Posted in: A24, Horror, Kaitlyn Booth, Movies | Tagged: a24, horror, movies, Review, x

X Review: Slasher Fans Will Love It But It Won't Convert Non-Believers

[Note: I don't usually do prefaces before reviews, but I feel I should do one before this review of X. Please keep in mind everything I am about to say comes from someone who is not a fan of slasher movies but went into X hoping it would either be the exception to the rule or the thing that would convert me to liking the genre. It wasn't. That's not to say the movie is bad; it's just not my thing, and if you want to read a review of a slasher movie from someone who isn't a slasher fan, read on. If not, feel free to click back. However, because of my inherent dislike of this subgenre as a whole, I will not be submitting this review to Rotten Tomatoes nor giving it a number score because I do not want my dislike of this subgenre of horror to be held against this movie.]

X is a love letter to the exploitation films of the 1970s in both the horror and porn world that slasher fans are absolutely going to love every second of. As for those looking to be converted to the subgenre, it likely won't change anyone's mind.

Director: Ti West
Summary: In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives

In a newsletter sent out by distributor A24, director Ti West talked about the inherent link between the porn industry and the horror industry, specifically in the 1970s, and how X was a film looking to bring the spirits of that link together. "Historically, horror and pornography have always had a bit of a symbiotic relationship – two forms of lowbrow entertainment that could be made independently outside of the traditional Hollywood studio system," West wrote. "What is often overlooked, however, is the wildly ambitious entrepreneurial spirit that accompanies trying to make these types of films and craft them well. As a fellow movie lover, this is my tribute to that spirit." The spirit of those things, even for someone who isn't familiar or into either of those genres, is all over the screen when you're watching X. West didn't just set out to make a homage to exploitation and slasher films; he knew that if he was going to truly capture the essence of these things, then he was going to have to make them and then elevate them.

That's why the first hour of X is very much here to just be, mostly, about a bunch of dumb, inconsiderate young people shooting a porno on someone's property without telling them that is what they are doing. That first hour of the movie, we are essentially watching a well-shot, well-framed porn movie while listening to the cameraman tell us how he will make this a well-shot, well-framed porn movie. We switch gears into the slasher part of the movie at the hour mark, and while this doesn't feature the most creative kills or the most physically imposing villains, all the pieces that slasher movie fans are likely to enjoy are here for them to enjoy.

However, for someone going into this looking for something that will change their mind on a genre that they aren't fond of, X likely isn't going to hit the spot because it has so much reverence for the era that it is harping. This is a movie stepping up to the plate to do these two genres with a new coat of paint, but the fundamentals that made someone either fall in love or, not fall in love with slashers are all there—the creative and not so creative kills. A bunch of arrogant young people getting but also not getting what they deserve. And all the while they're making some of the most bafflingly stupid decisions you will ever see on screen, one right after the other and getting punished for that stupidity. These are the hallmarks of the genre. If it isn't something you're already into, West's love letter will not inspire someone who has tried this subgenre and was just never able to get into it.

The disconnect for an audience member who might not have any connection to sex, in general, will make X a watching experience that could be hard for some to wrap their heads around. As West said, porn and horror have always had a connection, and sex has been a theme of horror for many years to the point that it became a joke in things like Scream. You want to live? Don't have sex. X is a movie that is fundamentally about sex, and if sex is something you're not interested in on a base level when trying to see the themes and motivations of the heroes and villains in front of us, the disconnect is even more pronounced. However, X isn't looking at sex as something to be ashamed of or leaning into the virgin trope. There are no virgins in X, and the movie takes time to talk about not being ashamed of base urges and not being ashamed of having sex because sex is not the same thing as love to both these characters and to many people in the real world.

The elderly in horror represent something; the impending inevitable specter of death, someone so old and far removed from our own reality that they seem almost seem alien, or the sense of wasted youth, all of which we tend to associate with the elderly. There are several angles that X is taking with their murderous couple, but getting into that would be varying levels of spoilers. There are times when the movie seems a little sympathetic to what is happening to these people, even if what happened to them is simply the passage of time. Or at least, that is all we know, right now, as the audience. West has made a prequel, and maybe there is more on the horizon to explain why things played out in X the way they did.

The star of the show will be Mia Goth, who is just the weird-ass horror movie it girl these days. She has a hell of a role to play here, and it's so much fun to see her continue to blow up in recent years. She has some great supporting work from the other people around her. Still, as each person continues to get picked off, sometimes the absurdity of how dumb all of these people are, Goth's Maxine included, provides some real unintentional comedy. The last ten minutes feel like something more out of the later Evil Dead movies because the character deaths start to get absurd and funny. There is a needle drop right at the end that will cause an outburst of laughter that West so perfectly times that you want to stand up and clap for how well he makes the scene work.

X is absolutely going to make fans of the horror genre lose their damn minds, and for very good reason. All of the things that they love are right there on screen and presented by someone who clearly understands the genre and respects what it can do and what it has done for cinema as a whole. But if you're someone who isn't a fan of slasher movies hoping that A24 is going to distribute one that will change your mind on the entire genre or be the exception to the rule, X likely isn't going to do it. Which is completely fine. Let's continue to give horror fans the excellent horror movies they deserve; those who aren't into it don't need to partake in this particular feast.

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