Ti West is fast becoming a master of the horror genre, but which of his movies ranks best? First released domestically on March 18th, 2022, Ti West's X has opened to rave reviews from the horror community, with critics citing X's pointed desire to return to the classic slasher formula Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre birthed. X marks Ti West's sixth horror movie entry to date, with the director simultaneously dabbling in several sub-genres such as slashers, supernatural, and psychological horrors over the past two decades.
As a dedicated filmmaker creating shorts as early as 2001, X's writer, producer, director, and editor is no stranger to the horror genre. Across his career, West has dabbled in cut-and-paste horror flicks such as Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, as well as creating more genre love letter-style films such as 2009's The House of the Devil. West's all-encompassing approach to the horror genre has won the admiration of many of his peers, with veteran director Eli Roth partnering with West on several projects such as the "found footage" flick The Sacrament.
As a result, Ti West's body of work primarily comprises horror movies that have seen varying degrees of success over the years. While some movies, such as the aforementioned Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, have been a continued source of embarrassment for West, several of his newer films have garnered widespread acclaim for their direction and ties to the wider horror genre. Here's every Ti West horror movie ranked from worst to best.
6. Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
2009 saw the release of two movies for director Ti West, and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever is undoubtedly the inferior of these. A follow-up to Eli Roth's 2002 Cabin Fever (linked via the bodies of dead teens in the town's water supply), the sequel follows students preparing for their high school prom blissfully unaware that a flesh-eating virus is spreading and putrefying their friends and family. Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, therefore, is as ludicrous as its premise suggests, borrowing helpings of zany content from the oft-maligned 80's camp horror subgenre and acting as a pale imitation of the Evil Dead franchise. Cabin Fever 2 feels cluttered and unwieldy, and this is likely due to West stepping away from the project before its completion in 2007 after the studio allegedly was unhappy with his vision, resulting in the film being repurposed in post-production. West's failed campaign to have Cabin Fever 2 stricken from his directorial credits acts as the starkest of indicators that this sequel is not up to par with the original Cabin Fever, and marks this movie as West's worst directorial outing to date.
5. The Roost
West's feature-length directorial debut arrives in the form of 2005's The Roost, a low-budget horror that is best remembered as a signpost for West's burgeoning talents at the time. The Roost is an eerie tale that sees vampiric bats turn townsfolk into flesh-hungry zombies - all while being narrated by a genuinely terrifying entity named the Horror Host. While The Roost cannot fully transcend its budgetary restrictions, these serve to amplify its 1970s, b-movie feel. It is also clear from The Roost that even at this early stage, West's craft behind the lens is undeniable, fashioning a movie that still retains cult-classic potential despite a threadbare plot and few resources at his disposal.
4. The Innkeepers
If The Roost serves as a marker of West's potential as a director, then The Innkeepers cements it, providing a tale of two halves movie in the style of From Dusk till Dawn. The Innkeepers follows two employees at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, who, during its last weekend of operations, attempt to document the alleged supernatural activity in the building. A slow burn that crescendoes into a hectic, sheer terror bonanza of a finale, The Innkeepers clearly displays West's penchant for expertly handling the tension throttle. While still a cut below some of West's most memorable horror movies to date, The Innkeepers remains a jump scare-laden flick capable of inducing nightmares in all but the most steely of supernatural horror audiences.
3. The Sacrament
Horror stalwart Eli Roth and Ti West join forces for the 2013 found-footage horror thriller film The Sacrament, which is based on the real-life events of the Jonestown Massacre of 1978. The Sacrament, despite having Roth as attached as producer, is far less of a bone-crunching horror as it is a tense genre piece that ends in tragedy - whose narrative tension is undoubtedly heightened by its real-world parallels. West, despite The Sacrament being his first feature film foray into the medium, excels in the found footage genre, delivering a taut picture of the cultish Eden Parish as Patrick (Kentucker Audley) searches for his brainwashed sister Caroline (Amy Seimetz). While The Sacrament's ending devolves into standard horror fare as characters die by knives, guns, poison, and self-immolation, West's movie is still an exercise in cinematic tension that earns its brutal finale.
2. The House Of The Devil
A heady blend of the slasher and haunted house horror subgenres, The House of the Devil manages to embody the visceral Satanic Panic of the 1980s while paying homage to classics such as The Amityville Horror and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (via its opening disclaimer). The aptly named The House of the Devil centers on a strapped-for-cash student named Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), who, after taking a well-paying babysitting job, is drugged and forced to perform a satanic ritual with a ghastly figure known as "Mother." The genius of The House of the Devil lies in its ability to shed the loud and gory cliches of other contemporary horror movies and focus on tending to a slow-burn, chilling atmosphere that worms its way into the viewer's consciousness, resulting in a terrifying, demon-centric film.
1. X
Ti West's "erotic horror" X acts as a fitting homage to his beloved slasher genre that showcases the full breadth of his talents as one of the best modern horror directors in the business. X follows a group of aspiring 1970s pornographers and actors who decide to film their latest project at a dilapidated farmhouse. However, as porn director RJ (Owen Campbell) as his crew quickly release, their leering host's intentions are far from pure as ample quantities of blood begin to spill on Howard's (Stephen Ure) backwoods farm. X is a film that showcases its director at the top of his craft, with West's movie containing ample nods to the horror movies that birthed it while retaining its own personality courtesy of several stunningly shot kill scenes (such as Pearl eviscerating RJ in his van). Simply put, X is a movie that displays director Ti West at the peak of powers, crafting a horror entry that has garnered rave reviews from the moment RJ and company pile into their van in backwoods Texas a-la Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.