The House of the Devil

House of the Devil 

Directed by Ti West 

Written by Ti West 

Starring Greta Gerwig, Dee Wallace, Mary Woronov, Tom Noonan

Release Date October 30th, 2009 

Merely emulating the style of another era of film is not an idea, it’s an aesthetic. The 2009 horror movie, The House of the Devil, a breakout for director Ti West impressed a lot of people with its aesthetic. The film’s grainy cinematography evoked the early 1980s and the horror aesthetic of that time. Indeed, in style alone, The House of the Devil is quite impressive. Every last retro touch from the clothes right down to the heroine’s walkman looks perfectly of the period. 

Beyond the aesthetic however, what do we really have in The House of the Devil? In my estimation, it’s not all that much. A couple of stand out sequences and a whole lot of implied creepiness that never really amounts to much. The House of the Devil is the ‘classic’ on this week’s Everyone’s a Critic Movie Review Podcast with Bob and Sean in honor of the release of Ti West’s far more thoughtful, terrifying and aesthetically rich, X.

Find my full length review at Horror.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review X

X 

Directed by Ti West

Written by Ti West 

Staring Mia Goth, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi

Release Date March 18th, 2022 

X takes the idea of aesthetic homage to its best possible place by evoking the look and feel of the best of 1970s horror while not forgetting to tell its own story. X is the story of a group of low level hustlers trying their hand at making low budget pornography. The success of Debbie Does Dallas inspired hundreds of copycats and the characters of X feel that they have a terrific chance for success with their sexy strippers and a ‘talented’ male star. 

X stars Martin Henderson as Wayne, a sleazy strip club owner who dreams of multi-million dollar success in the porn industry. Wayne has convinced two of his strippers, including his girlfriend, Maxine (Mia Goth), and Bobby-Lynn (Brittany Snow), to star in the movie along with Bobby-Lynn’s occasional boyfriend, Jackson Hole (Kid Cudi), as the star attraction thanks to his… gifts in bedroom.

Find my full length review at Horror.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Pearl (2022)

Pearl (2022) 

Directed by Ti West 

Written by Ti West 

Starring Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Emma Jenkins 

Release Date September 16th, 2022 

Prequel to X (2022) 

X was a brilliant homage to 70s grindhouse horror from a director in Ti West who has mastered the form of homage. My proof for for his mastery comes with his new movie Pearl. The horror movie starring the utterly brilliant Mia Goth, riffs brilliantly on MGM movies of the 30s and 40s mimicking them down to the credit font and pitch perfect score. Using the innocent memories of movies like The Wizard of Oz for a series of transgressive gags feels so fresh and different that this horror movie becomes honestly refreshing. 

Mia Goth stars as the title character, Pearl. Pearl is a teenage dreamer, a 19 year old who dreams of nothing but the burgeoning movie industry. The movies in her small hometown have become her home respite from a difficult home life. Pearl's mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright), is a severe German taskmaster who believes that her daughter should have to suffer as she has to provide a home and a roof over Pearl's head. Ruth has become the primary worker on their Texas farm after Pearl's father (Matthew Sunderland) was struck with Spanish Flu and suffered complete paralysis. 

The first indication that something might be a little off about Pearl comes via her father. After a night of arguing with her mother, Pearl takes her father to a pond on their land that is home to an alligator that Pearl has been feeding for some time. Pearl pushes dad's wheelchair to the edge of the dock while calling on the gator which responds to her. It appears that Pearl may dump daddy in the lake until mom arrives to make the save. The juxtaposition of Mia Goth's sweet, simple innocent look and the malevolence of her actions is part of the electric charge of watching Pearl. 

Similarly the way Pearl chooses to bathe in front of her father's paralyzed form, his darting eyes demonstrating his extreme discomfort, is another unsettling symbol of Pearl's transgressive personality. These scenes pitched against the numerous references to classic MGM musicals and those oh so innocent adventures of the 40s and 50s makes Pearl in general a movie that transgresses our expectations and conspires to make us part of dark meta joke of Pearl. 

Click here for my full length review of Pearl at Horror.Media.