A24 is well known for producing art house type films. They also have an incredible reputation for picking the right films, and they rarely miss. The ideas in their movies are typically unique and fleshed out thoroughly. Not only do they make critically acclaimed movies, but they also make stellar horror flicks, like Hereditary and Midsommar. X does not disappoint in this way either. It takes a well-established horror genre, a slasher, and it makes it even more absurd. It blended comedy, gore, and an easily digestible theme into 100 minutes, and it gave the viewer a very enjoyable time at the cinema.
X is the story of a crew of amateur filmmakers going to make a pornographic film to get their foot into the door. The film takes place in 1979, and it is the advent of VCR tapes, so they believe that if they make an artistic enough porn film, then they will be able to advance their careers from the boondocks in Texas to the bright lights of Hollywood. Wayne books a boarding house for the six of them on a farm in the middle of nowhere for them to film, and since this was well before the days of Airbnb, he does not know what he is getting them in to. When he arrives the old man that owns the place puts a gun to his face, because he thinks he is from the city, and it only gets weirder. The old man has a creepy wife, who beckons Maxine into the house while their husband is away and gets a little too handsy. The porno is going well, but then it gets dark, and the camera man’s girlfriend, Lorraine, decides, she no longer just wants to be a bystander and hold the boom mic, she wants to be a part of the film. This was much for her boyfriend’s liking. R.J, the boyfriend, decides to try and take off when everyone is sleeping, but he gets murdered, and the fun begins.
It is the little things in this movie that really make it great, from small lines of dialogue to visuals that have ridiculous details. The opening scene of the movie starts with a shot in the barn facing the house. A large part of the screen is dark, making the visual image of the house in a square on the screen, but as the camera slowly exits the barn, it is like the curtains opening on the big screen as light starts to flood into the shot and a new world is opened to the viewer. They also start at the end, so there are bodies strewn all over the property, so when watching toward the end if you remember the placements, you know someone is about to die there. When it goes back 24 hours before the crew has arrived at the house, it also has some funny details. The girls work at the Bayou Burlesque, which is the only business in a massive shipyard, and it has an alligator biting off the swimsuit of a girl, which is foreshadowing a future gator encounter. The van they drove had “plow service” painted on the side, which them being a porn film crew is quite funny word play. Then when they were driving to the house, they drove past a cow that had been destroyed by a semi, and Maxine said, “I hate blood and guts.” Which as the viewer knowing this is a slasher film, gives a nod to the carnage that is about to ensue, but the lack of want of involvement the participants want in it. Also, the title of the film they are making is The Farmer’s Daughters.
The main theme of the movie was about the struggle of losing youth. The old wife was very jealous of the crew being so young and attractive, and she mentioned multiple times how she missed being so young and beautiful. Also, her sex life was not going as well as she wanted, because her husband was so old, he was worried he would have a heart attack while doing it. It was genuinely sad, because she tried so hard, not only to impress her husband, but she even tried to force herself on the youths as well. The sympathy kind of faded away when she turned into a brutal murderer, but it was there for a moment. The film was also trying to show that all forms of cinema can be artistic. Many people just write off horror as being blood, guts, and ghosts, but it can be so much more than that. Some horror films have strong underlying messages. I guess it was also trying to say the same can be true about porn as well.
Another aspect of the film that was well done was the parallel scenes. They would have the old lady on one half of the screen, and the younger people on the other. The first time it was used was with the lemonade scene, when Maxine was invited into the old lady’s house, and she is chugging the lemonade to get away from her, and this was contrasted with the farmer’s daughter in the porn film inviting Jackson in for a glass of lemonade until he can get help for his car. Jackson slowly sips the lemonade and clearly enjoys being in the presence of Bobby-Lynn, whereas Maxine is trying to dash. Then later, when the crew is relaxing after the day of filming, the old lady is trying to make herself look young and beautiful again, but her husband refuses her advances. So it shows the hard effort she has to go through to just be turned down, whereas the youths are so effortless and energized with their encounters. It was an interesting way to help hammer in on the theme.
This movie did give some other films a nod. Most notably was Texas Chainsaw Massacre. When they are driving to the house, they stop at a gas station, and that whole scene is very reminisced of when they stop in Texas Chainsaw. Also it is similar in the sense that it is a group of younger people traveling around in a van, and they end up in the middle of nowhere rural Texas, where they are slowly picked off one by one. There was also a nod to the Joker movie. There is the scene where Joker is in the bathroom after running off from doing something awful, and he starts to do his dance thing. He does the slow balletic type movements, and it comes off as artistic, but very odd considering the circumstances. In X, when the old lady kills her first victim, she also starts to do a slow balletic dance as the screen slowly turns red. It was odd, but the only time I have ever seen anything else like that was Joker.
The film was also interspersed videos of a televangelist preacher giving a sermon, and this played a role in the end of the film of giving the audience a little twist that was an added bonus, but you will have to go see it to find out what it is! The movie was very good, it did a good job of blending comedy and horror together. The comedy was a little more understated so that it did not take away from the film. It was also unafraid of what it was, to the point where it even included a sex scene between the old couple while Maxine escaped from the under the bed, which was something… I highly recommend going and seeing this creative and innovative horror film. The cast does a great job, including Kid Cudi. Also Jenna Ortega, as Lorraine, has become increasingly popular in horror films, and she has really taken a large amount of screen time this year, so be on the look out for her. This movie is only in theaters, so you must go and see it in person, do not wait for it to be released to streaming! I have it as the second-best film of the year so far, only behind The Batman.
Other Movies This Week:
Umma: A Korean American horror about a mother overcoming her past trauma from her mom and trying to prevent the cycle from repeating itself. In order to do this, Amanda must face her own fears to be able to move on from it. This was not good, but I want more foreign films to be released domestically to share their culture and bring some new ideas to horror.
The Lego Batman Movie: A very comedically done Batman movie about found family. A nice and light watch while feeling under the weather. It had some laughs, but it also had a good message.
The Lego Movie: Free Guy is literally the live action version of this movie.
Drive My Car: A Japanese film about a man and his wife’s relationship, and the grief that he goes through once she is gone. It is also a story about the widowed husband and his new driver’s familial relationship that transcends class. It is a long movie, and there is much more to unpack than this, but if you are willing to read the movie for three hours, it is well worth it.
Deep Water: Ben Affleck and Ana De Armas have a very toxic relationship to the point where there are murders involved. Just two high powered celebs making a crazy erotic thriller about jealousy, revenge, and toxicity. At least Ben Affleck is a good dad…
No Exit: A group of people are trapped in a visitors center during a snowstorm, and one of them has a secret. This movie has a good premise with twists, but the execution just was not there.
New Rankings:
X: 4 Stars
Umma: 2 Stars
The Lego Batman Movie: 3.5 Stars
Drive My Car: 4 Stars
Deep Water: 3 Stars
No Exit: 2.5 Stars
The Lego Movie: 2.5 Stars
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