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Why Ti West compares modern horror to porn
The horror genre has enjoyed a revival of late, with the likes of Ari Aster, Jordan Peele and Robert Eggers helping to inject modern terror that differs itself from the cliche of early noughties horror. With thanks to American movies like Get Out, The Witch and Hereditary, as well as international achievements in The Babadook by Jennifer Kent and Titane by Julia Ducournau, the genre has gained greater respect by focusing on innovative new stories that treat horror with sincerity.
American independent filmmaker Ti West is often omitted from such conversations, despite his contributions to the genre being considerable, directing the 1980s throwback The House of the Devil in 2009 before helping to popularise anthology horror in 2012 with V/H/S. Though West didn’t seem to be carving deep divergence for the genre, he was subtly influential in changing the course of horror throughout the 21st century.
After a six-year hiatus, West is ready to return to the feature film horror fold, lining up the release of X, due to come out on March 18th with the popular production house A24 backing the film. Starring Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Mia Goth, Kid Cudi and Brittany Snow, West’s new film looks to be another horror throwback, following a group of young filmmakers who set out to make an adult film in rural Texas in 1979, only for the plan to go terribly wrong.
Proficient in the world of horror, Ti West has long occupied the genre and has witnessed how it has changed throughout the years, morphing from the obsession with torture at the start of the century to its recent focus on true crime.
Witnessing the transition of the genre, the filmmaker spoke to Interview Magazine about the state of the modern genre back in 2009. “Horror is really unfortunate now,” the director stated, adding, “It’s like porn. What seems to have happened is that everyone decided the horrific stuff is what makes these types of films successful so there is no time spent on the “real life” aspect anymore”.
Explicitly relating the genre to porn, West went on to add, “It becomes just one kill or cum-shot after another. Mainstream horror is only about titillation. That, to me, is the same as pornography”.
Creating such low-budget feature films as The Roost and Trigger Man at the start of his career, West began to be marked as a ‘horror director’, finding it somewhat difficult to get financed in any other genre. Though, as the filmmaker explains, horror is one of the most commercial movie genres there is, stating, “If you make a really low budget movie that’s horror, there’s an outlet for it because, like porn, there’s always an audience”.
With a somewhat lacklustere year for horror on the horizon, many are hoping that X by Ti West will be the shining light of the genre in 2022, with the director certainly possessing the tools to make the film a success.
