Day 73: The Roost

This post is all about the directorial debut of a mostly consistent horror director, Ti West. While his House of the Devil and Innkeepers are two of my favorite horror movies, he came out of the gate with tongue firmly planted in cheek on The Roost.

Tom Noonan is kind of in the movie in that he is a late night horror movie host whose show bookends (and in one memorable case, interrupts) the movie we are watching. As usual, he is a lot of fun but don't expect much from his performance in regards to time on screen. The bulk of the movie is about four friends trying to get to a wedding when a car accident leaves them looking for help. They stumble upon a seemingly abandoned barn that is filled with bats. Beyond just the normal flying vermin problems, these bats can turn you into a zombie. And so, the stage is set for the usual deaths and attempts to outwit a flock of bats.

As homage, this movie is spot on. It recalls 80s schlock horror pretty well and could easily have been a creature feature movie on late night UHF channels. As an actual horror movie...well...not so strong. The characters aren't entirely there and that makes tension or suspense slacker than it should be. West could go on to strong character work in his later movies but this was an entertaining first step. I could give this a solid C.