Timon C. West[1] (born October 5, 1980)[2] is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, and occasional actor, best known for his work in horror films.[3][4] He directed the horror films The Roost (2005), Trigger Man (2007), The House of the Devil (2009), The Innkeepers (2011), the Western In a Valley of Violence (2016) as well as the X film series. He has also acted in a number of films, mostly in those directed by either himself or Joe Swanberg.[3]
West was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and attended Tatnall School, describing his background as "suburban middle class."[2][5] His given name Timon was the surname of his maternal grandfather.[1][6][7] He was inspired to create films after watching Peter Jackson's Bad Taste and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead.[5] He was featured in a 2001 fall issue of Teen People magazine.[8] West attended the School of Visual Arts.[9] There, one of his professors, screenwriter and director Kelly Reichardt, introduced him to Larry Fessenden, who became his mentor. Fessenden funded West's first two films, The Roost (2005) and Trigger Man (2007).[5]
West's early directorial work includes the 2001 short The Wicked, and feature films The Roost (2005), Trigger Man (2007), The House of the Devil (2009),[10] The Innkeepers (2011), and The Sacrament (2013). He appeared in 2004's The Woman Who Split Before Dinner as Old Man Conrad. In 2009, West wrote, produced and directed the web series Dead & Lonely for IFC Films.[11] The first series run ended in October 2009.[12] West disowned the 2009 horror film Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, citing massive interference and re-editing as the reasons. He wanted to remove his name completely from the film and give directing credit to Alan Smithee, but his request was denied.[13]
West was set to direct The Haunting in Georgia, the sequel to The Haunting in Connecticut, but left the project in March 2010.[14] In 2012, he worked with Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, Glenn McQuaid and the Radio Silence Productions hosts Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Chad Villella on the anthology horror film V/H/S. He directed the segment "Second Honeymoon".[15]
In June 2015, it was reported that West would direct an episode of MTV's Scream television series. He directed the penultimate episode of the first season, titled "The Dance".[16] He has also directed an episode of Jason Blum and Eli Roth's We TV horror series South of Hell, titled "Take Life Now".[17] West wrote, directed, produced and edited the Western film In a Valley of Violence, starring Ethan Hawke, Taissa Farmiga, and John Travolta.[18] It premiered at South by Southwest in March 2016.[19]
In late 2020, it was announced that A24 would produce a horror film titled X, which would be directed by West and will star Mia Goth, Scott Mescudi, Jenna Ortega, and Brittany Snow. The film was released on March 18, 2022, to critical acclaim. While X was in production, filming in New Zealand was temporarily halted due to the country's lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to West spending the time writing a screenplay to a prequel. The film, Pearl, was filmed back-to-back with X once production started up again. Pearl was released in September 2022 to critical acclaim. West later confirmed he was working on a third installment in the series, a sequel to X titled MaXXXine.
West directed the music video to Justin Timberlake’s single "No Angels", which was released March 15, 2024, as the second single from the latter’s sixth studio album Everything I Thought It Was.[20][21]
West is engaged to Australian DJ Alison Wonderland. On June 13, 2023, they welcomed their first child together, a son named Max.[citation needed]
