A poster has arrived for Ti West’s upcoming western In a Valley of Violence and it’s a stunner. Premiering this weekend at the SXSW festival, the revenge western looks to be the furthest the acclaimed director of House of The Devil, The Innkeepers and The Sacrament has strayed from horror since 2007’s Trigger Man.
As well as the stonking one-sheet, the film also boasts one hell of a cast, packed with genre regulars. Ethan Hawke leads, alongside Taissa Farmiga (The Final Girls), Karen Gillan (Oculus), Hawke’s Sinister co-star James Ransone, Larry Fessenden (You’re Next, We Are Still Here) and a certain Mr. John Travolta.
Synopsis:
A mysterious drifter named Paul (Hawke) and his dog make their way towards Mexico through the barren desert of the old west. In an attempt to shorten their journey, they cut through the center of a large valley — landing themselves in the forgotten town of Denton, a place now dubbed by locals as a “valley of violence.” The once-popular mining town is nearly abandoned and controlled by a brash group of misfits — chief among them Gilly (Ransone), the troublemaking son of the town’s Marshal (John Travolta).
As tensions rise between Paul and Gilly, Denton’s remaining residents bear witness to an inevitable act of violence that starts a disastrous chain reaction, infecting the petty lives of all involved and quickly drags the whole town into the bloody crosshairs of revenge. Mary-Anne (Farmiga) and Ellen (Gillan), two bickering sisters who run the town’s only hotel, try to find the good in both men, while desperately searching for their own salvation. Only the world-weary Marshal struggles to stop the violent hysteria, but after a gruesome discovery about Paul’s past… there is no stopping the escalation.
The western and horror genres have always rubbed shoulders to a certain degree, with recent films such as Blood Moon and Bone Tomahawk blurring the lines between the two to almost entire erasure. West is a safe pair of hands, and this one promises to be something really special.
