The disappointment of Texas Chainsaw Massacre in February left many horror fans in need of a good old fashioned slasher movie that actually hit the mark; and with esteemed former horror director Ti West returning to the genre once more, it seemed that his latest venture, X, would scratch that itch. So does X mark the spot, or has the buried treasure been tarnished?
When a cast and crew of a pornographic film take up temporary residence in the annex of an elderly couple’s farm they become the latest targets for an unlikely killer.
X’s plot is simple, straight-forward, and to the point. Young, fresh-faced twenty-something’s roll up somewhere they really don’t belong, piss off the wrong people, and then get hunted down and butchered in some gloriously gory kills. In fact, X is a better Texas Chainsaw Massacre film than the previously mentioned Netflix attempt from earlier this year, and that’s because it embodies what made the original Tobe Hooper film so fantastic.
The first hour or so allows us to get to know the characters, what they all desire most in life, and why pornography is the only avenue for them to pursue that dream. Mix in some creepy music, great tension filled moments, and lots of southern states religious conservatism and X manages to bring everything to a spectacularly weird boiling point for the blood to finally start flowing and our young stars to be thrown into the worst (and in many cases last) night of their lives.
When a cast and crew of a pornographic film take up temporary residence in the annex of an elderly couple’s farm they become the latest targets for an unlikely killer.
X’s plot is simple, straight-forward, and to the point. Young, fresh-faced twenty-something’s roll up somewhere they really don’t belong, piss off the wrong people, and then get hunted down and butchered in some gloriously gory kills. In fact, X is a better Texas Chainsaw Massacre film than the previously mentioned Netflix attempt from earlier this year, and that’s because it embodies what made the original Tobe Hooper film so fantastic.
The first hour or so allows us to get to know the characters, what they all desire most in life, and why pornography is the only avenue for them to pursue that dream. Mix in some creepy music, great tension filled moments, and lots of southern states religious conservatism and X manages to bring everything to a spectacularly weird boiling point for the blood to finally start flowing and our young stars to be thrown into the worst (and in many cases last) night of their lives.
The film’s distributor, A24, is known for taking on projects that in the hands of a lot of other studios would just get thrown together and shoved out to the masses for them to consume, swiftly forget about and move on. But rather than doing that themselves, they put a bit more money into it, put it in the hands of a creative who knows how to get the most out of the material, and promote the ever living daylights out of it so that what would be a relatively by the numbers project actually has a chance to flourish and reach a much wider audience than it would have ever had under any other studio. X is no exception to this rule as the production oozes value from every aspect of its design. Whether it’s from harkening back to the 1970’s film aesthetics with orangey-brown colour palettes, liberal use of film grain, and frequent application of 4:3 aspect ratios (in particular a rather stylish opening shot that magically morphs from 4:3 to 16:9); or whether it’s by casting a some fantastic proven talent that really breathe life into a script that could have been wooden in the hands of cheap to hire newcomers.
Mia Goth steals the show as Maxine, our leading lady, who dreams of making it big and living the life she has always dreamed of away from small town mindsets and familiar faces. Interestingly Goth also plays Pearl, one half of the elderly couple that own the farm, and their stories share an interesting duality.
Brittany Snow plays Bobby-Lynne, Maxine’s co-star who arguably knows more about filmmaking than the director RJ (Owen Campbells). Jenny Ortega also plays RJ’s girlfriend, Lorraine whose more conservative views act as a nice contrast to the situation she finds herself in, and she along with Goth were the highlights of the whole film for me.
If you’re a fan of slasher films, then X simply cannot be missed. It harkens back to the iconic classics of the genre in ways that feel fresh and exciting. The great cast with the fantastic production values mixed with some flinch-inducing gore marks X as a modern classic in the making, and the subsequent prequel and sequel that are already on their way have me excited for what is likely to be one knockout of a trilogy. Horror fans, this X has struck gold!
Mia Goth steals the show as Maxine, our leading lady, who dreams of making it big and living the life she has always dreamed of away from small town mindsets and familiar faces. Interestingly Goth also plays Pearl, one half of the elderly couple that own the farm, and their stories share an interesting duality.
Brittany Snow plays Bobby-Lynne, Maxine’s co-star who arguably knows more about filmmaking than the director RJ (Owen Campbells). Jenny Ortega also plays RJ’s girlfriend, Lorraine whose more conservative views act as a nice contrast to the situation she finds herself in, and she along with Goth were the highlights of the whole film for me.
If you’re a fan of slasher films, then X simply cannot be missed. It harkens back to the iconic classics of the genre in ways that feel fresh and exciting. The great cast with the fantastic production values mixed with some flinch-inducing gore marks X as a modern classic in the making, and the subsequent prequel and sequel that are already on their way have me excited for what is likely to be one knockout of a trilogy. Horror fans, this X has struck gold!