For fans of the slasher sub-genre, this movie is a throwback treat to the 70’s splatter/exploitation era. The period look and feel is pitch-perfect, instantly conjuring to mind films like Texas Chainsaw and the Hills Have Eyes. The setup is unique with layers of meta-commentary at play on the nature of stardom and aspiration, the desire to make ‘elevated work’, and the short window before beauty fades. Performances and characters are all thoroughly well developed and detailed, and the main roster are all surprisingly likable. The small cast and slow build allows the audience to get to know and understand the characters in depth, with strong performances all around. Mia Goth plays dual roles, one of which under some questionable prosthetics, but allows her simultaneous restrained and gonzo performances.Ti West’s enjoyment and satisfaction working with her led directly into him writing and directing a prequel film Pearl released later in the year. The film takes quite a while for the action to kick in, instead indulging some almost languid pacing and setup, and certainly a test for one’s patience. However, once the deaths begin the pace quickens and provides quite the satisfying escalation. The movie takes pleasure in spitting in the face of expectation while delivering gory kills, even if the majority feel like stapes of the period genre. There’s twists and turns, but nothing comes across particularly startling, and there’s certainly a lot of predictability to proceedings. What qualifies this film as A-24 fare, is that it examine the genre and era’s subtext about sex and taboo and drags it to the forefront. Subtext becomes text and primary motivator behind the characters and gore-splattered events. Whether one enjoys this film will be entirely contingent on one’s appreciation of the period flavor and sexual focus. Ultimately, X doesn’t seek to reinvent the genre, and isn’t quite as clever as it aspires to be, this is not a successful execution of the ‘elevated’ filmmaking the characters aspire towards, but provides a unique flavor to a classic format that’s certainly worth a look.
X (2022)