There’s your first poster for the latest horror film from mumblehorror extraordinaire, Ti West. The director’s team up with producer Eli Roth should mark his most widely-released, aggressively promoted effort yet- a chance to really cross over into the mainstream. The market appears to be hungry for the right kind of horror movie, so if this catches it could be a big moment for the House of the Devil and The Innkeepers director.
The premise is that a trio (made up of familiar mumblecore faces like Joe Swanberg) visit a friend in the backwoods, and her Pop turns out to be more than just a local leader. The promise is of a horror take on Jonestown, but with an eye for exploring how not crazy the people involved in such a cult can be. That’s West’s stated goal anyway. His ace in the hole may be similar to Kevin Smith’s when he made Red State though- a charismatic old southern guy playing the best kind of crazy…
Most will remember Gene Jones from No Country For Old Men, in which he played a gas station clerk in the unenviable position of inadvertently flipping a coin for his life opposite Anton Chigurh. He was also a pharmacist in the last season of Louie- apparently the role that caught West’s eye. Jones plays the town leader, and I get the impression his performance will be the warm, crazy heart of the film.
I am the opposite of a fan of West’s first two films, but even just him shooting in my Savannah, GA stomping grounds means I’ll take a look. Any fans of West out there happy to see him moving on up?
via EW