Every Ti West Horror Movie, Ranked Worst To Best (According To IMDb)
Released on March 18, 2022, Ti West's new horror film X has drawn the best reviews of the filmmaker's career. A throwback slasher set in 1970s Texas, the film follows an adult film production that turns into a murderous maelstrom when the hosts of the shoot don't take too kindly to the lewd activity. Thanks to the plaudits it's drawn, a sequel entitled Pearl also starring Mia Goth is already in pre-production.
Since making his feature debut in 2005, Ti West has slowly but surely improved as a filmmaker, eventually becoming one of the most celebrated names in indie horror. Those looking to brush on his filmography before or after seeing X are in the right place.
7 Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever - 4.2
Despite the failed attempt to remove his name from the final product after several reshoots and edits, West was forced to bear responsibility for Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, his fourth feature film. Released six years after the Eli Roth original, the story takes place at a high-school prom where a gory flesh-eating disease runs roughshod over the teenage populace.
Aside from one super gnarly gymnasium massacre, the film failed to capture the absurdist tone of the original and was mired by so much studio tampering from Lionsgate that it failed to resonate among casual and ardent horror fans alike.
6 Trigger Man - 4.6
The most common refrain among IMDb users posting about the film suggests that Trigger Man is an interesting failure that, despite its shortcomings, definitely shows moments of filmmaking brilliance from West. However, aside from a few decent moments of suspense, the film is far too ponderous and meandering to be scary.
5 The Roost - 4.8
After directing two short films in 2001, West made his horror feature debut with The Roost in 2005, a supernatural spook story about a haunted barn full of rabid zombified creatures. While critical favored the film more than general IMDb users, the film has become more likable over time.
When four friends en route to a wedding are trapped on a freaky farm, they accidentally unlock a flock of batlike ghouls that turn those they bite into flesh-starved goblins. Not quite a zombie film, not quite a tale of vampirism, the horrifying hybrid may be a slow burn but atones for such with a ferocious finale.
4 The Innkeepers - 5.5
West's fifth feature film The Innkeepers finds the director on much surer footing thanks to a bigger budget than he's used to and solid acting by Sara Paxton and Pat Healy. Essentially a haunted house film, the story finds a pair of night porters at the creepy, soon-to-close Yankee Pedlar Inn, who begin their own amateur paranormal investigation when things go bump in the night.
With a moody atmosphere and dreadful sense of claustrophobia, IMBd users rate the film almost a full point lower than aggregated critics (64), suggesting that it's underrated. Perhaps many missed the extremely subtle ghastly reflection that appears in the final scene, a true hair-raiser for those who noticed it.
3 The Sacrament - 6.1
Whereas most of his horror films are shrouded in darkness, West's 2013 film The Sacrament is bathed in scorching sunlight. Loosely retelling the terrifying Jim Jones lethal Kool-aid drinking cult in Jonestown, the found-footage film is framed as a quasi-documentary made by two VICE reporters who infiltrated the camp with plans to expose it.
With a toweringly terrifying turn from Gene Jones as the charismatic brainwashing Father, IMDb users actually favor this one more than critics did, although not everyone loved fusing the found footage template with a psychological thriller.
2 The House Of The Devil - 6.3
Released the same year as Cabin Fever 2, The House of the Devil remains one of West's two best horror films, so says IMDb. While many feel nothing actually happens in the movie, others appreciate the slow-mounting tension and suspense that lead to an eruptively violent finale.
Jocelin Donahue stars as Samantha, a babysitter during a 1983 lunar eclipse who discovers a harrowing secret of the family she works for. An exercise in retro-style, the throwback '80s chiller features another sinister turn from long-time West collaborator Tom Noonan. The final 15 minutes of the film are among its scariest and most startlingly violent of West's oeuvre to date.
1 X - 7.4
After earning plaudits for recreating 1983 in The House of the Devil, West returned to period horror filmmaking with X, a gritty, grainy, and grimy slasher film that both channels and subverts the best of 1970s horror. Mia Goth blisters the screen as Maxine aka Pearl, an amateur porn star caught in a titillating torrent of terror.