Are you and your friends looking for a place to stay to film your independent porno? I have the place for you. It is a quaint shack house, the property belongs to an older couple. They will be there during your stay but they shouldn't be too much of a bother. As long as you keep to yourself and try not to disturb them, they won't have to try murder you and all of your friends. X is the kind of film that presents itself as a predictable summer slasher, and yet even after seeing the opening sequence you still have no clue what you’re about to see. At face value this is a traditional slasher film filled with sex, drugs, and incredible cinematography. If you are in the market for a good horror movie to get a mild scare, or maybe just to add another film to your repertoire I highly recommend this film. But if you’re looking a little deeper for the underlying tones and themes in the film, stick around. When a horror movie begins with the resolution of blood and guts, I know it’s gonna be good. There’s something so fun and exciting about an opening sequence that attempts to prepare you for everything you're about to see, only to then see it and not be prepared at all. Ti West’s 2022 masterclass X does just that. The film opens with an eerie sight of a home, painted with blood and cop cars surrounding the area. We are in for a ride from the jump. Why this is so exciting is because rather than being left to wonder what happens next at the end of the film, you already know; allowing the film to have a more artistic ending without having to tie up loose ends. It also allows us to get a clue as to what the hell happened that caused such a mess. In recent years horror has gone back to its roots; blood, guts, blades, and all that jazz. For a while mainstream horror was stuck in the land of the paranormal, supernatural, and religious. What people forget when it comes to the horror genre, is that the scariest thing they can see on the big screen is their own reality. Horror is often used as a medium to address concerns amongst society. With politics and the state of the economy, we could make some really good scary movies.
X is a story about A group of actors who set out to make an adult film in rural Texas under the noses of their reclusive hosts, resulting in mass homicide. Starring Mia Goth, Brittnay Snow, Jenna Ortega, Kid Cudi, Martin Henderson, and Owen Campbell; the group seeks to film a good old fashioned porn film in hopes to increase everyone's chances at stardom. However their plan to execute the production ends with the execution of all but one. The backbone of this film isn’t the murder or suspense, rather it is the natural sexual fantasies and desires of different people. Maxine herself finds pleasure in the possibility of fame and fortune, “I will not accept a life I do not deserve” is her most iconic line in the film (and in Pearl the prequel). Maxine is the kind of woman who knows exactly what she wants, why she wants it, and how she is gonna get it. This in part is why she is so direct towards Lorraine’s character when she is questioning their line of work. Maxine doesn’t appreciate Lorraine’s judgment because she knows it’s rooted in divinity; which we go on to learn later in the film is partially what Maxine escaped in order to obtain fame and success, because she won’t stop until she’s achieved that. Bobby-Lynne on the other hand is simply a performer, she is the poster child for porn but she is never reduced to her physicality. Yes she is obviously stunning, but she is also a master of her craft and everyone in the house knows that. Her performance with Jack is what inspires Lorraine to get curious about her own desires and the reality of sex which serves as the catalyst to the first murder of the film.
What I love so much about this film is the feminine drive; Maxine, Bobby-Lynne, Pearl, and even Lorraine allow us to experience a variety of sexual, almost feral desires which is typically seen as a negative in cinema. The portrayal of these women never felt inappropriate because they were the ones in the control. Even Pearl so desperately wanted to feel young and sexual like she once did, wishing she got the attention and “fame,” unfortunately her craving for sexual liberty results in the death of others. Each death in the film is a result of curiosity in a sense, relating back to the thematic core of sexual exploration and selfish desires, when each character is killed it is because they are out looking for someone else which puts them in a vulnerable situation.
Our first fatality in the film occurs when RJ storms out of the house because he can’t cope with the fact that his girlfriend dabbled in porn and sexual expression, which contradicts his motivation for creating a great movie. RJ wanted to make a cinematic story that featured pornography, but he wanted the driving force of the film to be the cinematography and technical elements… allegedly. In reality he just wanted to be in control, or feel in control like Wayne. To deny Lorraine the ability to explore her sexuality, RJ is denying the film a needed element of reality, especially when pornography is so rooted in fantasy. When RJ makes his dramatic exit to the van he steals the only set of keys, abandoning his entire group due to his own insecurity. RJ’s prior shower scene is almost embarrassing, he is completely vulnerable and sobbing in the shower, he is humiliated. Unlike the women in the film, when RJ is presented naked he is depicted as weak- he can’t handle this so he decides to leave. As RJ makes it to the van he is in and begins to drive away he is stopped by Pearl. When he gets out of the car to offer her some assistance she tries to dance with him and touch him, she then says, “I can show you what I’m capable of.” RJ assumes she means sexually and offers to help find her husband to which Pearl replies by stabbing him in the neck. She then goes onto stab in several more times as she is straddled on top of him. The scene is phallic, as the knife penetrates him over and over accompanied by score and red lighting from the headlights. This is a common fate in the horror genre, however it is typically reversed. Traditionally the men aggressively, and sexually, murder their female victims with something phallic. Ti West reversed that narrative by creating such an aggressive, vicious murder at the hands of a sexually repressed elderly woman. RJ and Pearl were in a state of anger caused by sex and selfish desires. Pearl wanted to be seen in a positive, attentive way like the younger women and RJ wanted his girlfriend to not act on her erotic desires; both characters acted out of rage leading to the death of one unfortunate soul. After RJ is dead, Pearl stands up and begins to dance in the headlights. It is clear that the act of murder served as a placeholder for her needs, as if killing RJ gave her the same pleasure she would receive from sex or fame and success that she clearly did not receive in her lifetime. This again depicts the opposite of traditional horror. I found this death scene to be the most interesting, not only due to its cinematic qualities but because it could have been avoided.
Later in the film Wayne, Jack, and Bobby-Lynne all meet the same fate as RJ when they are murdered by Pearl and her husband Howard. Wayne gets a pitchfork to the eye, Jack is shot, and Bobby-Lynne is pushed in the water by a naked Pearl to then be devoured by an alligator. Right before Bobby-Lynne is pushed in the water Pearl says to her, “Why should you get to have it all? What have you ever done except be a whore?” Rude. Pearl is obviously jealous of the three younger women and their presumed success because she doesn’t see porn as a respectable profession or lifestyle, she is also bitter about her own life. Pearl would rather get her flowers from a more traditional avenue of entertainment, that obviously didn’t work out for her so she has turned to vengeance. You’re probably thinking, where’s Maxine during all of this? She was frightened by Pearl who got in bed with her and tried to caress her youthful skin earlier in the film, so she did a line of coke and hid under the bed. Sadly for her Pearl and her husband came back to the bedroom after they killed Bobby-Lynne, Wayne and Jack and had uncomfortable looking sex with Pearl. This afforded Maxine to make her grand escape, bringing us right back to the scene of the crime in the opening sequence: the main house. Maxine goes back to the main house where she stumbles upon Lorraine who is locked in the basement with a deformed hand screaming and crying, rightfully so. When Lorraine went out to look for RJ she stumbled upon Pearl's husband who let her come inside and then lured her into the basement and locked her down there where we get the iconic Jenna Ortega scream, as she sees her dead boyfriend hanging from the ceiling. Maxine tries to help her escape as Pearl and her husband approach the front door of the house, but Lorraine is a bit impatient and petrified so she decides to run out the front door in hopes of freedom. Sad to say she is met with a bullet to the face when she is shot by Howard after screaming at Maxine, “This is all your fault. I hate you!”
Maxine then dives off by herself with one last line of coke, a triumphant finale for an all-American final girl. The film ends on the tv screen in the living room with Howard dead on the floor behind it, as the preacher seen previously on the tv reveals his daughter to be Maxine. This revelation wasn’t groundbreaking in my opinion, I assumed that the church was in some way tied to the group when we saw it earlier in the film at the gas station. Though I did appreciate how it added even more depth to Maxine’s character, determination, and desire to make a name for herself. In the final moments of the film we also get a small glimpse into Maxine’s strength when she isn’t sick or repulsed by all the gore surrounding her; earlier in the film when the group is driving through a slew of mutilated cows she gags and announces how she “hates blood and guts.” Maxine was a strong, bold woman from the start of the film and her arc was not massive because her goal didn’t change by the end of the film. She will not accept a life she doesn't deserve, if that means fleeing the scene of a crime so be it! Overall I just think this film is brilliant. It is sexy and layered, nostalgic yet extremely modern at the same time with undertones of religion and disdain for women’s sexuality. This is where I would typically list my qualms with the film but truthfully I don’t have any worth sharing. I think a lot of the time people go into watching a movie with the desire to pick it apart and find flaws, however at the end of the day I am just someone who appreciates a good movie and X is a good f*cking movie. We have to take films for what they are, and on its own X is an exciting, dazzling slasher film with a real star leading the picture. Oftentimes when people nitpick a film they are thinking about what could have happened to make it better. Things can always be better but rather than talking about the “could have” and "should have" in relation to a film I want to focus on what happened. I want to focus on what we saw and how it translated to an audience and that's why I think X is so brilliant. But the true brilliance behind this film is that it is the 2nd part of a trilogy that happened to be released first. Pearl being the prequel (a film about the older woman also played by Mia Goth). Films are released in a specific order for a specific reason so please if you have not seen either of these two movies watch them in the order of their release to fully understand and experience the captivating nature of this franchise. Lucky for us there is more to the story and it comes out July 5th! MaXXXine hits theaters next week and I can’t wait to talk all about it with you. Cin Cin!
Comments