Kindred Spirit: Ti West and ‘Slow Burn’ movies.
During early pre-production on Lilith, I remember watching Ti West’s indie horror film House of the Devil and being completely enamored with it. It was a film that spoke to me in terms of aesthetics, a commitment to technical precision, and most importantly, it understood that great horror requires context and characterization, something which needs time to develop in the pacing and edit. After I watched the film in my Cleveland hotel room, I immediately went down to the hotel lobby at 2AM, ordered a coffee and dissected my script. I had long been concerned that my story was unfolding too slowly, that I was spending a great deal of time establishing the normalcy of the protagonist’s world before throwing her into the bizarro rings of Hell.
Taking time to establish details of a normal life. Jocelin Donahue and Tom Noonan in Ti West’s ‘House of the Devil.’
West’s masterful use of pacing reassured me that I was doing the right thing, and I went ahead with my initial choice of doing what is called in the industry as a ‘slow burn’ film, something that carefully lays out the characterization and then methodically juxtaposes the macabre against it. In all honesty I feel this is the best way to make a horror film. Backed by West’s use of the same aesthetic, I stuck with my gut instinct and made Lilith in this manner.
Cut to two years later, and I’ve now had about 1,000 people view Lilith. While praise has been excellent - I’ve yet to have a negative review of the film - one of the consistent criticisms on the picture is its slow burn, the pacing. When presented with the idea of a girl going to hell - coupled with the bizarre images dangled like a carrot in the trailer - people want to see Julia in hell asap, but instead they have to wait a good 20 minutes before she even enters the gates.
Respite before her world turns upside down. Julia Voth dancing in ‘Lilith’.
It’s an interesting place to be in. I get the feedback that the film is slow in the beginning, picks up as it goes along and ends with a bang. When I hear that, it registers in my head as a resounding success, because that’s exactly what I wanted. But it doesn’t seem to sit well with some distributors. I’ve been starting to doubt the prudence of my choice to make a slow burn film, which is always a dangerous thing to start doing.
But as before, Ti West came to my rescue. In the latest issue of Filmmaker magazine, West is featured in a cover article that discusses his approach to indie filmmaking, and to also promote his latest film The Innkeepers (which looks brilliant, and is currently showing On Demand). In the article, West is asked about his penchant for ‘slow burn’ movies, a label which he has been saddled with on all of his films.
West’s response gives me great comfort:
I think in order to have a successful horror movie you have to have a pretty substantial amount of contrast between the horror and the non-horror because if you don’t give that contrast, it’s not shocking when it [the horror] shows up.
West continues, regarding the subject of pacing and dramatic structure of his horror films:
If you look at ‘The Shining,’ it is a movie about a guy who hates his family and he’s unraveling in this hotel. The horror stuff is secondary. ‘The Exorcist’ is about a woman with a sick daughter. The possession stuff is secondary to that. They’re always movies first and horror movies second. It think that’s been flipped recently where it’s horror movie first, and I think that’s just sort of lame.
It’s weird too because the people who make the really lowest common denominator horror films will all agree the ‘The Exorcist,’ ‘The Shining’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ are the best horror films, but they don’t even want to try to make anything like that. [They don’t] because it’s easier. Because look, those three movies I just referenced are not only some of the best genre movies ever made, they’re some of the best movies ever. To try and make a movie as good as those, the chance of failure is so high. The world of studio filmmaking is about sure things; no one wants to risk anything. But when you don’t risk anything, you don’t make anything interesting ever.
I can’t tell you how relieved I was when I read those words, as it’s been something I’ve been harping about on this blog for almost two years. I’m never going to insinuate that Lilith is as good as The Shining or Stalker, but I will always say that we took those kinds of insane risks to make something fresh, and that I set out to create a vibrant, interesting, well made, thought-provoking film instead of a predictable, gross, by-the-numbers horror film. Lilith is a highly original piece of work, it plays by its own rules, and I’m immensely proud of it and the positive response it has gotten so far.
West has also had a go with distributors who are more inclined to promote 80-minute torture porn flicks and PG-13 rated 3D remakes, and I have to believe that the makers of ‘slow burn’ cinema simply have to persist and find their audiences. I really love watching these kind of movies, and I have to believe that I’m not the only one. Ti West has a following for his patient films, a following that allows him to make a living and to continue to make his movies on his own terms. Lilith needs to find those people. I’m working on it. Furiously. And I’ll need your help.
West is currently at Sundance promoting his short film compilation V/H/S. Support and follow him on his Twitter @Ti_West.
