I like hanging out with people in the movie before the shit goes down, but I also like the horror slowly sneaking up on you. And if there isn’t a strong contrast, then it doesn’t matter when anything scary happens. I don’t feel like the horror works unless you’re invested in the characters before then. I’m starting to realize that I have no idea because even and I used to joke, “This movie’s regular burn,” and everyone’s like, “That’s slow burn.” Alright, I’m out of touch. Much like “The House of the Devil,” your new film gradually creeps up on viewers, unlike “movies that scare you by throwing a cat at the camera,” as Roger Ebert said. The Playlist sat down with West during last year’s SXSW Film Festival, where “The Innkeepers” made its world premiere, to discuss his trademark style, the sad state of American horror today, and his upcoming foray into science fiction. On the eve of the Pedlar’s closing, two front-desk employees and ghost-hunting hobbyists discover what bumps in the night, yet the playful tone dwells somewhere between atmospheric creep-fest and disenfranchised minimum-wager comedy. A seemingly lighter riff on the haunted house flick, “The Innkeepers” owes as much to its game cast (asthmatic heroine Sara Paxton, spot-on hilarious sidekick Pat Healy, blast from the past Kelly McGillis) as it does to the Yankee Pedlar Inn-a Connecticut hotel so wonderfully kooky that it’s actually real. Speaking to its technical polish alone, his most recent movie marks another steady foot forward for Ti West.
Reverential to cinema past while shrewdly and artfully revitalizing tired horror tropes, West’s naturalistic stories fit right into the wheelhouse of his producing mentor Larry Fessenden-whose Glass Eye Pix label has unleashed most of the 31-year-old filmmaker’s projects, including his latest spooker, “ The Innkeepers.” It’s strangely appropriate that the rising career of filmmaker Ti West hasn’t quite been meteoric, if only because his indie horror features (five and counting, including “ The House of the Devil” and his experimental sniper-in-the-woods thriller “ Trigger Man“) are known for their slow burn.