"X" by Ti West proves that there's still a lot of life and creativity left in the slasher genre. In an era where slasher remakes are taking shape, "X" is a much needed dose of freshness. It may have its limitations but this was one hell of a ride from start to finish full of twists and unexpected surprises.
In 1979, a group of young filmmakers wants to get into the recent home video boom as they are making an adult film that can be watched at the comfort of one's home titled "The Farmer's Daughter". To make their film more realistic, they rent out a secluded farmhouse in rural Texas. Their elderly hosts from the get-go gives everyone in the crew a creepy vibe but success cannot wait and the shoot goes on. But as darkness dawns, the couple's real intentions takes a violent turn.
"X" is just different. If slashers have been trying to make themselves come out as modern, "X" does the complete opposite as it tries itself to take on the style of classics such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". In fact, the film explicitly is a homage to that film and the results were magical in our opinion. But the strongest reason why we enjoyed "X" was its fleshed out characters. We barely had time to get to know them but the script was simple and straightforward. Even with the numerous characters that we had to contend with, we found that we all had the information we needed by the time things got crazy and deadly for everyone involved. Other than the excellent script, the acting was also top-notch with Brittany Snow being the biggest surprise for us.
Speaking of the kills, this is where we felt that "X" slightly disappoints. The film is both explicit and soft at the same time. There will be scenes that will show a lot of nudity which we actually didn't expect but the kills in particular had a tendency to happen off-screen. This film was both gory and safe at the same time which felt like a bit of a waste in our opinion. Other than that, "X" was amazing. It had a lot of elements that really took us by surprise especially when it came to the elderly couple at the center of it all. Let's just say that they prove that "horrific" can be a whole lot complex in this film and you'll never know what will happen next.
Rating: 4 reels
Why you should watch it:
- the characters were fully fleshed out and the best reason why we enjoyed "X"
Why you shouldn't watch it:
- for us, the film had a tendency to turn away from the gore too much
X Movie Review: Explicit and safe at the same time
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