'X' (2022) Is The Money Shot Horror Fans Have Been Waiting For!
Horror and porn seemingly serve two different audiences. One exists to titillate and arouse, while the other is there to terrify and shock. While there could be an argument made about the eroticism of fear, this is not that article and I’m not the right author to lead that discussion. What these genres have in common is that they are often maligned (rightfully or not) and seen as more transgressive than other genres of cinema. Nudity and horror have long been close acquaintances, so the idea of sexuality appearing in horror movies is nothing new. It is surprising, however, t there have been very few horror films that touch on the adult film industry. More recent films like “KNIFE+HEART” and “CAM” deal with the horror that befalls those in the adult film industry, while others like “NEKROMANTIK” and “A SERBIAN FILM” speak more to the taboo and fetishistic side of human beings' most depraved tendencies. Needless to say, Ti West’s “X” is joining a small, and mighty group of horror films that centers itself around the adult film industry just maybe not in the way one might think. In addition to a general lack of horror films about the said adult film industry, it has also been 9 years since West’s last feature-length horror film. Is “X” a return to form for the indie horror darling that gave us HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, or is it just another in a long line of T&A-laden horror flicks?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
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 finds themselves fighting for their lives.
HOW IS IT?
I must first start by saying that HOUSE OF THE DEVIL is one of the best horror films of the past 25 years. It was even one of the movies that my colleague Lowell and I talked about during our Future Horror Classics discussion at the start of this year. While HOUSE OF THE DEVIL is for my money a modern classic, West has really only made a handful of feature-length horror films and spent a lot of the past 9 years working in television. All of this is to say that going into “X” I was pretty open-minded and was somehow able to avoid trailers along the way. To my delight, “X” delivers the best Texas-based horror film since THE DEVIL’S REJECTS and certainly a better TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE film than the most recent Netflix Exclusive. At the risk of avoiding hyperbole, it is safe to say that this may be one of the better horror films to come out in the past 5 years because of how well it executes against some fairly pedestrian and certainly common horror elements. Similar to how great chefs will gauge the quality of others in relation to how well they execute simple dishes, you don’t need to reinvent the horror movie in order to make a great one, you just have to know what ingredients to use and how to put them together.
It’s hard to talk too much about “X” without spoiling anything, but what can be said is that the film is delightfully and subtly self-aware (SCREAM 6 writers please take notes). Ti West knows that he’s making a basic “fish out of water” slasher film with visual references that almost directly hark back to scenes for Tobe Hooper’s TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and narrative misdirections that Hitchcock made famous in PSYCHO (even some visual callbacks to that film as well). Despite these subtle references, West writes characters that feel real and that you genuinely like even if you don’t connect with them right away. As much credit can be given to West for his writing should also be given to the cast who deliver these characters with authenticity and realism. It goes back to my reference about the simplest things being the hardest to do well since these characters could have easily been played by lesser actors and yet it would have severely reduced the impact of what happens to them on-screen. These are characters are more complex than they seem at first, and West does a fantastic job of adding the right amount of depth to ensure that the viewer is bought in before the horror starts happening. And when it does, it is absolutely brutal! Given that the characters in this film are making a porno, there is quite a bit of nudity and explicit sex that is shot in such a way that you might even think you are watching a porno for a good part of the film. That makes the violence that occurs even more shocking since it is as horrific as the sex scenes preceding it are tantalizing. It cannot be understated how genuinely shocking some of the scenes are once the horror elements kick in. So much so that I heard myself and others muttering in the theatre phrases like “what the actual fuck” and “you gotta be fucking kidding me”.
If there is one thing that gets in the way of the greatness on display in “X” it is a few stylistic editing choices that take the viewer out of the moment. In one scene we have a DePalma-esque split diopter shot that is both distracting and unnecessary to the plot despite being well-shot. There are a few instances where the editing disrupts the viewing experience, and while that kind of jarring pattern interrupts could help reinforce the sense of unease it ultimately reduces the tension that is so wonderfully built up throughout. It’s a small gripe in what is largely an outstanding horror movie viewing experience, and while MCU films are well-known for their post-credits sequences I would implore every single person watching this to stay until the very end for an easter egg that you will either love or hate. I must admit I didn’t like it at first, but in hindsight, it is actually pretty great and I applaud West for rewarding those who stay with films to their absolute end.
LAST RITES
“X” marks Ti West’s return to feature-length horror and has far more in common with Hooper’s original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE than any of the 8 other entries in that series. This is easily a Top 10 horror film for 2022 and is a perfect example of how simple ingredients executed well are all one really needs to make something truly great.
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
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Where can you watch it?
X is in theaters nationwide NOW from A24!
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