‘X’ Director Ti West on Capturing Porn and ’70s Texas in His New Slasher Flick

variety.com:

Wilson Chapman editorTi West made his name directing nimbly paced throwbacks to horror films of old, from his haunted house breakthrough “The House of the Devil” to his found footage film “The Sacrament.” But after directing six horror films in a row, with very few breaks in between, he decided to take some time off to make sure he didn’t start repeating himself.While on his break from horror filmmaking, during which he directed for TV shows such as “Scream,” and “Tales From the Loop,” he thought about making a pure slasher film, something he hadn’t done before.

Trying to find his own unique spin on the subgenre, he decided to make slasher film about people making a film. He wasn’t interested in making an overly meta piece about shooting a horror movie, so he eventually settled on a close counterpoint to his favorite genre: porn. “Slasher movies have always been sort of seen as this lowbrow sex and violence kind of sub-genre,” West says. “And so I was thinking that in the ‘70s, adult filmmaking and horror filmmaking were not that different.

They have kind of a symbiotic relationship. They were made outside of the system, and they could go direct to consumers via drive-ins or grindhouse theaters or adult theaters, and eventually VHS.

So I thought making a movie about people making an adult movie would satisfy what I was trying to get after, bringing an audience into the filmmaking process.”The result, “X,” is a throwback to slashers of the 1970s, following a group of filmmakers under the employ of producer Wayne (Martin Henderson) who travel to a remote farm in Texas to film an adult film, “The Farmer’s Daughter.” But when the couple that owns the farm takes an interest in the group, the crew has to fight for their.