TiWest Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Indie Roundup: 'Splinterheads,' 'Ghost World,' 'Devil'
Filed under: New Releases », Box Office », Cinematical Indie »
Clockwise from upper left: Splinterheads, Ghost World, An Education, House of the Devil.
Opening. Amiable and pleasant, Splinterheads revolves around a romance between Justin (Thomas Middleditch), an aimless small town dreamer, and Galaxy (Rachael Taylor), a gorgeous grifter who (literally) bumps into him at a gas station. She's more interested in separating him from his money than getting to know the lunkhead within, while he quickly decides that he's met the love of his life -- or, even better, a reason to leave his upstate New York world behind and start living for himself instead of his mother and grandfather.
Brent Sersen (Blackballed) is a better director than writer; the characters hold few surprises and the plot's trajectory threatens to die of old age before it reaches its pre-ordained conclusion. Still, he takes advantage of a visiting carnival and the grifter's obsession with geocaching, a variation on treasure hunting, to string together several lyrical interludes and enough laughs to deserve a recommendation. Dean Winters, Lea Thompson, and Christopher McDonald provide reliable support. Splinterheads opens in New York on Friday and expands to other cities the following week; check the official site for theaters and showtimes. Also opening in New York the same day: Collapse, Chris Smith's latest doc (more from last week and the exclusive poster debut).
On-Demand / Online Viewing. Terry Zwigoff's adaptation of Daniel Clowes' graphic novel Ghost World departs from the source material quite abruptly, but still remains faithful to the dark spirit of loneliness that haunts the characters. Thora Birch, Scarlett Johannson, and Steve Buscemi star. It's now available on FilmBuff, Cinetic's cable on-demand channel; check local listings to watch this essential indie at home.
After the jump: Who educated the devil?
Review: The House of the Devil
Filed under: Horror », Magnolia », Theatrical Reviews »
By Eric D. Snider (reprint from 5/3/2009 -- Tribeca Film Festival)
The House of the Devil is a great name for a movie. It hearkens back to the days of grindhouse horror, when a film's title and its trailer told you basically everything you needed to know. Yet it's different from those movies, too, in that it prefers slow-building tension over frequent bloodletting and mayhem. You have to wait for "The House of the Devil" to deliver on its promises -- but when it does, holy crap. I know that isn't a very scholarly analysis, but seriously. Holy crap.
The film is set in the early 1980s, apparently, with appropriately synthesized rock on the soundtrack and lots of freeze-frames in the opening credits. Our perky young heroine, Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), is a college student who's sick of living in the dorms and is preparing to move into an apartment with her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig). Eager to earn some money to facilitate the move, Samantha responds to a flier posted on a campus bulletin board looking for a babysitter. Rather suspiciously (to me, anyway), the flier is blank except for a phone number and the words "BABYSITTER WANTED."
The clients are the Ulmans -- Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) is a tall, gentle-voiced man who uses a walking stick; his wife (Mary Woronov) is old-school sophisticated, a woman whose evening wear requires fur. Samantha learns when she arrives at the house -- a huge old isolated place, I needn't tell you -- that the babysitting duties will be slightly different from the norm, but it's not a deal-breaker. And the Ulmans are offering a lot of money.
Interview: 'House of the Devil' Director Ti West
Filed under: Horror », Interviews »
If there's a thin line between confidence and arrogance, Ti West straddles it. Not unlike many of the characteristics ascribed to his films, however, that's a compliment rather than a criticism: his sense of self-worth as a filmmaker is predicated on personal responsibility, and because he participates in the writing, directing and editing of his films (among other duties), he is eager to take the credit, or blame, for the end result, which is why he's insistent – or, as he admits, "a little difficult" – about the fact that he wants what makes it to the screen to be his vision rather than the result of test-marketing or some other form of studio interference.
The House of the Devil is his latest film, and thankfully it arrives in theaters this week unimpeded by any such changes. Cinematical recently sat down with West at a Los Angeles press day for a short one-on-one discussion of the film, which follows a college sophomore (Jocelin Donahue) who gets more than she bargains for when a lucrative babysitting job turns into a night of abject terror. In addition to discussing the film's note-perfect recreation of 1980s horror conventions, not to mention period details, West talked about striking a balance between mundane boredom and mortifying terror, and finally, learning lessons even from lackluster filmmaking experiences.
Cinematical: How did this evolve, and how did you develop the aesthetic for House of the Devil? It's an incredibly faithful recreation of a 1980s horror movie.
Tribeca Review: The House of the Devil
Filed under: Horror », Independent », New Releases », Tribeca », Theatrical Reviews », Festival Reports »
The House of the Devil is a great name for a movie. It hearkens back to the days of grindhouse horror, when a film's title and its trailer told you basically everything you needed to know. Yet it's different from those movies, too, in that it prefers slow-building tension over frequent bloodletting and mayhem. You have to wait for "The House of the Devil" to deliver on its promises -- but when it does, holy crap. I know that isn't a very scholarly analysis, but seriously. Holy crap.
The film is set in the early 1980s, apparently, with appropriately synthesized rock on the soundtrack and lots of freeze-frames in the opening credits. Our perky young heroine, Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), is a college student who's sick of living in the dorms and is preparing to move into an apartment with her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig). Eager to earn some money to facilitate the move, Samantha responds to a flier posted on a campus bulletin board looking for a babysitter. Rather suspiciously (to me, anyway), the flier is blank except for a phone number and the words "BABYSITTER WANTED."
The clients are the Ulmans -- Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) is a tall, gentle-voiced man who uses a walking stick; his wife (Mary Woronov) is old-school sophisticated, a woman whose evening wear requires fur. Samantha learns when she arrives at the house -- a huge old isolated place, I needn't tell you -- that the babysitting duties will be slightly different from the norm, but it's not a deal-breaker. And the Ulmans are offering a lot of money.
First 'Cabin Fever 2' Stills Come to Life
Filed under: Horror », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels », Images »
The splatter-fest started by director Eli Roth and his film Cabin Fever continues for director Ti West in the sequel to the film -- cleverly titled Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Matt Bradshaw recently brought us news of the sequel when filming began in North Carolina; we got casting news concerning the appearances of comedian Judah Friedlander, actor-director Larry Fessenden and the surprise return of original cast member Rider Strong, who's character apparently didn't die in the first film. We also got some plot details; the sequel's story concerns the return of the mysterious flesh eating virus as it infects a high school prom. Naturally, during the course of the film, blood, gore and nudity ensue.Now, thanks to Dread Central, we can add production stills to our small but growing cache of info about Cabin Fever 2. Over at the site they've posted a couple of pictures from their recent visit to the set. Among other things, the pictures show director West covered in gallons of fake blood and a very realistic shot of a poor student's hand being removed to stop the spread of the virus, giving us an indication that this film will not only continue the bloody scenes from Cabin Fever but will up the blood amount. The first Cabin Fever was a pretty cleaver horror movie that proved you don't need a huge budget or big stars. From what I can tell so far, the sequel looks to be shaping up as a worthy successor.
SXSW Review: Trigger Man
Filed under: Action », Drama », Horror », Thrillers », SXSW », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie »
There's so much I like (and want to like) about Ti West's Trigger Man that I'm willing to overlook a few flaws and missteps. For example, the movie moves amazingly slowly. I'm sure that Mr. West knows it's a fairly draggy experience for the first two acts, and that's probably exactly how he wants the movie: Lull the audience in and convince them that this three-person hunting expedition is the pinnacle of all things mundane. This approach allows the eventual horrors to feel all the more shocking and realistic. And while there's certainly nothing wrong with the "slow burn" approach to thriller flicks, Trigger Man often threatens to slow down to a literal crawl. I may have been interested in the skimpy and admirably minimalistic story ... but damn if I wasn't fidgeting in my seat more than once or twice.
The plot is like Deliverance Junior, minus the man-on-man rape. A group of three pals head into the forest to hunt some deer. (This takes up the first half of the movie.) Eventually a shot rings out and our three protagonists have become two. The second half of Trigger Man is focused on the pair of survivors and the methods in which they try to escape from a killer who's as accurate with a rifle as he is virtually invisible. Based on actual events, Trigger Man offers a stripped-bare woodland thriller that probably would have worked a whole lot better as a 50-minute film, but it takes feature-length to get any attention these days, and I suspect that Mr. West was compelled to simply stretch the thing out as far as it could go.
Full Cast List Announced for Cabin Fever 2
Filed under: Horror », Lionsgate Films », Remakes and Sequels »
Just a few days ago Mr. Ryan Stewart informed you that Larry Fessenden and Alexi Wasser had been signed to star in the sequel to Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, but those hard-working lunatics over at Bloody-Disgusting.com have also now unleashed the complete cast list for Ti West's follow-up ... and it it looks exactly like you'd expect from a cult-horror sequel called Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. In addition to the lovely Ms. Wasser and the multi-hatted Mr. Fessenden, a number of other folks will line up to be devoured by an inevitably icky skin condition, and the list has been made public.
Giuseppe Andrews (he played Deputy Winston in the original Cabin Fever), Mark Borchardt (American Movie, The Tunnel), Judah Friedlander (Feast, Napoleon Dynamite), Rusty Kelley (Dear Pillow, The Cassidy Kids), Marc Senter (The Lost), Noah Segan (Brick, Waterborne) and ... Rider Strong? Wasn't he also in the first Fever? And didn't he die pretty horribly? Director West (who has under his belt The Roost and the SXSW-premiering Trigger Man) is keeping plot details on the down-low, but he promises that the sequel will not be a "re-hash" of the original. But what I'm wondering is ... will this be a theatrical release or a DTV baby? As a big fan of the first flick, I look forward to seeing the sequel either way, obviously -- but this is starting to feel like a "home video premiere" type of project.
Cabin Fever Sequel Cast Falling Into Place
Filed under: Horror », Casting », Fandom »
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Listen up, horror fans -- some casting news has been announced for the sequel to Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, which will be directed by Ti West. According to Bloody-disgusting.com, Larry Fessenden, an actor which credits such as Trigger Man, Headspace and The Roost on his resume, will have a small role in the film. Further details are available about his part at Bloody-disgusting, but be prepared to find spoilers if you go there. In other casting news, actress Alexi Wasser has joined the film. Wasser is best known for films such as Art School Confidential and Factory Girl.
For those who still haven't seen the original film and have no idea what the fuss is all about, the first one dealt with a group of college graduates who are stuck in a remote cabin and have to deal with the effects of a flesh-eating virus. Eli Roth has no known involvement in the sequel, but did produce a 2004 documentary called Cabin Fever: Beneath the Skin, in which the cast and crew talked about the making of the film and how the special effects were created. Roth is hard at work on finishing up Hostel: Part II -- to read about all of his other upcoming plans, you can check out Erik's report from this weekend's NYComicCon.
Roost Maker Presents Trigger Man
Filed under: Horror », Independent », Cinematical Indie »
If you're a horror fan who digs deep into Netflix's new release rack, then you've probably seen Ti West's The Roost by now. It's an admirably weird little throwback to the Saturday afternoon monster matinees that features killer bats and tongue-in-cheek goofiness. So if you dug that flick and wanted to know when Mr. West's next offering might hit the scene ... well here it is: Trigger Man.Apparently based on actual events, Trigger Man seems to be about a group of hunters who travel deep into the forest, only to somehow become the prey! Scary! The official site offers a few interesting clues, plus the IMDb informs us that longtime indie guy Larry Fessenden will be making an appearance, so count me among those who'll be interested when Trigger Man hits DVD some time next year.
[Thanks to BD.com for the tip!]
New Director to Roost in Cabin Fever 2
Filed under: Horror », Lionsgate Films », Remakes and Sequels »
About a year ago I saw a rather creative little horror indie at the SXSW Film Festival called The Roost, which was directed by a first-timer named Ti West. It was at the same festival a few years earlier that I met a nut called Eli Roth, who was enthusiastically hawking his debut flick, Cabin Fever. So now it seems that the SXSW connection has joined these two filmmakers together; according to Bloody-Disgusting.com, Mr. West has been tapped by Lionsgate to helm the sequel to Roth's Cabin Fever.That's pretty much all the news we have to share at this point, but I figured the gorehounds would want to know the skinny ASAP -- especially with it being Halloween season and all. The Roost recently hit DVD (and is certainly worthy of a rental), while Cabin Fever has gone on to become a bona-fide cult favorite among the genre-obsessed. Mr. West is presently finishing up on a project called Trigger Man; Roth is currently wrapping up Hostel Part 2 and beginning to prepare his version of Stephen King's Cell for the silver screen.
More info as it becomes known!
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