Ti West is a multifaceted genre filmmaker. He’s a writer, a director, an editor, a producer — a jack-of-all-cinematic-trades whose deft and consistent use of film homage has led to a rich and illustrious body of feature films. Cherry-picked, Xeroxed, and mashed together like a mad scientist reanimating a corpse built of disparate parts, West wears his influences proudly and loudly while never sacrificing his integrity, personality, or unique singularity. An indie movie darling whose crossover appeal and insatiable knack for horror has made him a hot commodity within the industry.

He’s lent his talents to episodes of MTV’s Scream: The Series, Amazon’s Them, and Fox’s Wayward Pines — a seasoned auteur with a penchant for horror whose youthful exuberance and creative experimentation rarely disappoints. Something old. Something new. Something borrowed but entirely original and covered in fake red blood, here are all of Ti West’s movies ranked from least great to absolutely sublime.

10 'Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever' (2009)

Starring Rider Strong, Noah Segan and Giuseppe Andrews

There’s a raunchy John Hughes Bizarro World-like quality to Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Noah Segan’s John is the stereotypical geek akin to a Cameron Fry in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles. You can see the natural progression from The Roost, as the story structure is essentially the same, just with a slightly bigger budget and marginally better actors (Segan and Giuseppe Andrews are notable standouts).

The film’s costume, set, and production designs reference horror classics like Prom Night, The Evil Dead, Carrie, and even Saturday Night Fever. But after extensive reshoots and re-edits by the sequel’s producers, West requested to have his name removed and replaced with the famous pseudonym Alan Smithee (an official title used by directors to disown a film). Still, despite his protests, the producers denied his request because he wasn’t a member of the DGA, and his name remains on a finished project he ultimately abhors.

9 'The Roost' (2005)

West’s first feature film opens on fictional television show Frightmare Theatre, a grainy black and white 1970s B-movie telecast similar to a horror movie-of-the-week style program similar to Elvira’s Movie Macabre. The Horror Host (played by Tom Noonan) welcomes audiences before introducing a college thesis-esque flick reminiscent of 90s cult horror classic Tales From the Crypt or an unaired episode of Are You Afraid of The Dark? deemed too adult for a Y7 audience. A 240p creature-of-the-week melodrama that’s still rather impressive and oddly holds up when stacked against the director's more modern and polished cinematic efforts. For a low-budget feature of any genre–the shots and frames of cinematographer Eric Robbins are beautifully constructed with scenes composed of harsh mood lighting juxtaposed with grim shadows and stark darkness, giving the film a tangibly wicked sense of tone and place.

Even by today’s HD standards, the now-blurry standard-def quality of The Roost adds a layer of accidental brilliance to a production that is undeniably appealing in a random video store rental sort of way. With a lean runtime of a little over an hour, The Roost’s plot is thin and conceptual at best, but its most significant appeal is in the film’s self-serious “acting class” performances that are borderline comedic. The plot follows four friends marooned on a farm on their way to a wedding when they are suddenly attacked by a series of supernatural creatures. The Roost’s dated aesthetic might be an acquired taste for casual filmgoers looking for deep-pocketed production value and high-end scares. Still, for any Ti West completionist, it’s essential viewing. You can learn a lot from a director’s first feature.

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8 "Second Honeymoon" from 'V/H/S' (2012)

Starring Joe Swanberg, Sophia Takal, and Kate Lyn Shiel

West’s unsettling chapter in horror anthology film V/H/S is a non-essential entry for some but a surefire must-watch for any found-footage horror aficionado. The film’s frame narrative follows a gang of criminals who break into a house to recover a mysterious video cassette for an unknown employer and get way more than bargained for in this 2012 found-footage horror classic. V/H/S/ was directed in collaboration with other indie directors like Godzilla vs. Kong’s Adam Wingard and Joe Swanberg, the creator Netflix romantic comedy drama Easy, but West’s meticulous direction instantaneously sucks you in, surrounding viewers with a palpably foreboding ambiance. West gutters the CG and paranormal elements in favor of an eerie stranger than fiction true-crime tale, grounding an otherwise messy collection of genre tropes and thrills in this sinister reinvention of the phenomenon first originated in the 1999 psychological horror classic The Blair Witch Project.

Rather than homage specific movies, West synthesizes time-honored campfire tales and establishes a tone that exploits audience expectations with “real life” fears. The mumblecore-esque performances are incredibly believable from start to finish, but “Second Honeymoon” ends sooner than anticipated in a movie that’s essentially a Paranormal Activity softcore adult film, but West's self-assured analog vision deserves a humble note of recognition. With expert use of subtle foreshadowing, “Second Honeymoon” will linger with you long after the chapter ends and make you rethink your next romantic getaway.

7 'The Sacrament' (2013)

Starring Joe Swanberg, Gene Jones, and Amy Seimetz

West returned to found-footage horror in this biting satire on the abrasive investigative practices of Vice journalism against the grim reality of doomsday cults. After receiving a letter from his sister, a photographer accompanied by a small news team travels to Eden Parish—a remote utopia whose idyllic sensibilities hide sinister motives. The Sacrament was West’s first true found-footage horror feature in this Jonestown Massacre parable.

Veteran character actor Gene Jones plays Father, a Jim Jones-like religious leader whose joyous demeanor masks a pious sinisterness--and the less you know, the better. Like all of West’s films, audiences should go into this particular film as cold as a morgue. Trading in the paranormal for real-life, ripped from the headlines, scares is a surprisingly refreshing choice, The Sacrament stands as one of the better pictures in the found-footage pantheon of horror.

6 'In a Valley of Violence' (2016)

Starring Ethan Hawke, John Travolta, and Taissa Farmiga

Set in the Old West, Ethan Hawke stars as Paul, a high plains drifter traveling to Mexico who wanders into the town of Denton and runs afoul of the wicked riff-raff that plague the forgotten mining town. A film that blurs the murderous vengeance of the John Wick franchise with the quirky melodrama of a pulpy Western novelette, Red Dead Redemption and the movies of Quentin Tarantino — absurdist, campy, and darkly comedic, In a Valley of Violence is a loving homage to the grim Italo-Westerns of the 60s and 70s.

Shot on 35mm and produced in conjunction with Jason Blum’s Blumhouse and Universal Pictures, West wrote the part with Hawke in mind after seeing him in a New York stage production of Macbeth. Beautiful acting and obtusely intriguing – In a Valley of Violence is a refreshing departure from a director who spent most of his career directing violently nostalgic horror homages. Satisfying, weird, and assuredly acquired — In a Valley of Violence mines well-worn cowhide boots of the western genre and spins into a timeless yarn that’s equal parts gonzo and pathos.

5 'Trigger Man (2007)

Starring Ray Sullivan, Reggie Cunningham, and Sean Reid

Made over seven days, comprised of minimal dialogue, and costing approximately $10,000, West’s second feature film was a concerted push into a new and uncharted homage territory. A backwoods psychological thriller likened to The Blair Witch Project meets The Deer Hunter or Deliverance, in this brutal survival horror picture from 2007. Relentless, claustrophobic, and unrelenting, Trigger Man’s low-budget shaky-cam aesthetic adds a nuanced layer of realism rarely seen in modern blockbuster thrillers. Still, like The Roost, its standard-def presentation might hinder the casual moviegoer from finishing.

The film’s plot follows three friends on a deer hunting trip in Delaware when a mysterious sniper starts picking them off, ending in an explosively taught third-person shooter-esque, Duel-like climax. Like an alien-less Predator, Trigger Man was West’s first step into a more self-assured thematic direction. Though simplistic, the plot rivals some of West’s more complex and compelling narratives to date. Roughly under an hour and thirty minutes, West's second prominent feature starts as a mundane character study that abruptly devolves into a bloodcurdling tale of survival and paranoia. It's a faithful prototype for the found-footage horror and genre-bending techniques that would continue to follow the director in subsequent films.

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4 'The Innkeepers' (2011)

Starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, and Kelly McGillis

Sarah Paulson (who famously replaced Kimberly J. Brown in the maligned Disney Channel Original Movie Halloweentown 4: Return to Halloweentown) stars as Charlie, an asthmatic who spends her days and nights searching for paranormal activity with her partner in crime and fellow ghost hunting enthusiasts Luke (Pat Healy), but like all of Ti West’s characters, they get way more than bargained. Set in present day New England, the film follows two lowly employees of the once lavish Yankee Pedlar Inn, but when they decide to investigate stories of ghost sightings they accidentally awaken an evil presence from beyond the grave.

A frighteningly slow-moving ghost story that will reward patient viewers with its terrifying second half, The Innkeepers is a modern revival of the haunted hotel horror subgenre that burns unhurriedly and relentlessly.The Innkeepers hits all the nostalgic beats of 80s-era Amblin classic Poltergeist with the modern bite of James Wan’s The Conjuring. Some may anguish under its laborious runtime or lack of consistent scares, but keen-eyed viewers who stick with it will reap the rewards of its fear-inducing climax.