What am I missing?

Alright, look, please try not to crucify me here. I cannot, for the life of me, stand any of this guy's movies. I hated his segment in V/H/S, I thought House of the Devil had elements of tension but had nothing to be tense over, and the Innkeepers and all his other films seem the same. Tension for the sake of having tension, and calling it 'artsy'. Any time someone tries to criticize this problem is shot down as being either pretentious, or an idiot. I honestly find West to be a pretentious filmmaker.


Look, I appreciate horror, and I have unconventional tastes in films, I know. I love nearly every genre of movie, and horror especially. But every time I say I hate this guy's movies I am accused of being a Michael Bay-loving moron who wouldn't know a good film if it were injected into my bloodstream. I love slower paced films, I love classic horror like Carpenter's 'The Thing' and 'Prince of Darkness' I enjoyed the likes of this year's 'The Babadook' and 'It follows' I love every subgenre of horror.

My question is, why? Why don't I like this guy, and why does every else love him? I just do NOT understand what the deal is. People are calling him the next Hitchcock, and I think thats a GROSS overstatement. Hitchcock had slow pacing and tension, with PURPOSE, in his films, we had established threats and characters that actually HAD character. Tai's movies just have no context for why I should give a damn. Tension mainly works if it has a payoff or a PURPOSE. Nothing creates atmosphere in his movies, its like watching a college film student filming a random nobody walk around a house for 80 minutes.

I'm not trying to piss anyone off here, I really just want a reasonable explanation as to why this guy is getting the praise he does. You don't have to be insulting or demeaning, just tell me why. I see no purpose or accomplishments he does with movies.