Boy, have I really missed Ti West. While not much of a household name, horror fans recognize Ti West for his slow burn horror films, usually made with throwback sensibilities, most famously The House Of The Devil and The Innkeepers, both stellar horror films, and the rest of his filmography ain’t half bad either. As you can tell, I really enjoy his work, having followed it since his first two low budget films, The Roost and Trigger Man, back in the mid-2000s. His last film was all the way back in 2016, the darkly comedic revenge Western, In A Valley Of Violence, which totally rules by the way, and now he is back to the horror genre with X.
X follows a small crew of filmmakers, of the pornographic variety. They are led by producer, Wayne (Martin Henderson), who brings along his girlfriend/co-star, Maxine (Mia Goth), the main star, Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), the male talent, Jackson (Scott Mescudi), as well as an ambitious student filmmaker, RJ (Owen Campbell), to help out with the filming, and his shy girlfriend, Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), to help out with the sound. They go out to a remote farmhouse in the middle of Texas, but the elderly couple hosting them appear to have other plans in mind.
To put it out there right away, I really loved this picture. It’s a thoroughly refreshing take on the slasher genre, and one that doesn’t feel the need to talk down to it in order to get its points and intentions across. West once again utilizes his slow burn approach, setting up a bloodbath in the opening scene before flashing back 24 hours prior to our characters heading to the farmhouse. It doesn’t take long before we realize something is wrong, but the brilliance of the film is that you have no idea what exactly is wrong. It could theoretically go in any direction, and at one point, I was wondering if there was a supernatural element at play. It’s very unpredictable.
One thing that tends to be a drawback for people with slow burn horror is the lack of action, but luckily, West knows how to keep things engaging and entertaining. This is a very funny film, one that takes advantage of its pornographic scenarios, and playing with all the classic quirks you’d think about when dealing with that kind of material. And the cast is totally game for it too. It’s shocking to see a horror film produced by A24 that is allowing itself to have a lot of fun. In fact, I can’t help but imagine RJ’s desires to make “true cinema” out of the porn he’s trying to shoot be a sly jab at the whole “elevated horror” scene perpetuated by A24’s releases.
There’s a lot about the film I don’t want to give away, not just because it plays out as a nice surprise, but describing what exactly is going on wouldn’t quite do the film justice. The film throws little clues that throw your expectations off balance, and even when it does become much clearer what is happening, there’s still a lot to process, which is made all the more difficult when that just so happens to be when the action is cranked up to 11. I’m curious how a second viewing would be different as an experience. One thing I will say is that one of the most surprising aspects is how the villains are framed. Typically, these would be cruel bloodthirsty backwoods weirdos, and while that is part of the image initially, there is a more empathetic and emotional dynamic at play that caught me completely off guard.
There’s not a lot I want to say about X because I really think it’s a film that is best experienced knowing as little as possible, especially since – unlike the last film I reviewed, Fresh – it’s not about giving away the premise so much as it is preserving the way the film slowly peels away the different layers of the story being told. It starts off like a usual horror movie about a group of youngsters going somewhere remote and being picked off, but it’s so much more than that, and without trying too hard to be clever at the same time. The cast is uniformly terrific, and the effects and makeup work is fantastic. West has a natural knack of creating this old school horror vibe, and this does that while also feeling thoroughly modern in its approach. It might be one of his very best. This was one of the very few films I’ve seen so far this year where I was ready to watch the film all over again as soon as the credits rolled. I had an absolute blast, and I can’t wait for the prequel film that was teased after the credits.
X is now out in theaters.