Although he made his first scary movie in 2005, writer/director Ti West didn't register on the radars of most horror fans until his retro-'80s shocker The House of the Devil premiered in 2009. Although it wasn't a Paranormal Activity-style box office smash, Devil quickly gained a strong cult following and made the 31-year-old filmmaker a person of interest in genre circles. On Friday, West's new film The Innkeepers -- a small-scale ghost story set in an old (and possibly haunted) hotel -- arrives in theaters after premiering on VOD last month. TWoP spoke with West during the New York leg of his nationwide press tour about stealing content, the ridiculousness of ghost hunting TV shows and his theory about Gus Van Sant's controversial Psycho remake.

After a fallow period dominated by increasingly tired torture porn antics, American horror movies are starting to bounce back in a big way, thanks to clever, fun and genuinely scary titles like Silent House (minus the last ten minutes), The Innkeepers and even Paranormal Activity 3. One thing the genre's fans have still been waiting for, though, is the return of those great horror anthologies that were churned out with regularity during the '70s, '80s and early '90s -- think films like Trilogy of Terror, Creepshow or my personal favorite, Tales From the Darkside: The Movie. Well, the wait is finally over. Last Thursday, the omnibus production V/H/S arrived on VOD (it opens in theaters on October 5) and instantly establishes itself as 2012's finest horror movie so far and one of the best of the past few years. With V/H/S literally at your fingertips, there's no reason to throw your money away on recent theatrical horror releases like The Apparition and The Possession.

When will people learn? You never go into the basement.

Yet another reason to only stay in name-brand hotels...