By Ti West
CLUE (1985) “This is the very first film that I ever saw in a theatre. Seeing a film on a big screen for the first time was transformational for me. I didn’t know that this kind of special presentation existed for films, and I remember turning to my mom and saying, ‘This is amazing! When did they build these!?’ From that point on, I was hooked.”
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) “This was the first film that I became totally obsessed with. My parents recorded it off of TV on VHS and I watched it nearly every day for years. I watched it so many times that I knew every commercial that was shown during the broadcast just as well as I knew nearly every line of dialogue in the film. It was the first movie that completely transported me to another time and place. I had no idea how they did it. It was awe inspiring. As a fan, I recognised the true power of cinema with Indiana Jones.”
BAD TASTE (1987) “This was the first time that a film made me think that I could maybe make films too. It was the first time that I saw a movie that wasn’t made by someone out in Hollywood in a world that I didn’t understand. I realised that it was made by just a regular guy in his hometown who was inspired enough to put in the work, as well as cast himself and his friends instead of famous actors. It finally put the filmmaking process in perspective. I could see how he achieved so many of the shots, and effects etc, and for once, it seemed doable. This film is the reason that I had the confidence to pick up a camera and give it a shot.”
PSYCHO (1960) “As I learned to appreciate cinema as an art, and not just entertainment, one of the first films that I studied was Alfred Hitchcock’s classic. It was the first significant time that all of the importance of the choices behind the craft became clear to me. What you see, how you see it, what you hear, what you don’t. The presence of a director is very apparent in Hitchcock’s films, and Psycho exemplified a director at the very height of his craft. It served somewhat as a manual for me on how important all my choices as a director would be. It forever changed the way that I thought about filmmaking.”
HABIT (1995) “If I had not seen this film, I wouldn’t be doing this interview today. During the independent film boom of the 90s, I obsessively watched anything that I could get my hands on. This film stuck out because it was a critically lauded vampire film – which is rare – that was written, directed, edited, produced by and starring the same person, Larry Fessenden. If he did it all himself, I thought that maybe I could too. Four years after seeing this film, I had moved to NYC and was in a film class being taught by filmmaker, Kelly Reichardt. She mentioned the film, and I was the only one in the class who had seen it. She knew Larry personally, and offered to introduce me. Four years later, he was producing my first film. Ten years later, he has produced four of my films, and plays the character of Roy in In A Valley Of Violence.”
In A Valley Of Violence is released on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD on January 18. Ti West is also the director of The Roost, Trigger Man, The House Of The Devil, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, The Innkeepers, and Sacrament, as well as segments of V/H/S and The ABCs Of Death.
