Film Review – In a Valley of Violence

While he hasn’t exclusively worked in the genre, writer/director Ti West is usually labeled a horror filmmaker, building his reputation with interesting efforts (“The Innkeepers” and “House of the Devil”), while his last picture, “The Sacrament,” replicated real-world agony with its take on the Jonestown Massacre. Changing up the career view, West embarks on a western showdown tale with “In a Valley of Violence,” challenging his helming skills with a homage to spaghetti westerns, having a ball highlighting all the evil men are capable of. It’s a doozy of a movie, refreshingly spare and focused on the essentials of the tradition, showcasing West’s continued development into a memorable creative force. It’s raw work, but “In a Valley of Violence” snowballs into superbly suspenseful cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com