X – Film Review

A group of actors sets out to make an adult film in rural Texas under the noses of their reclusive hosts, but when the elderly couple catches their young guests in the act, the cast finds themselves in a desperate fight for their lives.

Usually, I am quite up-to-date with new-release films coming out for each and every month of the year, and most times, I’m able to see the majority of the month’s brand new films in order to review for you folks. But for some reason, Ti West‘s X completely slipped my radar. I’m not kidding when I say that I didn’t even know this movie existed until about a week and a half ago when I saw some of my fellow film critic friends talking about it online.

However, upon reading the synopsis for the film and taking a look at the poster, I had a feeling it would be right up my alley. For starters, this is an A24 horror film so at the very least, I knew it would have an extremely distinct style and feel to it because, to be honest, nobody makes horror films quite like they do. And although I didn’t fall completely head over heels for X like I was hoping for, it’s nevertheless a highly impressive slasher and one that has tremendous world-building elements on display.

This movie is basically the ultimate love letter to classic slashers from back in the day such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Friday the 13th, but especially the former. Almost the entirety of X feels like a grindhouse movie. By the time the end credits roll, you’ll feel like you have to take at least two showers to feel clean after what you just watched.

My main issue with X lies within its first forty-five minutes or so. What’s wrong with it you ask? It’s just plain old boring. It basically serves as one huge stretch of a build-up to create a sense of tension that, while great, gets extremely old after a while. Instead of getting right to the nitty-gritty, the film spends far too much time with the adult content and not enough with the kills.

If you were to count the kills in this movie (I’m looking at you James A. Janisse), there are probably only about four or five kills here. What I will say, though, is that the kills in this movie are incredibly well-executed. There were a couple of scenes in particular that had me truly wincing, which I almost never do.

But aside from crafting some excellent tension and kills, West also manages to create a fascinating world and one that feels so lived in. The house that’s at the center of this movie feels very historic and I can’t wait to learn more about its origins in the upcoming prequel film Pearl (which looks phenomenal, by the way), and also to learn more about the titular character.

Mia Goth also delivers one thrill-ride of a performance here as both Maxine and Pearl. She’s so restrained but also so terrifying to look at do the most simplistic of things, no matter which character of hers is on-screen. If she isn’t a huge name already, she definitely should be now that X is here. Similarly great is Jenna Ortega as Lorraine, whose character goes to incredibly interesting places that I never would’ve expected when the film first started.

Honestly, every actor involved with this project brought their A-game and delivered some truly amazing performances, especially for a slasher. I can’t wait to see what West has in store next because he has stated that he wants to make several more films in this series. Let’s just hope they get better and better as they go along.