I wondered how I had missed an effort by the usually brilliant Ti West for over a decade, especially since the intro, so humorously filled with spooky old Hollywood themes (including a tombstone in a 19th century graveyard that without a trace of subtlety says YOU lol) seemed like a promising horror comedy... It has all the tropes, including a distinct modernized Night of the Living Dead feel, which will appeal to those of us who have seen too many horror films, and a truly eerie soundtrack which reminded me of NASA Sounds of the Planets on YouTube. ..but for all of this somehow the film drags and you just don't care about any of the bitchy, whiny 20- something main characters at all. Fun background flick for Halloween season or a one time necessary viewing for die hard horror fans, but as a stand-alone film it seriously falls flat. Everything else I've seen of his is so good I wonder if this was his college film class project.

Do you like killer bats and undead corpses and a bit of tense horror? Those who hate- let them hate! Ti West's debut feature The Roost just arrived on DVD in the mail today, and of course I immediately popped it in for a watch. I expected it to be decent, a satisfactory low-budget horror, but it turned out to be a really great homage to 80s horror flicks.The effects were well done, in my opinion. West avoids lingering too long on certain things, so as to not draw any ire for things looking cheesy. Especially when we get one or two little gory bits, it looks really good; the practical effects added more old school feel to the film. West always relies on atmosphere for his films, which is evident when you look at his later works like The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers specifically, and here he doesn't disappoint either. The look of actually filming with film instead of digitally really pays off here, and if you didn't know better, in a few scenes you could actually mistake this for something filmed 30 years ago- and not in any bad way either.I think the acting, dialogue, the gore, the scares, the chilling score, that throwback 80s look- it all makes for a wonderful little horror film. Ti West is one of my favourites. I anxiously awaited the arrival of my DVD, having never ever seen the film before, and it has not disappointed. I'm currently watching the Special Features, right now it's The Making of The Roost, which has some great little bits with Larry Fessenden, and shows off some of the practical and digital effects the film uses. Highly recommended, and I give this an 8 out of 10 stars. I wish there were more efforts like this coming out these days; it's great to catch them when they do.P.S Tom Noonan and his segments, the horror show framing device, plus his ending = wonderful!

I don't know about the rest of you, but once I edited out the framing device, which really ruins the movie (did Ti have to do this for added "commercial" value?), that is, all the black and white inserts, like we're supposed to know we're watching a late show movie, The Roost is truly scary, in no small part thanks to the editing, the use of light and darkness (a bow to the cinematographer), and the best use of space of any genre movie of recent vintage. The ending, of course, stinks. Wish I could have been surprised, but you see this one coming, better to have left him, a la The Sopranos ending, alone on the bridge in the dark, the moon red, the bats gone, everything blocked. I confess that I had to stop watching this one several times because it is so unnerving, especially if you don't know what to expect (and this one caught me cold). What this film needs is a director's cut, and it will be a cult classic, period.

Okay little creeper using the "more is less" approach with quite a wacky premise..four young adults, on their way to a wedding taking a scenic route, meet a dangerous detour when they come across deadly bats(who have formed a colony within the barn of a nearby isolated farmhouse)which turn those they bite into zombies! Character actor Tom Noonan serves as a type of creature feature host for this flick, even interrupting at one point when he found the whimpering(..at the seemingly hopeless situation they face)of brother Elliot(Wil Horneff)and sister Allison(Vanessa Horneff, whose lip sticks out in a pout for most of the duration, as she complains, gripes, moans & groans about this and that..)grotesque. The first victims to encounter an unfortunate demise at the teeth of the bats were the elderly couple who live in the farmhouse and a policeman the group need assistance from in order to reach their car which was wrecked when a bat crashed into their windshield leaving the vehicle's axle locked on a big rock.The film is shot, on digital, entirely in the night which probably makes the bats more effective. I think those killer bats were mostly CGI, but the director has them flapping past the screen and at victims at such a frenzied state, one can barely tell. When you get a good look at the bats on top of a roof window, they aren't as effective..but as a collective swarming around their prey, I think the CGI isn't a detriment. The film really follows the characters as they try to remain out of the path of the bats, but when the zombies pop up out of nowhere that double threat really heightens the suspense. I like the disorienting violin strings as they get under the skin..this is what the director also uses to keep the viewer on edge. Not a bad way to waste about 75 minutes..looks like a little indie horror flick that might be featured within the "8 films to die for.." collection(whether or not that's a compliment or insult depends on the mixed response those film so often receive). The gore, if you're wondering, comes from the zombie flesh ripping and blood spatter.