Trigger Man (2007)

Tagline: They thought they were alone…

Curiosity: After seeing the excellent The House of the Devil last year, I wanted to see Ti West’s other films ASAP. Here’s my first go at this rising director’s filmography.

Plot: Three friends go on an illegal hunting trip in rural Delaware. One of them (Reggie Cunningham) has girl troubles. Then an unseen shooter starts gunning them down.

Yeah… that’s about it.

Thoughts: I liked Trigger Man, with a couple of caveats:

1) It’s easier to appreciate it now knowing that West was going to quincentuple his promise with House.

2.) Trigger Man shows that, even with an extremely limited budget, West could produce something with excellent cinematography.

Taken on its own, Trigger Man is awfully slow and skimpy on story and dialogue. It’s three dudes walking in the woods. At one point, they riff on Predator. Then it’s back to walking and cussing. That’s the first 40 minutes right there. The remaining 40 are given over to dodging the killer. Sure, House is pretty slow too, but it sustains tension for its entire running time, making its few instances of graphic violence so much more effective. Trigger Man attempts the same trick, and while the actual shootings are pretty powerful, the moments in between suck the energy out. Plus, the first half is way too padded. Did we really need that entire wordless scene where Reggie goes to a convenience store and stares at beverages? The second half occasionally suffers from bad audio – a scene filmed by a river came out kind of garbled.

That said, I still enjoyed the film. Based on House, I assumed Trigger Man would be slow, so I handled the pacing better than my girlfriend did. Horror enthusiast Scott Muir enjoyed the cinematography – one particular overheard looks awesome. Trigger Man is a movie I appreciate more than I like. West established that he could make a movie on the cheap with only a handful of actors and locations, and his interview in the DVD’s bonus section is pretty funny. His use of music is also effective, ranging from the freewheeling indie rock of the title sequence to the more experimental electronic textures that help give the shootings an otherworldly feel. I’m glad I own it, and I might watch it again sometime. But it’s a good movie that could have been great with a little more dialogue. Perhaps some more humor in the front half would have made it move along more easily.

Reflection: Needs more Noonan.