X prequel will see Ti West enter trilogy territory

When discussing modern horror masters, you often hear names like Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, and Robert Eggers cited.

However, before any of these, there was Ti West.

The 41-year-old American filmmaker is best known for such efforts as The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers, which have been celebrated by genre fans no end.

Although he moved out of horror and into westerns briefly with 2016’s In a Valley of Violence, he is now back within the genre he made his name in. X opens in theaters on Friday, March 18th 2022 and follows a film crew shooting an adult movie at a farmhouse.

However, the couple who own the place takes a little too much interest in the aspirational crew and blood begins to flow.

As it turns out, it doesn’t end with X, or rather, it doesn’t begin with X because have a prequel incoming…

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Ti West announces X prequel movie

The prequel to X was directed by Ti West and has been given an official title: Pearl.

He and a crew shot the script – he had written it a few weeks prior – in secret in New Zealand after shooting X.

A teaser for the project was actually shown during the premiere of X at South by Southwest film festival on Sunday, March 13th 2022.

As for what to expect, he has teased – per Collider – that the film will explore the role that the ranch we see in X played during the days of World War I.

Although little is known beyond that, Ti has already revealed that he took a very different visual approach than the one we saw exhibited in X. This time, the filmmaker hopes to evoke the look of old Hollywood.

Citing Douglas Sirk movies – he made All the Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind and more – as an influence, he also called Pearl “a Technicolor, Mary Poppins kind of movie.”

If that doesn’t intrigue you, what will? A trilogy?

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X will usher in a trilogy

We have X. We’ll soon have Pearl; well, why not another to round off a trilogy?

Indeed, Collider notes that Ti West has already addressed that he wishes to make a third movie to turn the world of X into a trilogy.

He explained that “you can’t make a slasher movie without a bunch of sequels”, and he added that “the miracle of A24 was that they thought this was actually a good idea” when he brought up helming a prequel.

So, when you flock to check out X, know that there’s much more to come.

Other movies from Ti West

With the director’s name back in the spotlight, it’s worth highlighting all of his directorial movie efforts up until this point:

• The Roost
• Trigger Man
• The House of the Devil
• Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
• The Innkeepers
• The Sacrament
• In a Valley of Violence
• X

X is in theaters from Friday, March 18th 2022.