Writer/director Ti West offers genre fans a unique twist on the haunted house movie with his new flick, The Innkeepers. The Innkeepers had its world premiere in Austin at SXSW the other day and I had the chance to sit with Ti to talk about some of the spooky experiences he had on the set of House of the Devil, which inspired The Innkeepers. But how do crappy internet ghost hunting sites and Dee Wallace Stone fit into all of this? Read my full interview below to find out.

FEARnet: The Innkeepers came from some experiences you had while shooting House of the Devil?

Ti West: Yes, while we were shooting House of the Devil we stayed at that hotel, so that's where we all lived while we were shooting that movie. It was odd because all of these weird sort of things would happen at the hotel like even before we went to set and afterwards. And they were almost weirder than the weird satanic movie we were making in the middle of nowhere. I didn't think much of it, I just figured these were kooky stories but then a year later after the movie had come out I was looking to do something else. I was attached to another movie and I said, "I'm not going to do this anymore", and I wanted to make something quick. I thought of this movie and I was like, "I wonder if they'll let us shoot there", we called and they said yes so I wrote the script really quickly. Based off the stuff that happened there.

How quickly did you secure financing and start rolling?

It happened so quickly. Wrote the script in the beginning of January, went to Sundance pitched it to MPI, they said OK and we shot it in April.

Were you ready or did it catch you off guard?

Yeah, I was ready. The thing is if The Peddler (the hotel) said no, there wouldn't be a film. The fact that they said yes and they had a window, which was their downtime in the spring and this was the only time we could make the movie. It was a weird low budget stars aligning kind of thing.

While filming House of the Devil was it evident to you from the get-go that you might be staying in a haunted hotel?

It was right from the get-go and they almost boast to some degree that it's haunted. There's a kid at the front desk named Luke who has a ghost hunting website.

Like the character from The Innkeepers? That's a real person?

Oh yeah, the character is nothing like him, but I just did his name for like respect. Luke was awesome.

So instead of changing the names you kept them the same!

(laughs) Exactly, I gave him the credit to be Luke. His website is actually better done and more serious about ghosts, the one in the movie is goofier or poorly done.

And then I had conversations with Dee Wallace about healing stuff and pendulums and stuff like that. The character is not based on her but that's where I got the idea.

Dee Wallace Stone?

Yes. I'm very sensitive about this because the character in the movie is an asshole, and that's not Dee at all. But Dee is a healer as well as an actress and I didn't know that. She was saying the hotel is haunted and told me all about this stuff in conversations much like the ones in the movie. My mind was just blown. So that's where the idea came from to have that sort of spiritual element in the movie. It's not based on Dee at all, but she's where the idea came from.

It seems like a lot of genre filmmakers are taking their own real life experiences and turning them into movies; does this help you as a filmmaker?

I like to think of myself as a personal filmmaker because ultimately I'm making these movies for myself. I feel like the outcome is still appealing to other people. For me drawing from personal stuff is just part of it. Exorcising my demons in some way. My feeling is that if you don't feel a little uncomfortable watching it, then it's not good. It's more honest that way.

In your perfect world would you continue to write, edit and direct your own films?

Yes, to me writing, editing, directing is filmmaking. The editing one is something they're not gonna let me do forever. When you do a big film just from a union standpoint alone they'll be like you gotta hire one. I operate the camera, I have a great DP that's cool with that and we have a really great relationship and he's terrific. I'm sure I'll find another editor at some point when I shoot a bigger movie if I have to. If I don't have to, I'll do it myself, I'd like to.

How enhanced is the spookiness in the film from what you actually experienced?

Quite enhanced. And the lore of the hotel, I made all that shit up. I mean they have their own lore, it's just different. Doors would open and close by themselves, lights would burn out, my phone rang and no one was on the other line (which is weird), pretty much stuff that can be explained. But the one thing, and this is not directly reflected in the movie, I've had these really weird vivid dreams and I don't know why.

So you've got a small cast that seems to work really well together, was there a lot of prep time?

Zero. It's important for me when I make a movie to get people you get along with. Because it's so traumatic making a movie to begin with that you really wanna be with people you like otherwise it sucks. My crew is the same way; it's a pleasant set to be on. They didn't do any rehearsing, Sara showed up the day after her birthday on a redeye and then the first day of shooting.

The relationship between Sara Paxton and Pat Healy's character works even without the spooky shit.

Yeah, of course.

And any great horror movie has to work without the horror element.

I agree. Yeah, like if the third act just kept on with the comedy you'd be like, 'That was a good funny movie'.

It's The Descent without the creatures or The Exorcist...

...yeah, because The Exorcist is ultimately a movie about a mother and her sick daughter. And that's what the movie's about. Then there's this other element that's a massive part of it, but it's secondary to the foremost thing which is about a mom and her sick daughter. Movies should be about people, and when it is a movie like that or if The Shining is a movie about a guy who hates his family then when the horror stuff comes in the stakes are raised because you care about these people. What I was really trying to do with this movie is create a charming movie and if you can charm the audience then when you put these characters in peril, it's really uncomfortable.

Was there any convincing with your actors or were they all willing to shoot a movie about a haunted hotel in a haunted hotel?

I kinda shot myself in the foot on that one. I was talking to Sara telling her how the hotel was so creepy and weird, telling her they say it's really haunted and you're gonna lose your mind. Thinking she was gonna be like, this is awesome. The next day we got a call from her agent saying she didn't want to stay at the hotel. I was like it's my fault; I realize what's happening now. So I said, "Just have her stay at the hotel the first night, if she hates it we'll move her somewhere else". I overdid it. I scared her and didn't realize it. We all did wind up staying there.

So let's talk about that awesome poster you released last week.

It's so good.

How involved were you?

Well, we went to Tom Hodge and he had done the Hobo with a Shotgun Poster and we reached out to him and he was a fan of Glass Eye Pix and our movies and he was like dude, I'll do it. So he mocked up a bunch of different designs, I sent him a bunch of reference posters because he hadn't seen the movie. I wanted a kooky mystical Charles Dickens vibe.

So what's next?

I think I'm gonna do this science fiction movie that I wrote. Horror-ish, psychological thriller sci-fi.

When I hear you say sci-fi it has me thinking slightly bigger budget.

(laughs) It is a slightly bigger budget.

How slight? Will you be editing yourself or bringing on a full time editor?

I don't know, we'll see. I don't want it to be too huge because then we'll have problems. I just need enough money to build a spaceship...And it doesn't have to fly.

Does the whole movie take place on the ship?

More or less, yeah.

Haunted house movie on a spaceship?

Something like that, but not quite. You're in the right vein, but not quite there.

Thanks for your time.

Absolutely!