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 find themselves fighting for their lives.
- Released: 2022-03-17
- Runtime: 106 minutes
- Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thrillers
- Stars: Mia Goth, Martin Henderson, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, James Gaylyn, Simon Prast, Matthew Saville, Bryony Skillington, Geoff Dolan
- Director: Ti West
Comments
- cinemapersonified - 28 June 2024
Very Good Movie
Rating: 8.6 Overall, a very good horror movie that uses the 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' blueprint and goes more in-depth to provide well executed horror sequences and detailed characters.
Direction: Very Good The direction on a macroscale is very controlled as it injected horror at the right moments and paid homage to many horror movie classics; the direction on a microscale is good as the interpersonal scenes did a good job building the characters and setting up the different internal conflicts; the storytelling was very similar to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' but was still clear; they build tension very well (especially in the horror scenes)
Story: Good The concept is very similar to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', but pays homage to other movies as well; the plot structure is very similar to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'; the character writing is good as they provide a good amount of depth for these characters, especially Maxine and Pearl
Screenplay: Very Good The dialogue is pretty polished for a slasher film; the movie never overdues the horror as they place it at the right moments and execute it well; the movie is a giant homage to other slash horror movies like 'The Shining' and 'Psycho', but most importantly, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'; the foreshadowing is very good for a horror movie as it helps make the narrative feel balanced
Acting: Good Mia Goth: Good to Very Good (Establishes herself as a scream queen and really carries the narrative forward) Jenna Ortega: Pretty Good (She has some moments where she doesn't match the levels of the other cast members, but she holds her own for the most part) Martin Henderson: Good Brittany Snow: Good Owen Campbell: Good (Plays the pretentious, insecure filmmaker role well) Scott Mescudi: Good (Has a lot of charisma and makes his presence known in scenes) Rest of the cast: Good (The cast as a whole works well together as everyone can play off of each other and move the story forward)
Score: Good Used well to set the time period, tone, and tension
Soundtrack: Good Helps establish the time period
Cinematography: Good Feels very polished and uses a wide array of angles to paint scenes; it pays homage to many slasher films
Editing: Very Good Feels very seamless and polished, as it helps move scenes forward and create suspense
Sound: Very Good Helps with creating suspense
Production Design: Very Good Feels very similar; pays homage to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
Makeup: Very Good Helps bring to life the characters, especially the elderly, and paint the blood and grime of a slasher movie
Pacing Pacing is right, as the movie moves at the right pace for a slasher film
Climax Climax is executed very well as it capitalizes on the build-in suspense throughout the movie
Tone Tone is very similar to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (with some flavors of 'Boogie Nights')
Final Notes The movie is mostly a giant homage to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"; they were able to do so much with such a little budget ($1 million) - aciessi - 3 June 2024
Creep-Peep Show
X asks the question, what if Jason Vorhees was jealous of all the action he saw at Camp Crystal Lake? The exhausted horror trope of punishing promiscuous young people is mocked mercilessly here by having the film take place on a porn set. It's hard to believe X hasn't been made already, but it's come at the right place and at the right time. Audiences want to watch crazier, dirtier movies. Marvel-fatigue has brought filmmaking (especially independent film) back to the creative excesses of the 70s. Anything goes! Bring in a studio like A24, and we now have an entire industry of wild, adults-only films being cranked out one after the other. X is a great horror movie. It's nasty in all of the right ways. It wants to be just like the films of its era and it knows exactly what to do to accomplish that. Blood, guts, sexy naked people and sex scenes. Yeah, that's a good time at the movies in anyone's book. - sherwoodbandit-1977 - 3 April 2024
Ain't None of These Girls Nice...
This was so fun! X is an outrageously crafted slasher film that follows a simple formula and executes it very well. I was very impressed by Ti West's filming style. He did a better job than anyone in recent memory of making me think I was watching an actual movie from the 70s. Like all horror movies, the acting isn't all that great but I never expect it to be. That isn't their number one function in this type of project. I will say that early on I thought Mia Goth was pretty bad, but then I realized she was double cast and that changed my perception entirely. With a huge assist from the makeup department, she crafts two very different characters, and West does a good job of keeping the makeup mostly in the dark so that it isn't always obvious that it is all prosthetics. Overall, the production team understood the assignment. Plenty of tension, some jump scares and the right amount of blood and guts. Also, the porn plot point made it possible for them to squeeze in the usual sex that a horror movie requires without it seeming gratuitous like the average slasher film. I had a lot of fun watching this movie and I'm looking forward to the prequel and upcoming sequel. - groundzero-273-397110 - 11 January 2023
I had high expectations for this movie, maybe too high, but overall it was a good movie.
The movie takes place in 1979 in rural Texas. A group of young people set out to make an adult film in peace and quiet, so they rent a guest house from an elderly couple. The old man greets them welcome with a shotgun, and I thought that this old man might be dangerous. The movie slowly builds up the suspense, and in the meantime we get to see a porno being made. The most interesting thing about this movie, and maybe also the most stupid thing, is who the real danger turn out to be, which is the old lady host and not the old man with the shotgun. She is not just a dangerous killer either, she is very horny as well.
The killings itself was not very creative, and most of the characters died in stupid ways. I would have liked a bit more gore also. The environment and the atmosphere was great though. The story was okey, and so was the characters. There was not a single character that I disliked, which is unusual.
I had high expectations for this movie, maybe too high, but overall it was a good movie. - randyh66 - 5 January 2023
Bad acting, bad plot, bad everything
Don't do what we did, and waste any of your life watching this horrible movie. Would rate 0 but 1 will hqve to do. Bad acting, bad plot, bad everything. Just a couple old people in bad makeup on a common farm. Mixed with some weird church passages. Don't do what we did, and waste any of your life watching this horrible movie. Would rate 0 but 1 will hqve to do. Bad acting, bad plot, bad everything. Just a couple old people in bad makeup on a common farm. Mixed with some weird church passages. Don't do what we did, and waste any of your life watching this horrible movie. Would rate 0 but 1 will hqve to do. Bad acting, bad plot, bad everything. Just a couple old people in bad makeup on a common farm. Mixed with some weird church passages. - dsvperez - 24 December 2022
Weird
Are you simultaneously disgusted by and terrified of really old people? Then this movie is for you. If you think a really scary scene would be an old lady trying to kiss somebody and later getting naked for no reason, then give it a go.
Some young people go to a farmhouse to film a porno and the elderly couple that own the place are creepy. The old lady is played by the same actress as the young woman. It's just her in old lady makeup. So the entire time I'm waiting for the twist that tells you why her older self is there killing everybody. IT IS NEVER EXPLAINED. Anyway halfway through the movie the killing starts and that part is as gruesome as expected. It just takes awhile to get there. Just like with the porno they are filming, don't watch this horror movie for plot because it won't make sense. - njohnsonmoviereviews - 14 December 2022
A Deep and Thoughtful Analysis on the Motivations of Horror Film Characters
Coming into this film with zero expectations, I was pleasantly surprised at just how deep and thoughtful of a film it was. Most horror films simply present the characters as strawmen who engage in immoral behaviors that make them deserve to be slaughtered by a villain with weak-to-nonexistant motivations of their own. In X, however, Ti West embraces the behaviors of his characters and shows their actions and consequences without judgement: Rather, humans (both protagonists and villains) respond as they would in real life to the acts portrayed onscreen. Further, the villains are also explored on an emotional level, showing deep emotions and feelings of inadequacy and jealousy that lead to violence. Ultimately, Ti has created a very beautiful analysis into the characters that make up a horror film, exploring the motivations of both protagonists and villains without casting any judgement. - mrashtastic89 - 1 December 2022
X marks the spot, for an overrated film
X is probably the most overrated horror film I've seen this year, after hearing all the hype I was expecting something on the level of Barbarian and The Black Phone, but this wasn't even close.
I was not invested in any of the characters at all besides the old people, who barely got any screen time until the 3rd act, X tried to be a throwback to old slashers while having an idiotic adult film plot, and it didn't work at all.
Whoever thought making Maxine look exactly like the killer when she was young and then made a prequel about the killer when she was young starring Mia Goth who plays Maxine, was wilding, what a terrible idea that was.
The music is haunting and the cinematography is great, and Jenna Ortega is always a delight, but the ending was just so unsatisfying that I can't help but give this movie anything more than what it gets.
X gets a B+ - ballouvince - 16 November 2022
Look around
This movie is described in full for everybody to see before they see it. It is described as p*** actors making a p*** movie so you know they'll be plenty of sex scenes in it. You know there will be nudity. So if people see it and critics and reviewers here and IMDb say that it has too many sex scenes in it, and you know that the majority of them or between a guy that looks like Jackson's character and a girl that looks like the Maxine character. And that is the case. Now if the guy looked like the old man that kissed the Jenny Ortega's character at the beginning of the movie and the critics would never describe the sex in the movie they never indicate that there was any nudity in the movie. In fact the way the critics describe it or the reviewers would describe it in that case, you think it's a romance movie or just a thriller with no nudity and no sex. So the tropes are Alive and Kicking in this movie including the killing of the Jackson character after he has sex with any girl that has the skin tone of Maxine. It is a trashy movie and bombed at the box office. The 10 Stars are for deceptive purposes only. It deserves zero Stars and less. Zeros below this post are complimentary. Also, Vindication has happened for couples with men that look like Jackson and girls that look like Maxine.
