Ti West

“X' was a movie that in some ways was about how independent filmmaking had an effect on people. 'Pearl' in many ways is like how a more glamorous Hollywood idea of lifestyle would affect people.”

“Many indie movies are fighting for survival in a world full of 'Micro-Budget' films and 200 Million dollar 'tent-pole' blockbusters. Surely there is room for more movies in between.”

“It's fun when someone who ordinarily wouldn't watch 'Nightmare on Elm Street 4' is like, 'Well, it's on TV and I'm curious to see how they get out of this.'”

“For me, I don't think you can have a successful - and by successful I don't mean financially, I mean successful in that it scares people - horror movie if you don't have a contrast between the not-horror and the horror. You just have to, otherwise it doesn't mean anything.”

“There's three 'Silence of the Lambs' movies, and Hannibal Lecter is the through line, but they're not directly connected.”

“I'm no authority for anyone to actually take seriously.”

“I love when you see a movie and you go, 'That's a movie by so-and-so,' because I can just feel it.”

“I have been fortunate to work with some great people.”

“Trigger Man' is sort of an experimental movie, but I don't think 'House of the Devil' is an experimental movie at all. It has some long takes, and there's not a lot of talking and it's about one girl. But it's weird when I see this resistance to it, like it's this weird, arty movie.”

“Slasher movies often have uninteresting, unlikable characters who are just there for you to see their demise.”

“Hollywood is one of those places where people feel like you could go there and be discovered at any moment and change your life. That's untrue for 99.9% of them - but for 0.1% of people it has happened, so it keeps the dream alive. There's something kind of magical about that.”

“If there's ever a reason to be in traffic, it should be because Will Smith is flipping a car in the middle of the street. Every other reason to be stuck in traffic sucks.”

“I think there's a distance from Jonestown or any kind of tragic event you hear about on the news. There's a safe distance from it, where you don't connect to it emotionally. For me, an important part about making 'The Sacrament' is that you sort of get put into the horror of it all.”

“Throughout my career, I would not be surprised if it has dramas and romcoms in it, just because I like movies. But if I want to make a romcom, I'd have to get past a few confused looks. It'd be a long conversation of: 'Why is this the thing you want to do?'”

“Part of making a trilogy is that everyone has their favourite. You see that in an extreme way with 'Star Wars.'”

“As a director I can only do so much.”

“Ten bucks may not be life changing money, but nobody wants to feel like they were ripped off, or didn't get what they paid for.”

“I get a little off-put when people see 'The House of the Devil' as an homage to the Eighties because I consider 'homage' to be sort of like parody.”

“A lot of the times characters in horror movies are almost like born and bred to be in horror movies. I always find that to be a letdown, because they do all that you expect them to do.”

“I wrote a movie called 'X' that I sent to A24. They said they would make it, and then Covid happened, and we went to New Zealand to make it. We were the only people in the world - well, some of the only people in the world - making a movie at the time.”