Movie Review: "X"

Ti West’s X is a love letter to low-budget 1970s grindhouse horror movies. This slasher film is meticulously crafted to emulate the look, style, and atmosphere of retro horrors like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

West previously pulled off a similar feat with House of the Devil, his creepy 2009 movie about a beautiful but dim-witted college student who is tricked into becoming a house-sitter for a satanic cult.

West shot House of the Devil in 16 mm film to imitate the appearance of 1980s movies. This time, he sets the clock back another decade in a raw, brutal slasher filled with gloriously gratuitous blood and nudity.

A Rural Texas Horror story

Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) is an up-and-coming Texas pornographic actress who wants to become famous. She keeps repeating the mantra that she will not accept a life she doesn’t deserve. X gradually reveals information about Maxine’s mysterious past, including a surprising revelation about her father.

Maxine is shooting her latest adult film, The Farmer’s Daughter, in a small guest house located on a remote farm. She is accompanied by her fiancée Wayne Gilroy (Martin Henderson), a swaggering redneck who looks and sounds like a dime store version of Matthew McConaughey.

The rest of the gang includes sultry blonde Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), cocky Vietnam vet Jackson Hole (Kid Cudi), nerdy director RJ Nichols (Owen Campbell), and RJ’s shy Christian girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega).

Unfortunately for our intrepid gang of pornographers, the farm is owned by a deranged elderly couple with a sordid history of murdering anyone who bothers them. The wife, Pearl (played by Mia Goth), commits most of the killings.

Pearl pretends to be feeble and senile. She is a cunning psychopath who is able to manipulate and kill most of the cast. Pearl also develops an intense and creepy fascination with Maxine. X doesn’t make much of an effort to explain Pearl’s actions. She appears jealous of the gang’s youth and sexual prowess.

Mia Goth shines in her dual roles. How often does an actress get to play both the heroine and the villain? The film climaxes with an emotionally charged battle between Maxine and Pearl. To Pearl, Maxine is the epitome of the youth and beauty that she once had, qualities that are now lost to her forever.

It’s Almost Like the Movies It Imitates

This movie is structured like a genuine 1970s horror film, with one major exception: a real ‘70s slasher flick would have never had a coke-snorting porn star as the main character. The era was far too conservative for that.

Lorraine, Jenna Ortega’s character, would have been in the central role. Speaking of Ortega, she continues to burnish her reputation as a young scream queen. Although Mia Goth is the clear MVP of X, Ortega adds a memorable supporting role as a naïve girl who is in way over her head.