Yellowstone Creator Taylor Sheridan Once Disowned His “Directorial Debut” — And For Good Reason
The Forgotten Film Taylor Sheridan Doesn’t Claim
Before Yellowstone, 1883, and Sicario made him one of Hollywood’s most respected creators, Taylor Sheridan was still finding his place in the industry. Long before his neo-Western empire took off, Sheridan’s name appeared on a 2011 horror film titled Vile—a movie so poorly received that even he wants nothing to do with it.
You probably won’t find Vile on Sheridan’s résumé, and there’s a reason for that. As he explained in a 2017 interview with Rotten Tomatoes, the project wasn’t truly his. “A friend of mine raised— I don’t know what he raised—20 grand or something, and cast his buddies, and wrote this bad horror movie that I told him not to direct,” Sheridan recalled.
When his friend’s production began falling apart, Sheridan stepped in to help get the movie finished. “I kind of kept the ship pointed straight,” he said, but admitted that calling him the film’s director is “generous.” Though he helped steady the project, Sheridan insists Vile wasn’t a true creative effort on his part.
“Vile”: A Torture-Horror Knockoff
The film itself did little to inspire confidence in his future as a filmmaker. Vile is a grim, low-budget entry into the early 2010s “torture porn” trend that followed the success of Saw. Its story centers on a group of friends trapped by a deranged hitchhiker and forced to endure excruciating pain to survive, their suffering monitored through vials attached to their necks.
The movie checked every cliché of its genre: thinly written characters, forced dialogue, excessive gore, and a predictable premise. Critics at the time dismissed it as another Saw imitation with none of the suspense or substance. Sheridan’s decision to distance himself from the project proved to be the right call.
Lessons That Led to Wind River
While Vile was a misstep, Sheridan credits the experience for teaching him what not to do behind the camera. Just six years later, he directed the haunting thriller Wind River (2017), starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen—a film that showcased his true directorial voice: restrained, atmospheric, and emotionally rich.
That movie, unlike Vile, earned critical acclaim and cemented Sheridan’s reputation as one of Hollywood’s most distinctive modern storytellers.
Today, with hits like Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, and multiple Yellowstone spinoffs, Sheridan has built a creative empire grounded in authenticity and grit—far removed from the low-budget chaos of Vile.