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Before Yellowstone, before Sicario, Taylor Sheridan dipped his toes into horror, and nah, not for glory, but as a favor to a friend. Vile (2011), his directorial debut, is a brutal little indie about ten strangers locked in a house and forced to endure extreme pain to escape. And it wasn’t even a passion project. Sheridan reportedly stepped in to direct as a favor to a friend.

The film follows ten strangers who wake up locked in a house and are forced to endure excruciating pain in a twisted experiment designed to extract brain chemicals. They have just 22 hours to survive or die trying. Premiering at Film4 FrightFest before landing a U.S. release in 2012, Vile doesn’t even have a Rotten Tomatoes score.

The One Horror Movie Taylor Sheridan Wishes You’d Forget

Taylor Sheridan Vile exists, and the veteran writer admits it only happened because a friend begged for help.

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Taylor Sheridan has made himself into one of the most important people in Hollywood. As the creator of "Yellowstone," in addition to being pretty much that show's sole writer, he has managed to craft a full-on TV empire that extends beyond his hit Western. There are spin-offs, as well as other hit shows like "Tulsa King," "Lioness," and "Landman," all stemming from Sheridan's mind. Yet, the filmmaker had relatively humble beginnings behind the camera -- his feature directorial debut is a horror movie that one would be forgiven for not being aware of.

The movie in question is called "Vile" and was released in 2012. It's an ultra-low-budget, not at all highly regarded movie in the, for lack of a better term, "torture porn" sub-genre that became popular in the early 2000s, in no small part thanks to the success of the "Saw" franchise.

Horror has been a stepping stone for many celebrities' careers, from Jennifer Aniston in Leprechaun to Rene Zelwegger and Matthew McConaughey in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. Yellowstone co-creator and prolific Hollywood screenwriter Taylor Sheridan is also an honorary member of that list, with his directorial debut being a low-budget independent horror project titled Vile. However, Sheridan doesnt see this as his debut, insisting the project was simply a favor he did for his friend Eric Beck who had raised the money for the movie but was overwhelmed with the sheer volume of work. Sheridan told Rotten Tomatoes "I think its generous to call me the director." Sheridan may be embarrassed by the caliber of Vile, yet despite the films flaws, it is still an interesting study of the human condition and morality.