her ghouls and psychopaths and choose actual documentaries for true-crime and history.

In first-time director E.L. Katz’s gruesome Cheap Thrills, two former high school friends (Ethan Embry and Pat Healy) run into each other at a bar. A rich married couple (David Koechner and Sara Paxton) entice the drunken buddies (both in financial straits) into coming to their place, where they strike up a series of dares-for-money that escalates to horrific, revolting levels of madness. The film explores the tug of war between greed and morality as the two friends begin to lose themselves in the sadistic couple’s wicked game.

We spoke to Katz about the challenges of filming predominantly in a living room, why the film has a punk rock feel to it, casting the famously comic Koechner in a darker role, brain-dead genre films, and more. Following our phone conversation with Katz, we spoke to Embry about disliking Pat Healy, being familiar with dark head spaces, why he doesn’t play nice-guys anymore, and more.

Cheap Thrills opens this Friday, March 28th at the Roxie in San Francisco, and is available on VOD and Movies On Demand now. For more, visit cheapthrillsmovie.com

This is a relatively contained story, taking place mostly in one location with four characters. Was operating mostly in one place freeing in that you could focus more on being creative as opposed to the logistics that come with bigger productions?

Katz: It’s kind of a double-edged sword. Yes, we don’t have a lot of company moves. But if you have the money for the company moves, that stuff isn’t hard. It’s actually easier, because you’re shooting in new places. When you’re shooting the action in one living room, essentially, and you’ve got four people talking for most of the movie, it’s kind of a tough to make it cinematic. That was a challenge. Being a first time director, maybe I initially thought, “Oh, if it’s just people in a house, it’s not a big deal,” but you’ve got to find ways to film the actors that are interesting.

The house that you shot in has an interesting, alternative look to it. Did it already look like that, or did you design it?

Katz: There’s some design involved. In the original screenplay, the house was more American Psycho, super-modernist, like an old De Palma movie. But…we didn’t have the money for that shit! We could have done a really crummy version of that, but instead I thought, “What’s another world we can play in?” Right outside my door in Silver Lake and Los Feliz, there are people who live up in the hills there, and their houses are a little artier, a little warmer, a little more inviting. I met these guys who used to be in rock bands. I think one played in Guns n’ roses at one point and another was an architect. They were really colorful, interesting people. They had all this art there from an artist who had died, so they owned the rights to it.

Their place just seemed like it would throw the audience off the trail a little bit. You look at it, and there really isn’t a thematic shorthand that it speaks to. As soon as you see modernist furniture and white walls, you think, “Alright, they’re going to fucking spray those walls with blood.” With this…you don’t really know what to think about the house. It kinda seems nice, but you look at it a little longer and you’re like, “Is it crazy? I don’t know.” It’s not trying to be anything.

There’s a very punk rock feel to the film that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s the bloody nose on the poster, or the fact that the four main characters are so different, yet complement and play off of each other like a band.

Katz: Pat Healy’s character has a Black Flag tattoo if you look closely. Ethan and Pat both used to be punks. Sara’s always playing music in the script. In a weird way, I wanted this character, who barely anything, to be sort of like this Greek chorus and make the movie feel like it’s carrying you into this musical place. What we did with the score was, we started it off playing this douche-y dance music that you’d imagine would be playing at a coke-head party. It feels ridiculous, but it also makes you feel kinda safe because of how ridiculous it is. Then you can slowly take the music away and have Sara play her own strange music, or the ambient score which sounds kinda creepy.

The film explores how money can reveal the ugliest side of us as human beings. Do you think genre films are best when they have sophisticated ideas running underneath all the blood and guts?

Katz: I’m a big horror fan, so I would say that I also enjoy them when they’re brain-dead, mean things. I’m fine with that. It’s kind of what I was raised on. I think that genre movies can be tools to be sneaky and subversive, but I kind of like them when they’re straight-up a dude in a rubber costume ripping people’s heads off. They’re both fun to me.

Your cast is very balanced. They all bring something different to the table and read each other well.

Katz: I try to imagine the movie with different actors, and I can’t do it. It’s such a random process, and it’s so hard to get actors to do movies like this, where there isn’t a lot of money and the circumstances aren’t ideal. David hasn’t had a chance to play something this dark. I’ve seen Ethan play edgier parts, but I don’t think many people are as familiar with that side of him. I was a big fan of Pat and all of his moments where he’d steal the show in Magnolia, Ghost World, and Great World of Sound. I knew I wanted to reach out to him, and he responded immediately.

Ethan cruised in on his motorcycle to have a conversation about the film, and he just looked like a badass. We talked at length about edgier movies. He and Pat are an interesting combination. I’ve always been a fan of David’s work. I wasn’t being sneaky with his casting. I knew he was capable of [this role]. Even though he’s known for comedy, it’s still all character creation. It’s just as hard doing comedy as it is doing drama. I wasn’t thinking of casting Sara as sort of an Innkeepers reunion, but I did have Ti West and Pat help me get her interested. At first, she was like, “Violet doesn’t talk or do so much.” But as we talked about it more and Pat told her that, really, she was kind of controlling everything, she got excited.

For a while, it does seem like her character isn’t paying fucking attention and she’s just another person in the room. But after a while, it’s almost as if she gets a little more bold in her spine. She’s getting closer to them, becoming more animated, and you begin to see how interested she is in watching them do these things. By the end, her face is twisted into this evil grin.

Following our call with E.L., we called back Ethan Embry, who had been trying to get on the line for the past five minutes.

Hey Ethan! Apologies for not picking up your call. I was on the line with E.L. Katz.

Ethan: That asshole?! Anything he says is a fucking lie! I’m sure you saw that piece of shit he calls a movie.

I did see that piece of shit he calls a movie! But seriously, I enjoyed the film, so congrats my friend.

Ethan: (laughs) E.L. had no part in making it good!

That’s a question I asked him. “Why did you contribute nothing of value whatsoever to the project?”

Ethan: Yeah! “Why didn’t Ethan Embry get directing credit?!”

Seriously now, I want to ask you a question I asked him. The film is quite a compact story. Did its small size attract you to it?

Ethan: The undertone of the story deals with the economic situation that 99% of Americans find themselves in. It’s a moral question, underlined with all the comedic material we have. It takes a lot of material and condenses it down to 88 minutes. That’s what drew me to it in the beginning. It starts off and you’re watching a dramatic father’s struggle, turns into a comedy, and then starts ripping your gut out.

I asked E.L. this as well: Do you think genre films are better when they have sophisticated ideas at their core?

Ethan: Yeah. I think any art form, period, is going to lend itself a hand when it has a foundation of something that we can all identify with on a deeper level. Unless you’re doing something that’s really just for the ride of it, like Cabin in the Woods or Drag Me To Hell. I think why Cheap Thrills works is that you can be so ridiculous and cross so many boundaries because it has this realistic foundation. I think that’s what makes it as gut-wrenching as it is.

You and Pat have a great dynamic in the film. It’s very subtle. You start out as friends it seems, but that slowly melts away as the film wears on. You convey this through short glances you exchange or little jabs that become more and more offensive and brutal.

Ethan: First of all, I have a lot of respect for Pat. I think he’s a really smart man, and he’s very talented. When we started shooting, I made a conscious decision to look at the things I don’t like about Pat, personally. There had to be a reason why, in the film, we didn’t speak for five years. That being said, it couldn’t be so much that we wouldn’t have that drink in the bar together. I just started looking for the things in Pat that I don’t like. I never talked to him about it–I just did it. There was real tension there when we were shooting, but it was a calculated decision on my part. We had two weeks to shoot the movie–what’s the worst that could happen? I’ll bully him around for two weeks, and then it’ll be over. (laughs) I’ve talked to him since then, and now I treat him like I treat everybody else. You look for the good things in people. I’ve gone back to treating him like an actual person. (laughs)

Like you said, the film really guts you as it goes on. Did you have to go to a dark head space, and is that difficult for you as an actor, or is that just the gig?

Ethan: It’s a familiar place for me. I’m not a stranger to dark head spaces. That being said, I’m a happy person. But I’ve been to dark places before. I really like doing it for work. Most of the time, I’m allowed to go to a darker place than I allow myself to go in real life, so it’s a great outlet. If I can do that at work and convince myself that I’ve gone dark enough, I actually have a happier life after the job.

It’s cathartic for you.

Ethan: Exactly.

When I was younger, all of my girl friends had crushes on you.

Ethan: (laughs)

You were this cute kid in all these movies, and now you’re doing edgier roles. Do you relish those days of doing nice-guy roles, or do you prefer the tough-guy stuff? You’re great at both.

Ethan: First of all, I appreciate that you think I can pull off both. Yeah…I appreciate that. I was completely oblivious to any popularity when I was a kid. I never went to school, so I was never around my peers until my late twenties. I never had a peer group that was my age. All the films that I did back then took a long time to get popular. They had these slow burns to them. I like what I’m doing now because it feels truer to who I am right now. I was a crazy kid. The guy in That Thing You Do wasn’t so far off from what I was when I was sixteen, seventeen, you know?

I think putting on that goofy, over-the-top energy “thing” was me figuring out a way to not deal with the darker side of me. Now I’ve decided that it’s okay to be darker, bitter and pissed off all the time. (laughs) I’m a man now, you know? I’m a late bloomer. I don’t think I could pull of those nice-guy characters anymore, physically. I’d look like someone with a disability. “Why is that guy with Aspergers so ripped?” (laughs)

New York independent film and music distributor Factory 25 has acquired rights to mumblecore god Joe Swanberg‘s (Drinking Buddies) All the Light in the Sky, starring Jane Adams (Hung.) Adams plays Marie, a middle-aged actress living in Malibu who’s struggling to find work in the twilight of her career. When her young niece (Sophia Takal) comes to visit her waterfront home, Marie feels compelled to confront her midlife insecurities, mostly involving trust issues with men.

All the Light in the Sky was one of our favorite films from SF Indiefest earlier this year, and we’re very glad it got picked up. The film also stars several Swanberg regulars including Simon Barrett, Kent Osborne, Larry Fassenden, Ti West, and more.

Factory 25 will release the film on VOD and iTunes on December 3rd, with a theatrical run in New York following shortly thereafter on December 20th.

Watch the trailer for All the Light in the Sky:

The Green Inferno

It seemed to be fate that I’d have a day devoted exclusively to genre films at TIFF. After the excellent reaction to Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno at its midnight screening, I caught up with it the next day. This time Roth decides to take on a subgenre of horror that hasn’t been touched in a while: cannibal horror. Fans of Cannibal Ferox or Cannibal Holocaust should know that Roth delivers and then some when it comes to the cannibal part of the subgenre’s name.

A group of activist students decide to fly from New York to the Peruvian Amazon and protest a corporation bulldozing a primitive tribe. Their plan is seemingly successful, but only because of their manipulating of a UN Ambassador’s daughter (Lorenza Izzo) to join the protest. On the way back their plane crashes in the forest, and soon enough they’re all kidnapped by the tribe they were protecting.

Roth has been known for his gory horror films, and The Green Inferno is by far his goriest one yet. The effects by KnB are too well-done, in that they can be downright disgusting at times. The second half of Inferno, where the cast tries to survive the tribe’s brutality, benefits from its focus on the nastiness. A few scenes are total howlers, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Roth made these with the midnight crowd in mind.

The ultraviolent second half can’t sustain the film though, and it’s more of a relief than anything considering how godawful everything before it is. Roth has assembled a cast of bad actors and bad accents, who all deliver bad dialogue. The inclusion of political commentary on activism is laughable too, but it’s not surprising since Roth has never been known for his depth. Fans of Cabin Fever and Hostel will love The Green Inferno as it has more unlikable characters getting brutally killed, but this proves that Roth can never live up to the hype he’s been building for himself over the years.

RATING: 5.6

The Sacrament

It was interesting to follow up The Green Inferno with The Sacrament, Ti West’s new film which was actually produced and presented by Eli Roth. Roth introduced the film at its TIFF premiere, telling audiences who saw The Green Inferno to “delete” that movie from their memory before The Sacrament began (I was way ahead of Roth long before he said that). West is one of the few American horror directors working today who can actually make something scary, and he continues to prove that with his latest film. It’s a lesser work in comparison to the rest of his filmography, but it’s still a creepy little horror film that stays consistent with West’s work up to now.

The Sacrament is framed as a documentary by VICE Magazine. Opening with a text crawl that explains the term “immersionism” and how it relates to VICE, correspondent Sam (AJ Bowen) explains how his friend Patrick (Kentucker Audley) received a letter from his sister (Amy Seimetz) talking about a religious group she joined that moved from the US into an unnamed country. Patrick accepts her invitation to visit the compound, taking Sam and a cameraman (Joe Swanberg) along without telling them.

Ti West is clearly obsessed with Jonestown, and The Sacrament essentially is a Jonestown movie. I assume that legally he couldn’t adapt the true story, but he follows the basic facts of what happened in Guyana closely. The modern setting and use of a camera crew puts a spin on it, along with a few other dramatic liberties West takes, but for anyone who has heard of Jim Jones it will be very easy to know where things will go.

Amazingly The Sacrament still worked for me despite knowing everything that would happen. This is because the events at Jonestown are so horrifying that the first two acts are filled with dread at what’s about to come. West plays into that too, periodically dropping some moments in that show something is seriously wrong with the compound. Once cult leader Father (Gene Jones) shows up to do an interview with the documentary crew, The Sacrament begins firing on all cylinders. Jones is fantastic as Father, with the interview sequence showing just how charismatic and dangerous he is as a character.

Soon after the interview things begin taking a turn for the worse, making way for the intense and disturbing final act. With The Sacrament West intelligently uses the mockumentary (calling it found footage wouldn’t be entirely accurate, as West said himself at the Q&A) format, creating a realistic what-if scenario of Jonestown if it happened today. He also stages some seriously impressive sequences, using long takes and stationary shots to pull off some truly disturbing moments. The Sacrament might not quite be a breakout for West, as the concept might not fly with mainstream audiences, but it still establishes him as one of the only consistent horror filmmakers working today.

RATING: 7.1

Canopy

Part of me wanted to describe The Sacrament as a minimalist film for its genre, but after seeing Aaron Wilson’s Canopy, Ti West’s film looks insanely busy in comparison. Running at just under 80 minutes, Canopy is a very simple feature that sometimes thrives off of its no frills approach.

In the jungles of Singapore during World War II, an Australian pilot (Khan Chittenden) crashes his plane. Waking up hanging from a tree, he stumbles around the jungle trying to avoid Japanese soldiers. He eventually runs into a Chinese resistance fighter (Tzu-Yi Mo) who is hiding in the jungle for the same reasons. From there the two of them team up by pure necessity, trying to escape without being spotted and killed.

The one thing everyone will mention about Canopy is its gorgeous technical work, and it deserves the praise. With approximately 6 or 7 words spoken in the film, the visuals and sound end up doing most of the heavy lifting. The locations are gorgeous, and cinematographer Stefan Duscio provides an abundance of gorgeous images in the jungle setting. As nice as the visuals are, the real winner here is the sound design. It’s obvious that a lot of care went into providing the soundtrack to Canopy, and the results can be heard. It’s completely immersive, and when Wilson decides to throw in a few expressionist sequences the visuals and sound work together quite well.

With all that said, Canopy‘s simplistic approach ends up being more of a detriment than a benefit to the film. As accomplished as the film is technically, the main relationship doesn’t feel natural in the slightest, and the whole thing feels very slight by the time the surprisingly abrupt ending comes around. Canopy functions as a good way for Wilson to establish himself as a talented director and craftsman, but there’s very little to go on other than his technical skills. Hopefully with a follow-up feature, Wilson can show that he can create some substance to match his style.

RATING: 6.5

Oculus

My day ended at the World Premiere of Mike Flanagan’s Oculus. It was midnight, and the crowd was rowdy and ready to go once programmer Colin Geddes introduced the film. It was a bit of a surprise then that, other than some applause for a few sequences here and there, the crowd was dead silent through most of the film. That speaks to the power of Flanagan’s film, which is a terrific horror movie and the most entertaining film I’ve seen up to this point.

Kaylie (Karen Gillan) and Tim (Brenton Thwaites) are siblings who haven’t recovered from their parents deaths 11 years ago. Their father (Rory Cochrane) tortured and murdered their mother (Katee Sackhoff) before Tim shot and killed him in self-defense. The incident put Tim in a mental hospital for a decade, and the film starts with him getting released from psychiatric care at age 21. Kaylie tells him upon his release that she’s found the cause of their parents deaths: The Lasser Glass, a centuries-old mirror in their childhood home that supposedly drives its owners to harm themselves and others.

Kaylie and Tim bring the mirror back to their childhood home, with Kaylie setting up an elaborate plan to prove the mirror’s sinister influence and destroy it once and for all. Oculus, which was adapted from Flanagan’s short of the same title, ports over the same sequence from the original short almost word-for-word: A long, exposition-filled monologue explaining the mirror’s history along with all of its victims. This sequence, which is excellently done in both films, gets to the heart of what makes Mike Flanagan such a terrific horror director (Note: I’m a big fan of Flanagan’s past work, and I included his film Absentia on our Great Horror Films You Haven’t Seen feature). He knows the power of a good, well-developed backstory, and viewers will eat up the extensive history of the haunted mirror.

And for most of Oculus, the creep factor comes from discovering just how powerful the Lasser Glass mirror truly is. The mirror’s power is entirely through screwing around with people’s perception, and its manipulations are so extensive that by the end of the film it’s hard not to be freaked out.

Flanagan and Jeff Howard’s screenplay is a truly rare thing in the horror genre: It’s smart. The film crosscuts between Kaylie and Tim’s present-day battle with the Lasser glass and what happened to them as children. At first this seems like an odd choice, given that we’ve already been explained about what happened to their parents from the beginning, but by the final act it comes together in a truly effective way. Without giving away too much, the mirror’s distortion of perceptions eventually merges the two timelines in a way that’s so seamless it’s hard to notice exactly when the changes occurred. It’s an inventive way to change up the cross-cutting, and watching it in action makes for a truly admirable site. I can’t think of the last time a horror film used a single location so well, or had a structure so ambitious.

Admittedly there is a little bit of a cheese factor here, mainly with some ghosts that don’t have the same chilling impact as the scenes where people get tricked by the mirror, but it isn’t distracting enough to bring things down. Oculus is a truly rare horror film these days: one that’s truly original, with a great screenplay and some legitimately unsettling moments. It currently does not have distribution but it’s the best horror film I’ve seen this year, and I have a good feeling that it will stay on top at the end of 2013. In my write-up for Absentia I said that, with a bigger scale Flanagan might deliver something truly special. After seeing Oculus I’d say he delivered on that promise, and then some.

RATING: 7.5

Stay tuned for an interview with Mike Flanagan

Next up:

I start the day with Kelly Reichardt’s Night Moves before moving on to the follow-up from the director of Revanche and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. And oh yeah, I squeeze in some time for a little film playing here called Gravity.

It’s no wonder Adam Wingard’s indie horror flick You’re Next is so damn good—with fellow indie powerhouse filmmakers like Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, and Ti West walking around the blood-splattered set, Wingard was in good company. But take no credit away; he demonstrates he’s got a long and successful directorial career ahead of him. The film—which you can drop in the home invasion column of the horror genre—is 100% organic, pulpy, fresh-squeezed terror in a bottle. It’s an overwhelming rush of pure, insanely violent, visceral horror cinema executed with impeccable style. You’re Next is a straight-up shot of blood and guts with no chaser.

The setup is pretty straightforward—the Davison family gathers for a reunion at their gigantic forested mansion estate. It’s a comfortable cage for the unwitting prey. The knit-sweater-wearing, millionaire patriarch, Paul (Rob Moran), and his jumpy, medicated wife Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) are joined by their four adult children—Crispian (AJ Bowen), a college professor, Drake (Swanberg), an instigative bonehead, Aimee (Seimetz), a dumb, walking squeak toy, and Felix, an immature brat.

Each whiny, spoiled-rotten sibling has brought along a significant other, and at dinner, meathead Drake prods Paul about how “unprofessional” it is to be dating his former student, Erin (Sharni Vinson, who just sits and listens uncomfortably.) The argument heats up and Aimee’s boyfriend, Tariq (West) removes himself from the table, walks to a window, and WHAM! Arrow in the face! We have our first kill, just like that, and from there Wingard keeps his foot heavy on the gas pedal.

You’re Next embraces and celebrates the quick, nasty kill. The deaths are to-the-point, brutal and streamlined—no convoluted Rube Goldberg machine kills here, people. Wingard sticks to good ol’ machetes, knives, and other sharp objects being shoved into skulls. The film’s pace is unrelenting, maintaining a high level of urgency throughout. Wingard gives you no time to breathe, which makes the experience purely sensory and reactionary. There’s really nothing special or inventive about the plot’s many twists and turns, but the film’s breakneck speed makes you far less prepared for them when they come. It’s like riding a kiddie roller coaster at 200 MPH. In the immortal words of Harvey Keitel’s “The Wolf”, this film is “fast, fast, fast.”

A pleasant surprise is that the characters aren’t just lambs lining up for the slaughter—they’re interesting people and their dialogue is punchy and often hilarious. If you’re an indie film geek, Wingard throws more than a few in-jokes for you to chew on. For instance, at the dinner table before his William Tell demise, West (one of the best horror directors working) shares that he’s an independent filmmaker who screens his movies at “underground” film festivals. Swanberg (god of the mumblecore scene) snidely inquires if the festivals are literally held underground, and sarcastically proposes that TV commercials are a more sophisticated art form. Hell, the simple fact that he’s cast Swanberg as an uncultured dummy and Seimetz (known for arthouse gems like Upstream Color) as a grating airhead is funny in itself.

The killers picking off the Davison clan—a sort of animal-mask-wearing S.W.A.T. team—aren’t the most original scary movie villains you’ll find, but their imposing, violent physicality and Wingard’s excellent camerawork makes them feel formidable and frightening.

What is original, however, is Vinson, whose character unexpectedly disrupts what would otherwise be a fairly one-sided killing spree. You see, she’s just as, if not more, deadly and gifted at killing than the masked murderers. For reasons revealed halfway through the film, she’s well-versed at armed and unarmed combat and has a MacGyver/Kevin McCallister-like encyclopedic knowledge of trap-setting (a nail and a foot come to mind.) What results is an even match-up between trained predators, a thrilling turning of the tables that makes for some epic moments of delightful bad-assery. At my press screening there were multiple rounds of applause for Vinson, and one impassioned audience member even screamed “I love you!” at the screen as she repeatedly walloped of one of the invaders in the head with a meat tenderizer. It’s really, really fun to root for her, and it’s nice to have a horror movie protagonist that outshines the villains for once. She’s one to watch.

The film’s score is key in cultivating the film’s inescapable tension. It’s comprised of ominous electronic drones and synths that contrast nicely with the gritty on-screen action, and the sound design is equally effective. Wingard and DP Andrew Droz Palermo keep things visually interesting throughout. Everything, from the constantly shifting, evocative lighting, to the careful camera placement, to the neat technical tricks (most involving blurry reflections), contribute to creating a deep sense of dread.

What Wingard’s made is a horror movie for horror movie geeks. You’re Next even pays homage (intentionally or not) to classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Rear Window (in a sequence that will jolt your senses), and even Home Alone. You’re Next is an absolute beast of a horror picture that’s so fierce, barbaric, and terrifying that the guy sitting next to me in the theater started to convulse from fright and leaped over his chair and bolted out of the theater. Plus, it’s got a brain and a stellar heroine to boot. See it with friends—you’ll gasp, scream, jump, and squirm in unison, the sign of a true horror masterpiece. It’s gonna be hard to top this one.

You’re Next trailer:

You’re Next

Throughout the first week of SFIFF, as I walked, drove, and BARTed my way around the city, there was one thing I heard more than anything else from fellow festival-goers—“You need to see You’re Next!” No other film at the festival garnered such buzz, which compelled me to check it out, though I was positive the film couldn’t live up to the hype. Just like always (ask my wife), I was wrong. Adam Wingard’s indie-horror kill-fest blew me away with its watch-through-your-fingers scares and creative kills.

The plot of You’re Next isn’t groundbreaking—a rich, sweater-wearing family is attacked in their cushy vacation home by psycho killers with crossbows wearing animal masks that look like they were bought at a Party America Halloween sale. It’s creepy stuff, but again—nothing groundbreaking. What makes this movie so effective and feel so fresh is that the bloody massacre is supported by sound, savvy filmmaking by Wingard.

Unfortunately, most horror films exchange artistry for mindless gore, but You’re Next makes no such compromise. Some of the kills (there’s a load of ‘em) have been seen before in older, more popular films, but here they feel extra violent and hit with a bone-rattling jolt. The film’s focus is on extreme, visceral violence, not gore. The sharp editing and flawless sound design are the keys to achieving such raw levels of intensity.

The cast, a tight-knit troupe of indie directors (Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, Ti West), give excellent, ego-less performances (Seimetz is hilarious), and it was surely a huge asset for Wingard to have such talent on hand. Over the past few months, I’ve been touched and moved by some of the cast members’ artsy, weighty films, so it was a lot of fun to watch them run wild in such a crazy, brutal movie. It’s fantastic news that the film is finally being released (it’s been in studio-limbo since 2011), and I can’t wait for you all to see it. Time to sack up, folks.

Museum Hours

An American woman (Mary Margaret O’Hara) is called to Austria to visit an ailing friend, and while visiting the Vienna’s world famous Kunsthistorisches Museum, meets Johann (Bobby Sommer), a genial patrolman. The two quickly become friends and engage in a days-long, existential discussion that leads to endless self-discovery. The museum and the snow-blanketed city feel unstuck from the world, a sanctuary for the two to explore and mold each other through the art they ponder and the life experiences they exchange. As they make their deep connection, mortality looms in the form of Anne’s dying friend.

The brilliant works of art in Museum Hours are beautifully captured (jaw-dropping), and director Jem Cohen and DP Peter Rohsler echo the immense artistry of the art in their gorgeous cinematography. Every damn shot is breathtaking and immaculately composed. Cohen intermittently cuts in thoughtfully selected close-ups of paintings, which jogs our memory and emotions. It’s completely engaging and makes this movie not only thoughtful, but sensual. Sommer and O’Hara move effortlessly throughout the film, endearing us to them with every passing moment. Their relationship feels real and isn’t easily defined. There’s something uniquely charming about the way Sommer speaks and holds himself. His voice carries empathy and wisdom, and his monologues feel as profound as the museums’ works, though he carries no pretension. Of all the films at SFIFF, this is the prettiest I’ve seen.

Stay Tuned to Way Too Indie for our full reviews of You’re Next and Museum Hours.

V/H/S feels like a natural conclusion to the found footage subgenre that’s become increasingly popular since Paranormal Activity‘s success. While Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project focused on a sense of realism to draw people in, V/H/S is anything but. As an anthology film revolving around the home video format, all the pretenses and rules that come with the style are thrown out. These are six short horror films that all share the same aesthetic simply to take advantage of the visceral, exciting feeling that comes with stumbling on something one isn’t meant to see. V/H/S makes a good attempt at breathing new life into the genres it covers but, like most anthology films, the results are mixed.

“Tape 56” serves as the wraparound story for each short film. Shot on an old VHS camcorder along with a digital camera (all of the tapes have been edited together in a way that suggests someone compiled the footage after the fact), it follows a group of men who make quick money by ambushing women in public and stripping them. A fan of their work contacts them with an offer that pays well: Film themselves breaking into a house to steal an old VHS tape. They agree, but all they find in the house is a dead man and a pile of unlabelled tapes. One by one they start going through the tapes, and this is how each story is introduced.

The first tape, called “Amateur Night,” is the strongest story out of all six. The tape is made by a group of young guys who use a hidden camera on a pair of glasses. Their goal is to secretly film themselves hooking up with whoever they can pick up at the bars, and in no time they’re bringing two women back to their motel room. The only problem is that one of the girls they picked up appears to have a million red flags around her which, naturally, doesn’t end well for them. This short builds up plenty of tension thanks to the perfect casting of the girl they take back. Once things do go to hell, “Amateur Night” goes all-out with the insanity which leads to some of V/H/S‘ biggest thrills.

“Second Honeymoon” is the next tape which comes from Ti West (The Innkeepers, House of the Devil). People expecting West to change his usual slow-burn style will be disappointed here. His short, which follows a couple on vacation who encounter a creepy stranger, is the only film out of the bunch that tries to pass itself off as realistic. That means the scares are limited, but West is focused on something other than cheap thrills. “Second Honeymoon” is focused on the horror of having a person’s privacy being violated. Once West reveals the horror aspect of his segment, it’s the most unsettling moment in the entirety of V/H/S. Unfortunately the ending has a twist that doesn’t work, but conceptually Ti West’s story shows why he’s considered one of the best American horror directors working today.

The next tape, cheekily titled “Tuesday The 17th,” plays out like a slasher film in fast-forward. Four people drive out to a lake for a camping trip which expectedly plays out like any other camping trip in a horror film. The killer’s portrayal as some sort of ghostly figure that only shows up on tape as a glitch creates a neat stylistic effect, but “Tuesday” crams too much plot in its short runtime. Most of the dialogue is exposition which results in a lot of stilted lines from its cast. If the short had a little more breathing room it could have been more enjoyable and less awkward with its delivery.

Joe Swanberg (who starred in “Second Honeymoon”) directs “The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger” which plays out entirely through recorded video chat sessions between a couple. Emily believes her new apartment is haunted while her boyfriend plays skeptic. Swanberg, who’s known more for his attachment to the ‘mumblecore’ genre, directs the weakest story. Part of this is because everything hinges on a twist that’s so poorly conceived it tanks the derivative first half of his short. While the video chat gimmick seems ripe with potential “Sick Thing” doesn’t capitalize on it enough to make something memorable.

The final tape, which surprisingly starts after the end of the forgettable wraparound story, ends V/H/S on a strong note. “10/31/98” follows yet another group of young men as they head out to a Halloween party. They get lost and end up at the wrong house, but they keep investigating and wind up discovering something sinister in the attic. This short, like “Amateur Night,” goes for broke with a climax that feels like a funhouse ride. It’s all silly, but the execution is so gleeful that it becomes infectious. “10/31/98” might not be the best short out of the bunch, but it makes for a hell of a fun time.

Other than the two well-done tapes that bookend the film, V/H/S is hit and miss. “Second Honeymoon” would have impressed if not for its clunky ending, and the two shorts that follow it drag things down considerably. As an anthology film it has a clever concept that links everything together (if this is successful there will definitely be more ‘tapes’ being made for a sequel), but it can’t break free from the inconsistency that plagues these kinds of movies.

Well Horror fans, we finally got a trailer for V/H/S. Premiering yesterday on Yahoo Movies, the trailer promises to be filled with kills, chills and blood spills. Bringing together some of the hottest young blood in the horror genre, the film is a POV found footage flick that is actually an anthology film. The premise involves a few people brought together by a mysterious party to ransack a house in search of peculiar VHS tape. By the looks of it they end up finding hell.

Some of the directors whose work is on display here is Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die). Wingard also directed You’re Next, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and still has no release date. David Bruckner who made the horror/comedy/drama hybrid The Signal a few years back actually wrote two of the vignettes. Also contributing is Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers), who I think is the best American filmmaker working in Horror today. The film premieres on Video on Demand August 31st while a theatrical release isn’t until October 5th.

So sit back and enjoy the red band trailer that is DEFINITELY not safe for work.

Watch V/H/S official trailer:

Ti West’s The Innkeepers is one hell of a slow burner. The film moves at a snail’s pace but is none-the-less fascinating at how it achieves a grand atmosphere. All the credit goes to West, a young director who is on a hot streak with this film and the one prior, The House of the Devil.

West (who is only 31 years old) knows horror inside out and more importantly, he loves the genre. For only having a few films under his belt, West shows a lot of talent. He knows how to manipulate the audience. I think manipulation can be bad in a lot of cases when it involves controlling the audience, but in the horror genre I think it’s absolutely fine.

Save for one scene I believe, the entirety of The Innkeepers takes place at the Yankee Pedlar Inn during its final days of being open. The boss is away on vacation and our two heroes are left to run the show. They are played by Sara Paxton and Pat Healy. For me Paxton is a dead ringer for actress Alexis Bleidel at times the resemblance is uncanny.

Paxton plays Claire and Healy plays Luke. Luke has been obsessed with old haunted hotels/inns, he even frequents a website about them. The two dedicate their final days at the hotel to finding any kind of evidence that ghosts populate their hotel. Luke’s obsession becomes Claire’s obsession. There seems to be an unfortunate irony about this when it’s all said and done.

The hotel has a few guests in its waning hours. A mother and her young son staying a few days after she got into a huge fight with her husband are two of them. Another guest is a former actress who is in town for a conference. She’s played by 80’s star Kelly McGillis. You remember her, she was in Witness with Harrison Ford and Top Gun with Tom Cruise. There is a bit more to her character that what is first let on. Finally an old man shows up. He demands a certain room. Even after Luke and Claire explain to him that the third floor is being worked on, he insists. They eventually oblige him and give his room.

I’m done describing the plot and its characters because there isn’t really much else to say. It’s a horror movie in an old hotel involving characters looking for ghosts. You can pretty much imagine what eventually ends up happening.

What I’d like to focus on is West’s control over this film. No one in American horror has the focus and restraint that West has. Instead of throwing scares at us left and right, West lets scenes build on one another. Power resonates more in later scenes because he allows his earlier scenes to just flow and grow organically.

Sure West will throw in a cheap scare here and there. But remember what I said about him manipulating the audience? By giving you a cheap scare, you’ll be expecting some here and there. You may or may not get one. West has you strung from strings like a marionette as he sits above you pulling on them.

West’s work behind the camera is so good you’d think he’d have been doing this for 20 years. His camera movements and angles are impeccable. There are a few moments in the film where he just lets the camera linger. Whether it is a long corridor or piano keys or a computer screen, the camera studies them quietly, suggesting certain monstrosities are sure to arrive. This all creates a sense of atmospheric dread.

The Innkeepers is that rare horror film (much like The House of the Devil was when it came out) that takes its time with its plot. It doesn’t rush anything. The story builds with meticulous power at a miraculously slow pace that builds to a melancholy ending.

If you find yourself looking for a movie to watch one night with some friends, seek The Innkeepers out. Close the curtains throw down the lights and turn up the volume. Just be sure to remind yourself that it’s only a movie.

The authentic 80’s atmosphere in this demonic horror flick really makes you feel like you are watching something they pulled out of a vault somewhere. Director Ti West baptized The House of the Devil in the most unholy of 80’s horror nostalgia. Shoty camera work, big Farrah hair and an even bigger Walkman cassette player are just a few of the things that make it such a wonderful blast from the past.

Samantha, a sweet collage sophomore is moving out of the dorms, away from nasty, nympho, slob roommate and into a her own little cozy apartment. Unfortunately, like many collage kids, she has no money. So paying first months rent is going to be tricky. Desperate to take any job she can get, she calls a number she finds on a flier that simply says “baby $itter needed”. She gets there and they offer a overly generous wage. So whats the catch? Well for starters there is no kid, just pure evil.

This was a fun movie with a few really good moments. I feel like a lot of horror movies go for cheap scares these days, so its nice to to see something with a little class. But it was certainly not perfect. I felt at times that they started making it without really knowing where it was going. When I was done watching I felt that nothing really happened.

Aside from the sloppy storyline and the slight feeling of “that’s it?” It was quite enjoyable.