He may have suffered a misstep when Lionsgate took the 2009 cult sequel Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever away from him, but Ti West didn’t let it get him down. The young writer/director/actor burst onto the scene with his well-received ‘80s homage horror indie flick House of the Devil, but after his bad experience with mainstream movie making, he took his time with his next work, The Innkeepers. The new haunted hotel feature is already on VOD and set to hit theaters In February, making it the first of many projects West will roll out over the next year.
In an interview with The Playlist, the horror helmer talked plans for a number of films, including a vignette in an upcoming anthology called The ABCs of Horror and pre-production on The Side Effect, a sci-fi movie he describes as “pharmaceutical testing in space and paranoia.” He also discussed hopes for financing what he describes as a Thelma and Lousie-style female road movie about junkie hookers, for which he has already written a script. I get the feeling that he might not want to hold his breath on that one.
But even with a number of new possibilities on the horizon, West couldn’t help but reflect on the current Hollywood attitudes that helped ruin his chance at a mainstream career, attitudes that are also making it harder for indie filmmakers like him. On getting backing for The Side Effects, he observed:
“When a movie like ‘Paranormal Activity’ is made for 30 grand and makes 150 million dollars, that’s all anyone wants to do anymore. So when I say, we need three and a half, four million dollars to make this movie, they’re like, how about you just make a found-footage movie for 50 grand? We can give you that. And I don’t want to do that. So it’s a weird time for indie movies, but I think we’ll get it made. But like I said, it takes a little longer.”
Despite his lamentations, however, the guy is no bitter anti-found footage advocate – he recently contributed a segment to V/H/S, a found footage anthology film that will premiere at Sundance this year. Still, with outer space drugs and empowered junkie hookers on the brain, who can focus on holding a grudge?
Do you think the found footage movement is ruining horror movies? What do you think about the future of the genre?