Why I Dislike Ti West

First off, I'll clarify that I don't dislike Ti as a person, just his professional decisions. Now, for those of you that aren't familiar with him, Ti West is a film maker that has done mostly horror related movies, and I don't like most of them. I've seen a lot of films in my day, many being horror, and many not being very good. I have no negative feelings against those film makers at all. Bad films happen, it's not a huge deal. If someone makes a bad movie, I'll still give their next one a shot. Then why am I calling out Ti West? Here's my film-by-film explanation:

The first film I saw by Ti was House Of The Devil. It was purposely made to look and feel like an 80's style horror flick and I enjoyed it. It was a slow burn story about a college student who takes a house sitting job for some extra cash that turns out to be something much more sinister. It didn't have a lot of action, but I think it achieved the goal he was going for and was overall successful. This made me very hopeful for this film maker. I even did an interview with him for Scars Magazine, which you can read here for free.

The next movie in line was Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. There was a lot of controversy surrounding this film. Ti made it public that the final version of the film was not his. It was re-edited and partially re-shot behind his back. He tried to take his name off of it but the producers did not allow it. This is where he put himself in the firing range. I'm sure this kind of thing happens on a daily basis in Hollywood, but you never hear about it. At the time, I wasn't sure if this was a bold move to hold on to his creative credibility or just an act of douchebaggery. Only time would tell. I did see the film and it wasn't very good. There were some creative gore scenes, but overall it was just too cheesy and did nothing for the series. I'm not so sure a different edit would have saved it, but who knows.

When I did his interview, Ti was still attached to the follow up film to A Haunting In Connecticut, A Haunting In Georgia. Once again, word was hitting the streets that issues were arising between Ti and the studio. Dread Central spoke to him who said this:

"So I was on The Haunting in Georgia movie for a while, and we got to the point where we were making different movies, and it was like I don't want to risk us realizing that so late in the game. It's also important for me to write and direct my own movies and edit them so with this MPI-Glass Eye Pix thing, I can do that. The Innkeepers can be my own movie, and [to do that] as long as I can do that is important."

Was this another move to hold true to his artistic credibility? I still wasn't sure. Finally, a film that he was happy to put his name on was released. As soon as The Innkeepers was released, I grabbed a copy so I could see the masterpiece that "the man" was keeping him from creating. The film follows two hotel employees working the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn who decide to investigate the possibility of a haunting. I watched and waited for something to happen. I continued to wait. Is something happening here? Nope. It's nearing the end, it's gotta get good now, right? Still nope.That's it? Damn it! I was so disappointed. Maybe my hopes were too high, but with all the drama being built beforehand, I couldn't help but have high expectations.

V/H/S was a film that I was really looking forward to without even knowing who was involved. An anthology style film that used found footage in a new and creative way sounded very promising. Luckily, I was right in thinking that as the majority of it was great. I did, however, learn that Ti had done one of the stories before I saw it and I couldn't help but cringe. I went forward in viewing it without seeing which part was his on purpose to see if I could pick it out. When I got to the segment titled "Second Honeymoon", I saw a dragged out story with very little payoff and really didn't fit with the overall feel of the film. I immediately knew that was Ti's contribution. I was right.

If by chance Ti were to ever read this, this is for him: Don't take this as a personal attack. What I mean with this article is: if you are going to go out of your way to "hold on to your integrity", don't make shitty movies. Compromise is part of the business. From what I've seen, your creative juices are very bland when left alone. Allow others to throw in some flavor and you will have a much tastier end product. The end.