X is the goriest and horniest movie of the year so far. Writer/director Ti West reintroduces the art house snuff aesthetic to horror by touching on the classics of the 70’s. The film teeters right on the edge of pure stomach turning disgust at points, but doesn’t overdo it. The cast feels like a family and the chemistry is electric. Illustrated with beautifully fluid cinematography and subtly jarring editing, it excites the audience for what else is possible. 

Set in 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make the best adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive elderly hosts catch them in the act, the filmmakers find themselves fighting for their lives. This is not a straightforward horror film, but an homage to grindhouse. Grindhouse was big in the 70’s because they were cheap, easy to make, and knew how to get butts in the seats with gratuitous violence and lots of nudity. Ti West elevates the style in a very meta way. It’s smart, funny and of course sexy, touching on deeper themes of age, sexuality, and religion. 

The film plays rights into typical horror tropes, but subverts them as well, always reaching the pay off. There is a charm in the making of the porno. Each character sees this as a stepping stone towards a better future. Wayne (Martin Henderson, Grey’s Anatomy) and RJ (Owen Campbell, Super Dark Times) are ready to be seen as real artists. While Maxine (Mia Goth, Mayday) is looking for stardom, Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow, Pitch Perfect 3) just wants a more comfortable lifestyle, ex-soldier Jackson (Scott Mescudi, aka Kid Cudi) is there to do what god intended, screw around and look good doing it, and Lorraine (Jenna Ortega, The Fallout) is just along for the ride. 

Goth and Ortega are shaping out to be the new scream queens of the screen. Maxine is a starry-eyed small town girl, with a minor cocaine addiction, in search to make more for herself than life has offered her. She deserves it, will work for it, and nothing will get in her way. Her subtle nature and doe eyes separates her from other horror legends of the past. Goth also plays the role of the elderly woman Pearl. That performance is utterly frightening. Their meeting is unsettling for Maxine, but awakening for Pearl. 

Ortega has a lot of fun; her character, Lorraine, is easily dismissed as a mousy church girl, but she’s curious and eager. Her silence is not judgment, but a way to process the expansion of her simplistic values. Brittany Snow returns to horror as a bombshell and quick-witted sweetheart. Bobby-Lynne knows her power. She values and respects the filmmaking process, most in part due to the fact she wants the movie to be a success. She stays in control of the lens in which she is portrayed. All of the women, in fact, control their narrative and sexuality, having full autonomy over their bodies.

An hour in, after a beautiful cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide by Snow, the film shifts from a smart commentary of sex to a full on blood bath. Each and every kill is a blast to watch and they’re not afraid to show it. Cinematographer Eliot Rockett is able to proficiently capture the horror, but also the beauty. Creator Ti West also edits the film. He uses this unique editing style of flashing back and forth from scene to scene, almost as if the reel has run out of film. 

It’s been said that at the end of filming, Ti West propositioned Mia Goth into filming a prequel, Pearl. He had written it during the two week quarantine before filming, and it is already due to be released before the end of the year. X is not the kind of film that needs a franchise, but it definitely scratches that itch, especially if the audience gets to see more Mia Goth as a creepy, blood thirsty, elderly woman.

Acting and Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 2 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 2 | Reviewer's Preference - 2 | What does this mean?