X Review (Film, 2022)
content warning: blood, gore, violence against women, animal violence, sexual content, foul language, nudity, mental wellness, gun violence
editorial note: X, at its core, is a film surrounding the production of a pornographic film. It features nudity and sexual content throughout. This is a horror film for more mature audiences.
Police arrive at a grisly crime scene at a remote farm and have no idea what happened. The film jumps back 24 hours, introducing the film crew of a pornographic film being shot on location in 1979. The six person crew rents out a boarding house at the farm of an elderly couple to record their masterpiece in private.
X is technically a slasher film from writer/director/producer Ti West in the same way May or American Mary are technically slashers. X uses the elements of a slasher film to dig deeper into some uncomfortable discussions about entertainment, exploitation, and the ties between societal reactions to adult films and slasher films.
X is filled with textual and visual references to other films. The producer of the film within a film discusses the emerging home video market and what it will mean for the success of the adult film industry. He specifically cites Debbie Does Dallas as an inspiration, hoping to do half as much business so everyone on the production is set for life. Meanwhile, the college-aged director of the film within a film is trying to create a European-style art film from the period. He wants to show that sexual content onscreen can be artful, presented with a greater purpose than the titillation of the audience. Two of the actors in the film view their new project as a paycheck, while the third making her debut dreams of being the biggest star in the world. Rounding out the film crew is the director’s girlfriend, the sound engineer on the film, quietly observing the reality of producing a pornographic film that was sold to her as the next great art film.
The visual references pull from horror. There are recurring homages to Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Black Christmas, and Peeping Tom. Films like Halloween, Phantasm, Friday the 13th, Jaws, and even Blow-up also get their moments to shine. Only Psycho is mentioned by name, but X doesn’t need to name drop titles when recreating iconic cinematography, settings, and scares.
Ti West creates the framework to discuss the viability of the slasher film as a genre through the production of a pornographic film. It’s a sincere, somber, and even heartbreaking discussion as the story goes on. The goal is to build suspense by making the audience uncomfortable. The film within the film rarely stops being worked on. It’s a business. When they get a chance to reflect on what they’re doing, time seems to stop. Any enjoyment you may have taken out of the finalized vision of the film edited into the footage is gutted like the victims inevitably will be in this story.
One of the more remarkable things about this approach is how well the slasher scenes work. These are some creative ends, customized to the behavior of the cast and the unique environment of the set. X sets up so many possibilities with the industry discussion and references to other films that you can see each of these sequences going in so many different directions. You’re so overwhelmed with possibility that you can’t predict how the scenes will end.
X is one of those horror films that’s hard to prepare for. There is so much going on that snaps together so perfectly by the end that you can’t possibly understand the full scope of what’s going on in one viewing. The film is so intense and uncomfortable that one viewing will leave an indelible impact on your understanding of this grindhouse era of adult-targeted independent films.
X is playing in theatres.
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