Ti West makes the jump from slow-burn horror to revenge western with his latest film In a Valley of Violence. The long-gestating western sees the writer-director work with the biggest names of his career so far: John Travolta and Ethan Hawke. Here’s a rather lengthy synopsis:
A mysterious drifter named Paul and his dog Abbie 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 is controlled by a brash group of misfits and nitwits—chief among them the seemingly untouchable Gilly, who is the troublemaking son of the town’s unforgiving Marshal. 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 dragging the whole town into the bloody crosshairs of revenge.
The film gets its US release 21 October.