X
A24Director Ti West returns to the horror genre with X, a fun throwback to 1970s grindhouse pictures and exploitation films, and a marvelous theatrical experience. The less known about the movie, the better, but the gist of it is quite simple: an amateur film crew is shooting a terrible pornographic film in the late 1970s. They arrive on a secluded farm to shoot the remainder of the film, and it all goes well . . . until night falls and the crew starts to get killed one by one.
So it’s a plot we’ve all seen before, with many callbacks to the best horror films of all time, most notably Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The secluded farmhouse, grainy cinematography, reclusive elders, surprising jump scares, and a gratuitous amount of gore immediately recall Hooper’s film, while its sex sequences are more in line with terrible softcore porn. Its director (Owen Campbell) explains his film as being “pornography, but cinema,” as if he’s channeling his inner Denis Héroux, but cannot realise how talentless of a filmmaker he truly is, because all his producer (Martin Henderson) sees is dollar signs at the idea that lots of sex will make a killing in home video sales.
Brittany Snow, Mia Goth, and Scott Mescudi play the actors Bobby-Lyne, Jackson Hole, and Maxine, respectively, while Jenna Ortega portrays Lorraine, the mic operator; there’s an immediate visual callback to Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s character in Boogie Nights while Lorraine operates her microphone on top of Mescudi and Snow having intense sex. As bad performers, the three leads portray them brilliantly, with Snow stealing the show during the film’s extended recreation of pornographic sex. Her exaggerated moans are so ridiculous they’ll likely instill laughter in the audience, but her reaction to her performance is even more hilarious.
But the real show-stealer of the picture is Goth during its more serious sequences, where the body count starts to grow and the blood flies off the screen. Talking more about her performance would mean spoiling the film and the pleasure of seeing Goth give a career-best role, but let’s just say that she has an unexpected presence in the film’s second and third acts that shouldn’t be revealed to anyone who enters the cinema. Jenna Ortega is also excellent. With The Fallout and Scream (2022) this year, she is quickly becoming one of the best up-and-coming actresses working today, and consistently proves herself at being a highly versatile actress who’ll always bring out her A-game no matter the film she plays in.
Audiences will have to exercise patience to experience X’s promised gorefest, but once it hits, buckle up. West slowly builds up the tension through a gripping character drama on the film’s production during the first half, which leads to a character making a (very) dumb decision – it wouldn’t be a traditional slasher without a dumb protagonist! – causing his demise. X also doesn’t hold back on its unflinching gore, using terrific practical effects and makeup at its disposal, and inventively killing many of its main protagonists one by one. The tension is extremely palpable from the minute the audience sees something the character doesn’t see, and even knowing that there will be a jumpscare doesn’t prevent a plethora of surprises, including a character death plucked straight of a bad animal disaster flick that had the entire theatre howling.
But the most impressive aspect of X is Ti West’s razor-sharp editing. He uses classic wipes as transitions that’ll make any fan of New Hollywood have a big smile on their face until the editing becomes more sophisticated through enticing parallel cuts and many inventive shots-reverse-shots. Eliot Rockett’s cinematography also aids in the effectiveness of the editing; a fixed camera for its kills adds more grit to the violence, whilst the “16mm” camera used to shoot the porno flick gives these sequences a more fly-on-the-wall look.
As mentioned above, the less known about X, the better. It’s a film that contains multiple twists and turns that are better left unexplored in this review so that audiences are able to experience it to the fullest. But West’s mastery of the slasher genre cannot be overstated. It’s, at times, gut-bustlingly funny, only for a character to lose their guts a minute later. It’s also effectively scary, with a great atmosphere plaguing the film from beginning to end. Mia Goth gives her best performance of her career, while Jenna Ortega continues to shine as an actress to look out for. With a midnight crowd, X will be an unbelievable cinema experience. And as John Waters so brilliantly expressed, if you want to get more out of life, then you should “see a f–d up movie.” X definitely falls right into that category.