A film that blurs the murderous vengeance of the John Wick franchise with the quirky melodrama of a pulpy Western novelette, Red Dead Redemption and the movies of Quentin Tarantino - absurdist, campy, and darkly comedic, In a Valley of Violence is a loving homage to the grim Italo-Westerns of the 60s and 70s. Set in the Old West, Ethan Hawke stars as Paul, a high plains drifter traveling to Mexico who wanders into the town of Denton and runs afoul of the wicked riff-raff that plague the forgotten mining town. With expert use of subtle foreshadowing, “Second Honeymoon” will linger with you long after the chapter ends and make you rethink your next romantic getaway. The mumblecore-esque performances are incredibly believable from start to finish, but “Second Honeymoon” ends sooner than anticipated in a movie that’s essentially a Paranormal Activity softcore porn, but West's self-assured analog vision deserves a humble note of recognition. Rather than homage specific movies, West synthesizes time-honored campfire tales and establishes a tone that exploits audience expectations with “real life” fears. West gutters the CG and paranormal elements in favor of an eerie stranger than fiction true-crime tale, grounding an otherwise messy collection of genre tropes and thrills in this sinister reinvention of the phenomenon first originated in the 1999 psychological horror classic The Blair Witch Project. Kong’s Adam Wingard and Joe Swanberg, the creator Netflix romantic comedy drama Easy, but West’s meticulous direction instantaneously sucks you in, surrounding viewers with a palpably foreboding ambiance. V/H/S/ was directed in collaboration with other indie directors like Godzilla vs. The film’s frame narrative follows a gang of criminals who break into a house to recover a mysterious video cassette for an unknown employer and get way more than bargained for in this 2012 found-footage horror classic. West’s unsettling chapter in horror anthology film V/H/S is a non-essential entry for some but a surefire must-watch for any found-footage horror aficionado. You can learn a lot from a director’s first feature. Still, for any Ti West completionist, it’s essential viewing. The Roost’s dated aesthetic might be an acquired taste for casual filmgoers looking for deep-pocketed production value and high-end scares. The plot follows four friends marooned on a farm on their way to a wedding when they are suddenly attacked by a series of supernatural creatures. With a lean runtime of a little over an hour, The Roost’s plot is thin and conceptual at best, but its most significant appeal is in the film’s self-serious “acting class” performances that are borderline comedic. Even by today’s HD standards, the now-blurry standard-def quality of The Roost adds a layer of accidental brilliance to a production that is undeniably appealing in a random video store rental sort of way. For a low-budget feature of any genre–the shots and frames of cinematographer Eric Robbins are beautifully constructed with scenes composed of harsh mood lighting juxtaposed with grim shadows and stark darkness, giving the film a tangibly wicked sense of tone and place. A 240p creature-of-the-week melodrama that’s still rather impressive and oddly holds up when stacked against the director's more modern and polished cinematic efforts. The Horror Host (played by Tom Noonan) welcomes audiences before introducing a college thesis-esque flick reminiscent of 90s cult horror classic Tales From the Crypt or an unaired episode of Are You Afraid of The Dark? deemed too adult for a Y7 audience. West’s first feature film opens on fictional television show Frightmare Theatre, a grainy black and white 1970s B-movie telecast similar to a horror movie-of-the-week style program similar to Elvira’s Movie Macabre.
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