2022, Movies

X (2022, Ti West)

This is a fun spin on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre style of horror movie – the young people are filming a porno – that has a fairly fatal flaw, in my book. But I liked some things about it.

SPOILERS

I like how this film takes its time. There is only a very brief opening to let on its a full-on horror movie and then film settles into “young people in a strange rural place” mode. I don’t know when the first kill happens, but it’s quite a long way into the film. And I like how little music there is and I generally like the vibe.

My biggest issue with the whole film is that old people are not scary. I’m glad neither of them do anything that seems physically impossible for them, but it’s still really hard to fear two small, thin people, even if they look creepy. And the “horny old woman” thing is karma, I guess, for filming a porno on her property, but it mostly feels like it’s for laughs and gross-outs. (Some critics suggest she has some humanity, or something, but I mostly just see a horny wraith.)

I also don’t really love how there’s a veritable army doing the killing. It’s a TCM homage. And I guess it’s more realistic, in some ways, than one person (especially an old woman) but it does feel sort of cheating to have an alligator to boot.

The other issue I have is how the film seems to veer between straight horror and horror comedy. I laughed a bunch but also not enough for me to really view it as a comedy. I think there are just not enough laughs for a horror comedy but too many for straight horror. This is a silly nitpick.

Another silly nitpick is that TV show: is it on 24 hours a day?

But I don’t mean to sound as critical as I sound. I liked that it was a fresh spin on an old plot and I liked how long it took to get going.

6/10

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