X
(March 2022)
“That's right. The deviants are already
amongst us, waiting for our sons and daughters. So heed dire warnings and repent before it is too late.”
Less than 24 hours in rural Texas in 1979 turns out
to be enough time to build up to a disturbing and horrendous bloodbath in Ti
West’s thunderous Iguana return with X.
As intimated by its title, X follows the cast and (minimal) crew of the, ahem, “adult” film, The Farmer’s Daughters, as they shoot on
the sly at an isolated Texas farm.
Dreams of wealth and fame all come crashing down
though, because this is “one G*ddamn f*cked up horror picture” from Ti West,
after all…
“We shouldn’t
disturb him. It would only make him angry. You wouldn’t like Daddy when he’s
angry.”
West has been messing about on the TV front for the
past few years (stray episodes of The
Exorcist and Wayward Pines among
his small screen work), so his return to silver screen horror is most welcome.
The fact that X
comes not just with a soon-to-follow prequel (Pearl) but also a planned sequel, makes things all the more (heh) X-citing, even though this does look like the beginnings of the
dreaded “F” word.
(Uurrmm… franchise?)
Still, West does
remind us, “You can’t make a slasher movie without a bunch of sequels.”
And the fact is, X does
position itself as a slasher, albeit one with other things on its mind aside
from gory kills.
Prominently, it takes cues from cinema (and cinematic
movements) at large to inform its narrative approach.
X is
also juuuust self-aware enough so that West can occasionally remind us that
there’s some grindhouse fun to be had here as well.
“Everybody
likes sex. It’s a gas. We’re just not afraid to admit it. Queer, straight,
black, white… It’s all disco.”
While there is
an actual drug that’s showcased in X,
the addiction that ultimately proves to be the most dangerous here is our very
human attachment to youth (with the promise of ever-elusive fame coming in a
close second).
Most of the film’s characters (played by familiar
genre faces like Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, and Brittany Snow)
still have their youth and are quite brazen about that; a couple of other
characters don’t, and it’s the friction between those two groups that sets off X’s slasher powder keg.
So, come in for readily on-display “f*cked up
horror,” but stay for all the substance
beneath the bloody celluloid skin that West manages to explore here.
“Porn ain’t
only gonna be for perverts no more.”
“Awww… Toast to the perverts. They’ve been payin’ our bills for years.”
“Hear, hear. To the perverts.”
Previous Ti West Iguana appearances may be found
here and here, while mentions of TV’s The
Exorcist may be found here and here.
(X OS’
courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com & twitter.com.)
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