Now in theaters.
[Rating: Solid Rock Fist Up]
What we need right now as movie-goers is a fucked up erotic slasher movie that makes zero sense, and yet is so damn enjoyable it makes you crave more. That’s what director Ti West’s newest film has and MORE. Simply called X, the film follows a group of amateur filmmakers on a porn shoot who get more than they bargain for when the owners of the farmhouse they are renting for their shoot turn out to have a sinister side.
Maxine (Mia Goth), a stripper in Houston, Texas exclaims, “I’m going to be a fucking star” before snorting a line of coke. So begins her journey alongside a film crew led by producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), stars Bobby-Lynee (Brittany Snow) and Jackson Hole (Kid Cudi) and director RJ (Owen Campbell) and his girlfriend turned sound girl, Lorraine (Jenna Ortega). They travel to a remote farmhouse to shoot their latest porno that will make them all stars. Owned by Howard (Stephen Ure) and his wife Pearl (look closely at who plays Pearl), they’re like grandparents with a shady side. Shit gets weird when Pearl has an encounter with Maxine that would creep anybody out. She lurks around the farm, watching the team shoot sex scenes in the barn, and the look on her face tells the audiences Howard probably hasn’t been pleasuring her in years.
This review will stop there with the plot because that is just the tame stuff in this movie. This movie is WILD. It is great going into something without a concept of what it is, and that is exactly what I was able to do with this. West does a great job incorporating the film shoot footage with non-film-shoot footage, giving us crisp editing to continuously elevate worry and anxiety as to what will happen next. The biggest theme I can even think of that connects to this is sin. Riddled throughout is news footage of a preacher on television. He keeps screaming about sinners, damnation to hell, and turning away from the Lord, juxtaposed with this group having free sex and doing exactly what he is against. It is a great set up to whatever Howard and Pearl are going through in this.
X is a surprising movie all in all. Go in it not reading up a damn thing and prepare for a wild ride through this Texas farm of terror. It has humor and terror mixed so thoughtfully together, I wanted more of it! I wanted this to be twenty minutes longer! And lucky for us, West has already announced a prequel to this movie!
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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