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X review: A horror movie about what really horrifies us

X , from arthouse distributor A24, is a slasher movie about what really horrifies us. Writer/director Ti West ( The House of the Devil ) is too intelligent and thoughtful a filmmaker to believe that conventional boogeymen top our list of fears. He knows that a youth-obsessed society is far more terrified not only of growing old, but of confronting the fact that the elderly may still possess some very inconvenient desires.

A movie about making movies

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The movie is set in 1979 Texas and stars Mia Goth as Maxine, an aspiring young porn performer who travels with her older producer boyfriend (Martin Henderson) to a remote farm outside Houston to shoot an adult film. Along for the ride are two other performers (Kid Cudi and Brittany Snow), as well as the director and soundperson (Owen Campbell and Jenna Ortega), the latter of whom quickly decides that her best talents lie in front of the camera, not behind it. The ambition of all involved to make cinema out of porn echoes the similar aspirations of the adult film industry folks in Boogie Nights . And that is only the first of many, many references to other films in X .

True to form, the farm is isolated and creepy, and the group’s first interaction with the ancient proprietor (Stephen Ure), Howard, comes at the business end of a shotgun. Howard makes it clear that he disapproves of any youthful shenanigans on his property (and that’s well before he realizes what they are actually up to). He claims he wants to protect his elderly wife, Pearl, from any shocks. But just who needs protection — and from whom — quickly grows complicated.

Everything, in other words, screams for the group to get the hell out of there. But X wouldn’t be in the tradition of slasher films like Friday the 13 th or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (the film pays homage to both) if the characters had sense enough to not walk into situations that clearly spell their downfall. And yet, these aren’t the typical dumb, helpless twentysomethings common to the genre. On the contrary, they are capable and intelligent. But West wants to show that despite their physical superiority over the, ahem, monsters on the loose, the visitors are nevertheless doomed by their ignorance and inexperience, underestimating the threats on the farm until it’s too late. It never even occurs to them to consider what some people might still want — or be capable of.

West has worked in horror for a long time and he is in full command of both the genre tropes and his craft. His camera is fluid but not showy, and he finds the right muted colors and textures to convey the grain of ’70s film stock without making the movie look like a carefully curated Instagram account. He has said that he wanted to make a more “highbrow” slasher pic, and it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t succeeded.

The movie opens with, then later repeats, a shot from inside a barn that invokes Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter, in which Robert Mitchum terrorizes a family on a farm. There are also at least one verbal and two visual references to Psycho . West follows an early scene in which a character mentions the French New Wave by staging a grizzly homage to the famous traffic accident sequence in Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend . A shot of Maxine running away from the farmhouse is straight out of Terrence Malick’s ’70s classic, Days of Heaven . Cinephiles and breathless film students will surely spot many more references over repeated screenings.

Thankfully, the allusions are carefully integrated and resonate thematically with the films they invoke. West has made cinema that engages in intelligent dialogue with other cinema — a far cry from the glaring in-universe references in, say, Star Wars and Marvel movies that perform fan service but typically have no grander purpose.

X earns its place among A24’s best

Given all that, is the movie too highbrow for its genre? Does West’s insistence on interrogating the relationship between cinema and youthful beauty compromise some of the suspense? Maybe a little bit. The middle act could be tighter. And the final “twist” bludgeons the viewer with its irony. It’s an unnecessary reveal that is too on the nose compared to the subtlety of what’s come before it.

Overall, though, X is a movie that works well even for those who haven’t had a few semesters of film studies. The cast is charismatic. There are moments of visual wit, such as when the film cuts from a passionate kiss to a cow chewing cud. And the final third of the picture delivers all the gore and shocks demanded of the genre. Still, in the tradition of A24 arthouse horror such as Hereditary , Midsommar , and The Witch , the movie puts ideas in the foreground as much as it does bloodshed. West knows that slasher and porn films are less about violence and sex, respectively, and more about the shock and titillation of social transgression. With X , he has made a movie in which the most unsettling moments compel the viewer to question what society really considers taboo and why.

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Beyond the glittering world of Hollywood, countless foreign films have made a significany impact on the cinema industry. Many international pictures have inspired audiences around the globe, and their influence can be found in many of Hollywood's greatest hits.

They may not appeal to typical moviegoers in the U.S., but cinephiles continue to be drawn to the classics that were shot overseas. There are many foreign films that should be experienced at least once. But for now, audiences should start with these seven masterpieces, which include one of the best Oscar winners for Best Picture ever. The 400 Blows (1959)

‘X’ Review: ’70s Horror Meets ’70s Porn in the Rare ‘Chain Saw’ Homage That Earns Its Fear

In 1979, a group of renegades rent a Texas farmhouse to shoot a porn film — and for once the mayhem that follows doesn't feel cheap.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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If I had a dime — or maybe a drop of blood — for every movie that tried to recreate the vibe, the situation, and the high anxiety of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” I’d have a pretty big bucket of blood. For decades, I’ve been watching movies that open with a handful of obnoxious kids in a vehicle, tooling down a redneck roadway, and then…well, you know what happens next. They land in a remote house somewhere, at which point the film in question stops bearing any resemblance to “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” Instead, it turns into one more instance of deadening formula trash: another piece of slasher-movie roadkill.

More than that, it’s a movie made with genuine mood and skill and flavor. Your average “Chain Saw” knockoff never seems remotely like a movie from the grainy outlaw ’70s. It is, rather, contempo product that feels like product; the movies in the “Chain Saw” franchise itself are made with the worst kind of synthetic digital sheen. But “X,” set in 1979, actually achieves the look and atmosphere of 1979: the free-ride waywardness, the needle drops (Pablo Cruise, “In the Summertime”), the local televangelist barking at his stuffy minions on a black-and-white TV set. The film’s images have a no-fuss pastoral documentary lyricism, and it’s not just the way the shots look. It’s the way they’re cut together — slowly and calmly, without razzmatazz, so that the film seems to be taking place in real time, at a time when technology was a lot quieter. The folks within those frames actually seem like real people.

Her boyfriend, the middle-aged cowboy stud Wayne (Martin Henderson), is producing the film and running the shoot. Maxine is going to be one of the farmer’s daughters, and so is Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), who works, like Maxine, at a Houston burlesque club. Jackson (Scott Mescudi, a.k.a. Kid Cudi), the one male porn actor in the group, is Bobby-Lynne’s’s boyfriend, and the other two kids are the filmmakers: RJ (Owen Campbell), the stringy-haired geek who’s directing the film (i.e., pointing the camera), and has convinced himself it’s going to be a piece of “cinema,” and his girlfriend, Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who’s on hand to hold the boom mike. They have rented a farm cottage about 75 yards from the main house, and they’re going to use that and the cow barn to stage their country-vixen fantasy.

“Texas Chain Saw,” the granddaddy of the slasher genre, had an atmosphere that was sexualized enough that the porn-film plot of “X” feels like a natural extension of it. We see several of the porn scenes being shot, and like the ones in “Boogie Nights” they’re realistic and true to the scruffy pre-video porn vibe. So what’s there to be scared of? When they arrive at the farmhouse, Wayne is greeted at the door by a gnarly old man who looks about 100, like the grandpa in “Chain Saw.” He doesn’t seem that scary until he picks up a shotgun. Even so, there’s got to be more.

Is there a Leatherface? Not quite. But grandpa has a wife, who looks about as old as he is, and she starts to show up in odd places, her white hair, in a Victorian bun like the one on the corpse of Norman Bates’ mother, looking like a nimbus. These two ancient codgers are the quintessence of creepy. But we wonder what’s going to happen, since Ti West, in making this film, strikes a kind of deal with the audience. He basically says: I won’t cheat. I won’t have an insane killer coming out of nowhere. I will earn your fear. And he does.

“X” is no “Chain Saw.” What is? Nothing comes close (except for maybe Takashi Miike’s “Audition,” the most disturbing horror film since). But “X” is a wily and entertaining slow-motion ride of terror that earns its shocks, along with its singular quease factor, which relates to the fact that the demons here are ancient specimens of humanity who actually have a touch of…humanity. West, as a filmmaker, reverses tropes in a way that speaks to the era that was coming. The men, for once, are the first to get killed off, and where movie slashers tend to represent the suppression of female sexuality, “X” is a kind of feminist horror film in which the principal demon is a woman who wants to embrace sexuality. The world just won’t let her.

Reviewed at Stateside at the Paramount (SXSW), March 13, 2022. MPAA rating: R. Running time: 105 MIN.

• Production: An 24 release of a BRON Creative, MAD SOLAR production. Producers: Jacob Jaffke, Kevin Turen, Harrison Kreiss, Ti West. Executive producers: Sam Levinson, Ashley Levinson, Peter Phok, Scott Mescudi, Dennis Cummings, Karina Manashil.
• Crew: Director, screenplay: Ti West. Camera: Eliot Rockett. Editors: David Kashevaroff, Ti West. Music: Tyler Bates, Chelsea Wolfe.
• With: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell,. Stephen Ure, Scott Mescudi.

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The Slasher Film X Is a Modern Classic

The movie evokes the grind-house energy of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre while also pulling off thoroughly modern cinematic tricks.

A month ago, another installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series was released, an attempt to modernize the horror franchise while still harkening back to its gritty 1970s roots. It was a creative failure, too reliant on digitally enhanced gore and thudding callbacks. The task of matching an all-time classic seemed impossible. But a new horror film proves that challenge was hardly insurmountable: Ti West’s X is a lurid slasher based in rural ’70s Texas that brings plenty of invention to a tried-and-true setting.

X blends old and new, rather than just proffering empty references. The film evokes the grind-house energy of the original Texas Chainsaw while also pulling off complicated cinematic tricks that wouldn’t have been possible 50 years ago. West is a director with a deep understanding of period aesthetics—his breakthrough 2009 work, The House of the Devil , was a precise homage to the VHS video nasties of the ’80s; it looked like a once-banned movie that had just been unearthed. X could be another tribute, and even hints at the nasties genre with a teasing prologue in which a local sheriff comes upon a crime scene littered with mysterious film canisters.

West’s latest is titled after the now-defunct rating once given to the most shocking movies; fittingly, the canisters contain a few spicy reels of pornography. X follows a semiprofessional film crew that journeys to a small town to make a skin flick, renting a house on the land of two elderly farmers. Eventually, their shenanigans attract their hosts’ attention, the dynamic turns sour, and characters start to die, but X takes a surprisingly long time to move into slasher territory. West carefully builds out the relationships between each worker on the shoot while incorporating detailed backstory for the creepy older couple, meaning the monstrousness that unfolds later has real narrative purpose.

Read: The most purely enjoyable horror movie made in years

X is spearheaded by a pair of performances by the same actor, Mia Goth, who plays Maxine, one of the stars of the porno, and (buried under pounds of excellent makeup) Pearl, the reclusive older woman who takes an interest in the scandalous goings-on. The dual showcase is a remarkable one for Goth, who previously stood out in supporting roles in Emma , High Life , and A Cure for Wellness . Maxine is headstrong and assured of her future stardom. Pearl is a wispy ghost of a woman, reminiscing on her youthful beauty. West could have easily presented the character as pathetic, or stirred up by an inscrutable demonic fervor, but he instead lets the audience get to know Pearl and her ornery husband, Howard, before the two start chasing the youngsters around the farm.

The other unlucky guests are played by Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Scott Mescudi, and Brittany Snow, each of whom gets to have fun with characters who are vague without being mere cannon fodder. West is genuinely interested in analyzing the clash that takes over the farm, not just between old and young but between the repressed and the liberated; the carnage the couple carry out is motivated by their own confused feelings about sex. In the slashers of yore, an eye-roll-inducing motif was that sexually active characters would be picked off before the heroic virgins. Here, West makes that unspoken rule explicit, and so casts Howard and Pearl’s pent-up fury as all the more unsettling.

Outshining those thematic underpinnings, though, is West’s pure craft; he designs each scare sequence with consummate care, and refrains from using cheap jumps or overwhelming music to push up the tension. X has one of the best “character explores a dark cellar” scenes that I’ve ever seen—a standard of the genre, fine-tuned to perfection here. The set is simple—just two ramshackle homes and a field between them—and the budget seems fairly small, but the richness of West’s script and the depth of his characterization make everything feel expansive. The horror genre has, of late, been hijacked by purportedly “elevated” takes that avoid the simplicity of something like a slasher. X provides a map for how to do the classics right while still taking the formula somewhere original.

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X review: Mia Goth, Kid Cudi, and Jenna Ortega stumble into expertly wrought backwoods terror

Director Ti West knows the red meat horror fans want, and serves it up with panache.

Senior Editor, Movies

Traipsing into danger is the essential playbook of horror, a path well-trodden. But the brutal, giddy-making X , written and directed by Ti West, makes that journey somehow feel both fresh and comfortingly familiar. That dichotomy is at the heart of West's style, honed over years of indie horror filmmaking (and lately, an impressive amount of episodic TV). His features come clad in impeccable retro stylings: The House of the Devil from 2009 was the feathered-hair, Fixx-soundtracked '80s babysitter thriller you didn't know you needed.

But that fondness for details arrives with a sly sense of interrogation. You wouldn't call it "elevated horror" — God forbid — so much as exfoliated. West loves a good splattery kill and an off-putting stare, and if the house in the middle of the rural wilderness ain't broke, he isn't going to fix it.

West also clearly has a fondness for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , Tobe Hooper's revolutionary 1974 landmark, a film that X , set only five years later, explicitly echoes to an uncanny degree — and also revises. (Pay no attention to that official sequel that came and went a few weeks ago.) You can feel it in X 's oppressive sense of fly-buzzed heat, or observe it in the movie's perfectly re-created lean-to gas station (no sizzling barbecue this time) or the way a zoom lens follows a van creeping up to a spooky farmhouse.

In the van are six porn makers — porn stars is definitely pushing it. Maxine ( Mia Goth ), Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ), and Jackson (Scott Mescudi, a.k.a Kid Cudi ) are the onscreen talent; all three of the actors nail that sweaty Boogie Nights desperation. Wayne ( Martin Henderson ), their ringleader praying for a Debbie Does Dallas he can call his own, has dollar signs in his eyes. His cinematographer, R.J. (Owen Campbell), meanwhile, has convinced himself he's making an art film. As for R.J.'s girlfriend, Lorraine (former Disney kid Jenna Ortega), holding the boom pole? She's a little undecided about what side of the lens she wants to be on.

Even though they're headed out of Houston to get some privacy to make their magnum opus, The Farmer's Daughters , we already know that they're not alone. Yet before blood is spilled — and West does savor his slow build — there's another dynamic at play: a shifting power struggle about seeing and being seen, and occasionally just as brutal. The sexual battle tactics are refreshing given what usually passes for horror, and when X does burst into violence, they somehow continue, with icky scenes that pit longing against envy and destruction.

Revealing the identities of the killers would be unsporting (let's hint that those recent full-body transformations of Jared Leto and Colin Farrell are becoming a thing). For its whole running time, X has ideas on its mind. Like the doubled-edged title itself, both an evocation of the grungy rating this movie might have received in 1979 and something more suggestive ("You've got that X factor," Wayne says of Maxine's allure), it indicates a film that feels unpinned, ominous, and potentially unforgettable. Grade: A-

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Screen Rant

X review: ti west's gory, layered slasher flick subverts expectations.

Smart, well-paced, intentional, and fraught with fascinating themes and character arcs, X is a worthwhile slasher film that is aided by a great cast.

Writer-director Ti West’s X is a horror movie that draws on the influences of 1970s slasher flicks while simultaneously exploring sex at different ages and perspectives. The result is a well-paced, slow-burn horror film that is confident in driving forward its momentum before going all out in its finale. There are elements of the narrative that could have been deepened, but X works on so many levels that it’s easy to dismiss them. Smart, well-paced, intentional, and fraught with fascinating themes and character arcs, X is a worthwhile slasher film that is aided by a great cast.

Set in 1979, the film opens with a couple of police officers arriving on the scene of an old farm in Texas. They are disgusted by what they see and it’s clear that viewers are in for quite a ride before the film backtracks to 24 hours earlier to reveal exactly what happened. Burlesque owner Wayne (Martin Henderson) has his sights on making adult films and recruits girlfriend Maxine (Mia Goth), an aspiring actress who wants to make it big in Hollywood, to star in the porn film The Farmer’s Daughter . Joining them on this filmmaking journey are Maxine's co-stars Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), Jackson (Kid Cudi), the director RJ (Owen Campbell) — who doesn’t want to make a porno, but a great film — and Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), RJ’s girlfriend who is quiet and seemingly disapproving. They start filming not long after arriving at a farm home Wayne rented from Howard (Stephen Ure) and his wife Pearl, a creepy couple living in the farm's main home who lurk in the shadows.

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X is perhaps most interesting when exploring Pearl, her reactions to porn and sex in general, and the deep yearning she still has for it. Much of her frustration stems from her wanting to be touched and her husband being hesitant to have sex with her because he could have a heart attack and die from the exertion. This creates a distance between them, but something awakens in Pearl at the arrival of the youthful bunch. Her fascination with Maxine, in particular, reawakens her lust; at the same time, Pearl’s judgement of Maxine, despite the fact she reminds her of herself, is steeped in her disdain of the younger’s youth and appearance. This dynamic makes for quite a few juicy interactions that are laden with unbridled desire, a desperate need, and an understanding on the part of the audience for Pearl’s actions, as well as Maxine's.

What makes X stand out is in the way it subverts expectations. The old couple's motives aren't exactly cut and dry, and the film delves into women's sex lives and desires without shaming them for it. Sex is a motivator throughout, as is the curiosity to explore it. In many horror movies , having sex — be it for the first time or in general — leaves one open to becoming a victim of the killer on the prowl. But X flips that on its head in unexpected ways that work for the story being told and winds up being fairly sex-positive in doing so. Besides the unexpected takes on sex, the horror film also thoughtfully touches upon age, as well as who gets to be desired and feel desirable in the eyes of society as a result.

The gore itself is plentiful and cinematographer Eliot Rockett films death scenes from different angles that amplify each moment without lingering too long on anything that is deemed unnecessary. A scene that sees one of the characters discovering another’s dead body has the right amount of shock and terror before the camera pans away to focus on the former’s attempted escape. The first kill is accompanied by "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult and it seems especially fitting for the scene, making it all the more creepy and intense.

X isn't afraid to lean into the patient, yet suspenseful energy that makes slasher films so intriguing to watch and it doesn't completely sacrifice its plot to do so. While X could have dug a bit deeper into certain aspects of the story, the film’s twists, layered themes, and intriguing character dynamics blend together to make it one of the best horror films of the year so far.

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X is playing in theaters as of Friday, March 18. The film is 105 minutes long and is rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language.

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‘X’ Review: Ti West’s Rollicking Porn Slasher Brings the Spirit of the ’70s Back to Movie Theaters

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The renegade intensity of Ti West ’s “ X ,” another homage by the “House of the Devil” writer-director to independent cinema’s past, and his first horror film in over a decade, is his willingness to ask: What if a slasher, but with porn? That genre bending — in a rollicking, wicked dark horror comedy about intrepid filmmakers just barely scraping by, the fetishization of youth, and how the weight of aging into a sexless marriage can lead to mayhem — brings the spirit of the rule-breaking 1970s moviemaking back to modern audiences. While West isn’t always operating on the same levels as his influences, his signature flair for tension through simmering slow-burn pacing remains unparalleled.

“X” kicks off on a secluded Texas farm surrounded by local police. The opening scene, framed within a barn, peers outside toward a simple wooden home peeking above the brush landscape. As an incessant buzz of flies swarm, the camera tracks outside revealing a trio of cop cars. There is a blood-soaked sheet covering an unknown body. A recently used ax grips the porch and a wide streak of crimson leads to inside the quaint, albeit creepy home. On the television plays a Southern televangelist, one of those local holy roller church services that never seems to go off air. Yes, something bad happened here.

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Backtracking to 24 hours earlier, we meet the coke-snorting, assured Maxine ( Mia Goth ), who works as an exotic dancer for the grifting, brutish Wayne (Martin Henderson) at his Bayou Burlesque. The couple, who share an uncomfortable muse-artist relationship, believe they’re destined for more, and Wayne is willing to bankroll a low-budget hardcore porn titled “The Farmer’s Daughter,” which Maxine will star in, to prove it.

The burlesque owner also enlists Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ), a blonde bombshell in the mold of Marilyn Monroe, and her ex-military boyfriend with a giant dong, Jackson ( Kid Cudi ) to star in the movie too. Rounding out the skeleton crew are RJ (Owen Campbell), a hungry director wanting to make an artistic adult film through the school of French avant-garde cinema, and his quiet but observant girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega). They board Wayne’s blue van, a vehicle emblazoned with the winking name “Plowing Service,” to a secluded farm owned by an elderly couple.

This group of brazen filmmakers aren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. Nor are they totally precious with the art of moviemaking. But they do possess the will to create, to live a life outside of anonymity by making their mark on the world. Wayne might carry himself with the gusto of a big shot, but he’s making this porn on a shoestring guerrilla-style budget: RJ is only armed with a handheld camera, Lorraine operates the lone boom mic, and the farm they’re using for the shoot fell into Wayne’s lap through a supposed sweetheart deal.

Only one problem visibly exists: Howard (Stephen Ure) and Pearl (a heavily prosthetic-laden Goth). The elderly couple, a grotesque combination of swollen and reedy features, replete with mangled teeth and disintegrating white hair, are unaware that this band of filmmaking outlaws are making a porno on their own property.

West plays out this anxiety for eerie dread and sly laughs, often drawing parallels between Maxine and Pearl. The latter, in her time, commanded attention as a free-spirited beauty. But now she pines for youth, fetishizes smooth skin and wants the kind of sex Howard seems incapable of giving anymore. There is a friskiness, for lack of a better term, to Pearl in the barely steadied but hurried way she moves. We immediately know she’s disturbed. We can also see the hulking mass of repulsiveness that is Howard. And we’re not quite sure who’s the villain or who’s the victim.

Not to be forgotten, of course, this is a porn film within a horror film. It’s telling how often West plays the sex scenes for laughs: the sassy Bobby-Lynne does the mostest performing, loud moans and all. The workman-like Jackson (Kid Cudi has always possessed a steady, unmoored presence) is all concentration. And RJ’s lens, featuring a warm 16mm patina, always seems focused on the wrong shots at the wrong time. As much as West mines for gags, he holds a clear admiration for the full commitment required to make an adult film, and is equally enamored by the allure of sex in relation to moviemaking. Lorraine and Wayne, for instance, can’t help but be transfixed while watching Jackson and Bobby-Lynne perform their scene together. Is it the grinding of those bodies that enraptures them? Or is it the sight of acts committed to film that grips them? West steers us to the former, but never wholly dismisses the latter.

West giddily relaxes on this liminal plane, patiently building tension through stillness and ambiguity. DP Eliot Rockett loves scenes of extremely long shots, allowing the high grass landscape to consume the actors. He further adores leveraging negative space for big frights. In one scene, a bird’s eye view sees a character floating in the middle of a grim pond, the only other figure is a stealthy alligator, swimming toward her. The sparse tableau provides intense results.

In the film’s second half are sharp kills, with even sharper edits by West and David Kashevaroff, wagering exacting match cuts for gory thrills. The ensuing freakout supplies a nourishing amount of blood, replete with ingenious kills, and a charming sense of humor to the absurd violence that positions “X” away from a self-serious horror realm to a film not afraid to have some fun. After a couple star-making roles in “Suspiria” and “High Life,” Goth rises among the ranks of scream queens, while projecting a hardened edge. Snow as Bobby-Lynne delivers the script’s copious dirty one-liners with aplomb.

While “X” is an ingenious rejiggering of genre archetypes, a few shortcomings hold it back: The instigating reason behind the murders, intoxicating sex, feels underdeveloped. The mystery behind the elderly couple is a tad too cute, too knowingly brisk. Still, the melding of two seemingly different but closely related energies — those of adult films and bloody slashers — is a fascinating angle from which to interrogate the horror of aging in relation to sexual status. The maxim “you can never be too old,” applies nearly everywhere, except in West’s “X.”

“X” premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on Friday, March 18.

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Ti West’s X aims its slasher-movie homage straight at classic horror fanatics

Mia Goth stars in a dual role in a movie that pays tribute to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, in its own striking way

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This review of Ti West’s X originally came from the 2022 media expo SXSW. It has been updated for the film’s digital release.

The House of the Devil director Ti West never left horror. It’s been nearly a decade since his last horror movie, The Sacrament , but he’s stayed busy in horror TV, directing episodes of Scream: The TV Series , The Exorcist , Them , and more. He returns to his big-screen roots with X , a deliciously gory, delightfully funny homage to 1970s indie filmmaking that lures viewers into a false sense of security with a fun hangout movie, then unleashes all hell on the screen. By the time the credits roll, it makes sense that A24 would confirm this as the distribution house’s first horror franchise .

In 1979, strip-club owner Wayne (Martin Henderson) decides to gather a group of friends, employees, and a couple of idealistic filmmaking-enthusiast tagalongs to shoot a porn film that will make them all famous . There’s Wayne’s girlfriend Maxine (Mia Goth), Bobby-Lane (Brittany Snow), and Jackson (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi), who will star in the film. Of course, this won’t be just any old porn film. As writer, director, editor, and cinematographer R.J. (Owen Campbell) explains, he’s here to prove that it’s “possible to make a good dirty movie.” He’s ready to employ avant-garde techniques and everything, and he’s brought along his girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega) as boom-mic operator. Of course, given that this is a ragtag production, corners are cut — most notably, the cast and crew are staying at a remote farmhouse owned by an elderly couple who are supposedly unaware of what they’re planning to do. Soon enough, bodies start dropping.

Though the premise of a porn shoot turning into a horror show could easily result in a schlocky parody, Ti West has more in mind. The adult-film angle serves two purposes — it puts a meta spin on the practically mandatory nudity and adult content of R-rated slasher films, and it uses the adult industry to speak about indie filmmaking at large. The first half of the film is a love letter to independent filmmaking, to the satisfactions of grabbing a group of like-minded friends and a camera, and heading to a remote location to make movies. At the Q&A following the film’s SXSW premiere, Ti West spoke about the similarities between horror and porn in the 1970s — specifically, the desire to break free from studio systems and make a name for yourself, with nothing in hand but a good idea.

Given that this is a horror film about a group of young people in Texas, there are clear homages to Tobe Hooper’s original 1974 movie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , especially in the beginning, where West is following a group of friends having a good time, unaware of the carnage waiting for them. West carefully waits to unveil the carnage, choosing to focus on character work and setting a creepy mood through long takes and ominous cutaways. (The A24 way!) The story isn’t all gloom and doom — West is clearly having a ball making this an enjoyable comedy, too. Double entendres and crude jokes fill the first half of the film, like the team’s van reading “Plowing Services.” Even when the killings begin, most of them have a lighthearted tone.

This is in no small part due to the cast, especially Brittany Snow, whose turn as a wannabe porn star makes for a hilarious return to horror for the actress. Meanwhile, Mescudi does an impressive job as the guy full of bravado and confidence, a veteran who fears nothing, even when he should. Still, this is Mia Goth’s movie: She pulls double duty as both the lead character and as house owner Pearl, subject of a planned spinoff prequel. Goth infuses both characters with a burning desire to obtain fame, and a deep fear of losing it. Even when buried under tons of makeup, her performance shines through.

As funny as X gets at times, however, it’s just as effective at providing scares as it is at provoking laughs. Once the kills begin, West unleashes heavy gore and entertaining death scenes, enhanced by effective, novel editing that West and his co-editor David Kashevaroff use to enhance the scares, or create new ones. From smash cuts and juxtapositions to cutting away from a kill to an unrelated scene to screen wipes and split-screens, X makes for an unpredictable experience.

Sadly, as great as the makeup is, it follows the recent unfortunate trope of villainizing the elderly, implying that aging naturally turns people into vicious villains . Get ready for gratuitous scenes of naked elderly people, designed to suggest that aging is gross and scary.

Tired stereotypes aside, though, West delivers a crowd-pleasing return to horror that’s a love letter to the genre without becoming a parody. This is no Texas Chain Saw Massacre rip-off , but it is still the best Texas Chain Saw Massacre film of the year. Ti West is back — may he not leave us again anytime soon.

X is now widely available for rental or purchase on Amazon , Vudu , and other digital platforms. The prequel, Pearl , is coming to theaters Sept. 16.

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clock This article was published more than  2 years ago

Senior citizens terrorize sexed-up 20-somethings in the silly retro slasher flick 'X'

Old folks go ‘boo’ in borderline offensive horror film about amateur adult filmmakers (and we use the term adult loosely).

The cheesy aesthetic of late-1970s and early-1980s filmmaking — harnessed, to hugely popular appeal, if not great artistic effect, in “ Stranger Things ” — is front and center in “X,” a sexy meta-slasher flick that uses the look and feel of both the era’s horror movies and its adult films to dress up what is essentially an otherwise commonplace saga of the bloodied-but-unbowed Final Girl (in B-movie parlance, the last surviving member of a group, victimized by a killer, to confront the murderer).

Written and directed by Ti West (“Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever”), the 1979-set ″X” follows the unfortunate fates of the cast and crew of an ultra low-budget adult film called “The Farmer’s Daughter.” Set on a rural Texas farm and following the predictable contours of many a dirty joke centering on the stock character — make that caricature — of a sexually rapacious young woman and a lucky male traveler, the film-within-a-film is a series of nudges and winks hinting at bygone tropes and stereotypes. Some are more offensive than others: An afroed Scott Mescudi, a.k.a. Kid Cudi, plays the sexually prolific traveler, who gets to make on-camera whoopee with not only his blond girlfriend (Brittany Snow), but the girlfriend (Mia Goth) of the film’s producer (Martin Henderson) and the girlfriend (Jenna Ortega) of its director (Owen Campbell). Campbell, whose character is a aspiring cinéaste who references the French New Wave, gets the nudgiest, winkiest dialogue. “It’s possible to make a good dirty movie,” he says to his sweetheart, Lorraine, who initially disapproves of all this hardcore carnality — until she, for implausible reasons, decides to join in.

It certainly is possible to make such a movie, but I’m not sure “X” is the most compelling argument.

Still, it has certain je ne sais quoi, if graphic nudity, self-referential humor and serial murder — neck stabbing, eye gouging, alligator munching and shotgun blasting — are your thing. The victims, as in many movies of this ilk, are young people who enjoy sex. And the villains are the elderly proprietor of the remote farm where the crew has set up shop (Stephen Ure) and his equally elderly wife. Oddly, they’re the villains not because they don’t enjoy sex, but because they do. The wife, Pearl, who looks likes she’s about 150 but still enjoys a roll in the hay, is resentful that her superannuated husband is unable to perform because of a weak heart, so she takes out her sexual frustration on the kids. The fact that she’s played by Goth, doing double duty in fairly convincing if cartoonish old-age makeup, is troubling. It suggests that senior citizens are inherently scary or something to laugh at — and ones who are randy are scarier, and more laughable, still.

Perhaps to this film’s young target demographic — arguably, people who weren’t even born yet in the year in which it’s set — there is nothing more terrifying than an old lady who still feels sexual desire. To anyone old enough to have lived through 1979 — and to harbor no nostalgia for the inartfulness of DIY porn and VHS slasher movies, “X” is less of a treat.

On the other hand, who knew that a stupid movie — part bloodbath, part skin flick — would offer the viewer not only so much to think about, but so much to look forward to? A prequel has already been shot, starring Goth as the younger Pearl.

R. At area theaters. Contains bloody violence and gore, strong sexual material, graphic nudity, drug use and crude language. 105 minutes.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Grindhouse-style exploration of aging, sex, and gore.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Movie's themes aren't exactly streamlined, but it

Even though main characters are all likable and ge

Of the six main characters, three are women (one L

Intense, graphic violence designed to shock. Lots

Several sex scenes, with characters sharing partne

Several uses of "f--k," plus "t-ts," "c--k," "ass,

Old 1970s Coca-Cola cooler displayed. Wonder Bread

Main character snorts cocaine in at least three sc

Parents need to know that X is a horror movie set in 1979 about people making an adult film in a remote farmhouse who end up being stalked by the elderly couple that owns the place. Ultra-gory and explicit, it's also funny, clever, and effective, touching on themes of sexuality, repression, and aging in…

Positive Messages

Movie's themes aren't exactly streamlined, but it touches on faith-based repression vs. sexual freedom, and sexual freedom vs. emotional commitment. But main themes concern age and desire: Despite a life of faith, the older couple still feel desire, but the younger people are revolted by them. Draws no conclusions on these themes but leaves viewers with something to talk about.

Positive Role Models

Even though main characters are all likable and generally positive, their life choices are iffy, and all but one pay a high price. The survivor is somewhat self-involved and doesn't suffer consequences for problematic choices.

Diverse Representations

Of the six main characters, three are women (one Latina) and one is a Black man. One woman seems to be the driving force of the movie, becoming the only survivor. A Black sheriff appears in just two scenes but has two of the movie's best lines.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Intense, graphic violence designed to shock. Lots and lots of blood, spurting, spraying, gurgling, oozing. Bloody, gory crime scene. Extremely gory slaughtered cow, hit by truck: Slabs of flesh hang from the truck and are shoveled from the road. Van wheels smoosh through cow guts. Character stabbed repeatedly in throat until flesh torn; lots of spurting blood. Head smashed with wheel of truck. Corpse with torn-up face. Rifle shown, characters shot. Handgun shown. Character torn up, eaten by alligator. Man breaks woman's fingers. Character steps on protruding nail. Naked male corpse hanging from wall. Character has heart attack.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Several sex scenes, with characters sharing partners (performed for an adult movie). Bare breasts and bottoms, plus thrusting, moaning, etc. Penis seen in silhouette. A character wipes ejaculate from her thigh with a towel. Man naked except for tiny underwear. Passionate, slurpy kissing. Sex-related dialogue. Dialogue about adult movies; Debbie Does Dallas is mentioned. A skinny-dipping woman is shown fully naked in an extreme long shot. A character touches another character's hand to his penis ("feel how hard my c--k is!"). Penis seen on male corpse.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Several uses of "f--k," plus "t-ts," "c--k," "ass," "d--k," "bitch," "son of a bitch," "hell," "whore," "pecker," "smut," "oh my God," and "God save me."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Old 1970s Coca-Cola cooler displayed. Wonder Bread shown and mentioned.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Main character snorts cocaine in at least three scenes. Smoking. Characters drink beer with dinner.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that X is a horror movie set in 1979 about people making an adult film in a remote farmhouse who end up being stalked by the elderly couple that owns the place. Ultra-gory and explicit, it's also funny, clever, and effective, touching on themes of sexuality, repression, and aging in unique ways. There are multiple instances of partial nudity (breasts, bottoms, slightly obscured penis), a fully naked skinny-dipping woman seen in a long shot, and several sex scenes, with thrusting, moaning, and more. Violence is very graphic, with lots of blood (spurting, spraying, gurgling, oozing), bloody carnage, gruesome murders, torn flesh, broken bones, eyes stabbed, etc., as well as guns and shooting. Strong language includes "f--k," "t-ts," "c--k," "ass," "d--k," "bitch," and more. A main character uses cocaine without consequences, and there's social drinking and smoking. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (10)
• Kids say (28)

Based on 10 parent reviews

Rated 18 (strong bloody violence, sex).

MAIN CONTENT ISSUES - There are several scenes of strong bloody violence, sometimes featuring gory injury detail. These include a man being stabbed in the neck multiple times, a man being stabbed through the eye, a man being shot in the chest, a woman having her fingers battered with the butt of a shotgun, a woman being shot in the face with gory aftermath detail, and a woman having her head crushed by a vehicle causing a big spurt of blood and gore. Some of these sequences are quite sustained, and linger on injury detail. There are also multiple prolonged sex scenes, featuring heavy thrusting and sexual moaning, explicit sexual dialogue and references, as well as graphic breast and buttock nudity. One moment also shows a woman wiping some semen from her hip. These sexual scenes primarily take place in the context of the characters filming a pornographic film, although no actual penetration is shown and the sex is only simulated. | OTHER ISSUES - There is strong threat and suspense throughout, including a sustained sequence of sexualized threat where a woman is inappropriately touched and caressed by another woman whilst sleeping. There are also some scenes of drug use where a woman snorts cocaine. Multiple uses of strong language ("f*ck"), as well as milder terms ("c*ck", "b*tch", "wh*re", "p*ssy", "d*ck", "sh*t", etc). | Rated "18" - Suitable only for persons aged 18 years and over. Contains content recommended for viewing by adults only.

What's the Story?

In X, it's 1979 in Houston, Texas. Wayne ( Martin Henderson ), who runs a burlesque club, climbs into a van with two of his sex workers, his girlfriend Maxine ( Mia Goth ), and Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ). Also along for the ride are Bobby-Lynne's boyfriend, sex worker Jackson ( Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi ), filmmaker RJ (Owen Campbell), and sound recordist/RJ's girlfriend Lorraine ( Jenna Ortega ). Their destination is a remote house on a ranch owned by an odd older couple. There, the team hopes to film an adult-oriented movie, The Farmer's Daughters , and make a fortune in the burgeoning home video market. The shoot begins well, but then one of the home's owners starts to exhibit extra-creepy vibes, leering at the youngsters. Over dinner and beers, Lorraine decides to be in the movie as well. A distraught RJ storms off into the night, thus setting off a shocking cycle of violence and gore.

Is It Any Good?

More than just a stylish grindhouse throwback, this gorefest explores sex and violence in fresh ways. It takes into account the oft-ignored subject of aging bodies and balances things with moments of wry humor. It's no surprise that the confident direction is the work of Ti West , whose The House of the Devil , which has a similar throwback style, has already become a horror classic and whose other genre works deserve the same fate. The look and feel of X comes from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre textbook, and West understands it inside and out -- not only its shock and gore, but also its sense of place and unexpected comic touches. But he uses it to create his own thing, rather than a slavish copy.

For example, in many traditional horror movies, sex is equated with death -- but in X , sex is treated as natural and freeing. Even though the actors are creating "smut," they seem in control of their bodies ... that is, until the attacks start coming. Those are fueled partly by faith-based righteousness and partly by jealousy of youth and beauty. It's a deadly combination, and certainly West could have gone deeper with it, but instead he focuses on sheer sensation. Some shots, like the click of a basement light switch, a casual swim in a pond (accompanied by a hungry gator), and a protruding nail, create giddy squeals that are practically old-fashioned. The combination of shock, titillation, and laughs may seem a bit messy, but that may be precisely what X is really all about.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about X 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

How is sex depicted? In the story, how is filmed sex different from "real" sex?

How are drugs depicted? Are they glamorized? Are there consequences? Why is that important?

Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies ? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

How does the movie touch upon themes of repression and liberation? Of aging and desire?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 18, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : April 14, 2022
• Cast : Mia Goth , Jenna Ortega , Brittany Snow
• Director : Ti West
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
• Studio : A24
• Genre : Horror
• Run time : 105 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong bloody violence and gore, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language
• Last updated : February 27, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Where to Watch

Mia Goth (Maxine) Jenna Ortega (Lorraine) Brittany Snow (Bobby-Lynne) Kid Cudi (Jackson) Martin Henderson (Wayne) Owen Campbell (RJ) Stephen Ure (Howard) James Gaylyn (Sheriff Dentler) Simon Prast (Televangelist) Geoff Dolan (Deputy)

In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.

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The new horror film from Ti West hits theaters March 18

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X – Movie Review (4/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | Apr 19, 2022 | 4 minutes

X is the new horror movie by writer-director Ti West. It’s a real horror treat if you enjoy the classic slasher style. We have been eagerly anticipating this movie. Now it’s out on PVOD for all to enjoy. An awesome cast and lots of gorgeous horror references. Read our full X  (2022) movie review here!

X (2022) is the new Ti West horror movie starring Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, and Brittany Snow. Well, to mention just the cool ladies in it. We’ll get to the guys later, but we all know that – in horror movies – it’s all about the final girl. Or girls. In this instant horror classic, everyone in the cast appears to really enjoy going for it with this horror thriller.

If you’re familiar with genre writer-director Ti West, you’ll know that he excels at creating movies that feel like they could have been made a few decades ago. And yes, I do mean this as a huge compliment. He manages to take the vibe and style of movies made in the 1970s and make them feel current.

Continue reading our X  (2022) movie review below. You can find it On-Demand now.

A new horror classic

This is yet another example that clearly references a horror classic like Texas Chainsaw Massacre . Basically, this is the movie you should watch instead of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre requel, which was also released here in 2022. In other words, it’s perfect for horror fans who love the classic slasher style.

X  has that in spades but also manages to build the characters in interesting ways – all across the board.

Along with the earlier mentioned Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, and Brittany Snow – all of whom are absolutely brilliant – we also have some awesome male characters. They’re portrayed by actors Martin Henderson ( the original 2002 The Ring US remake ), Owen Campbell ( Super Dark Times ), and Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi (season 3 of Westworld ).

Also, you’ll see Stephen Ure who has been aged quite a lot, so he is rather unrecognizable. Then again, he often is in his roles. He’s been in both the  Lord of the Rings  and the Hobbit franchise. He was also in Deathgasm  (2015) which I really enjoyed!

In fact, my one real (and bigger) critique of  X  is that it has actors being made up to play old. Instead of just casting older actors. Now  that  would have been ballsy. Particularly with the very sex-fueled story!

We’ve seen older actors in horror movies such as Adam Robitel’s The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) and  M. Night Shyamalan ‘s The Visit (2015) . Both were brilliant in casting older actors as characters that had to do extremely dark deeds. We often see older actors turn evil as zombies, but otherwise, directors tend to use younger actors made up to look older. That’s a shame.

The X prequel Pearl is to be released later in 2022

Apparently, Ti West got the idea for the prequel during the mandatory two-week quarantine in his hotel. As luck would have it, they were able to shoot it directly on the back of this production. Maybe we’ll get a release around the Halloween season. That would certainly make sense.

And now that X  turned into a success and has been hailed by both critics and film fans all over the world, it turned out to be a brilliant gamble.

We’ll be sure to update you here on Heaven of Horror, whenever more news about the release date is made known. Also, casting news, though we already know who will play the lead. I won’t reveal that here since it’s a spoiler (well, sort of, anyway), but you just have to look up the movie on IMDb to find out.

Watch the  X  horror movie On-Demand now!

Ti West is the writer and director of X (2022) which has become an immediate cult movie in its own right. After premiering at the South By South West Film Festival in March, it continued a successful run in wide release. Horror fans will get pretty much everything they want with this one. Well, if you’re the kind of horror fan who enjoys the more visceral (read: bloody) kind of horror movie.

I am. But I am also the kind of person who really enjoys the psychological aspects of horror movies. That’s not where  X  delivers much.

For me, this is a very entertaining and intriguing slasher movie and it should definitely be enjoyed as such. Also, yes, I am  very much  looking forward to the prequel that has already been shot.

X premiered at SXSW Film Festival on March 13 and was out in a wider theatrical release from March 18. Just under a month later – on April 14, 2022 – it was released on PVOD. 

In Theaters: March 18, 2022 On PVOD: April 14, 2022 Director: Ti West Writer: Ti West Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, Scott Mescudi

In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.

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About The Author

Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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X (United States, 2022)

X is a fun movie – a throwback to the Grindhouse pictures of the 1970s and the slasher genre of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. With a tongue-in-cheek, devil-may-care approach, writer/director Ti West embraces many of the tropes that have since fallen into disfavor (copious T&A, for example) and splashes them all over the screen. The caveat, of course, is that a love of gory horror is a prerequisite for enjoying X .

West, as is his wont, doesn’t jump right into the action. Favoring a slow-burn to a burnout, he spends some time with the characters and, although none develops the full three dimensions, they have better rounded personalities than the plastic targets who populate most slasher films. Roughly the first half of the movie is an homage to ‘70s soft core/exploitation pictures, although there’s always creepy Howard (Stephen Ure) hanging around in the background to remind us that things are eventually going to get bloody. (There’s also a wraparound structure that opens the movie with police investigating what looks like a slaughterhouse massacre, so we know there’s going to be a substantial body count.)

The premise is simple enough – in 1979, a group of six adults have come to an out-of-the-way corner of Texas to make a porn movie. The director, RJ (Owen Campbell), has artistic aspirations. He prefers to call his picture an “independent film” and he’s focused more on the integrity of the production than its commercial prospects. The dollar signs are the purview of executive producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), who has arranged his merry band to rent a guest house from the geriatric, somewhat frightening Howard. RJ’s cast includes the well-endowed Jackson (Scott Mescudi), whose afro is as impressive as what he’s packing in his trousers; the free-spirited Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), who’s up for anything; and Wayne’s squeeze, Maxine (Mia Goth). Also along on the trip is RJ’s girlfriend, Lorraine (Jenny Ortega), who handles the sound equipment before deciding that she’d like a taste of what the other women are having.

The movie is funny – intentionally and in the right ways. West plays with tropes while at the same time honoring them. Despite having very little budget, he’s able to recreate the 1979 aesthetic with such aptitude that one can be forgiven thinking he found the movie rather than making it. (He takes a pointed jab at the “found footage” genre.) There are a lot of references, Easter Eggs, and in-jokes. The most obvious inspiration is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the Tobe Hooper 1974 original) but there’s a little Halloween and a dash of Friday the 13th to be found. (The use of Blue Oyster Cult’s “The Reaper” is a direct nod to the John Carpenter film.) West finds a way to use all of the horror/slasher cliches in such a way that they’re hip and engaging rather than tired and trite. It all comes down to tone.

In 2022, horror has become a template-based genre that is more often than not made-to-order either for teenagers or 20-somethings who adore jump-scares. X is a reminder that, while the slasher genre had some very deep valleys, some of the most effective horror emerged from it (especially in the early days before the films became little more than orgies of inventive eviscerations). With X , West seeks to recapture some of the fun, edginess, and energy of those productions while at the same time delivering a few surprises. That he succeeds makes X a must-see for those who claim an affection for this sort of film.

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• Halloween (1978)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Blair Witch Project, The (1999)
• Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
• Captivity (2007)
• Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
• Emma (2020)
• Pearl (2022)
• Infinity Pool (2023)
• Suspiria (2018)
• Nymphomaniac Volume II (2014)
• Cure for Wellness, A (2017)
• (There are no more better movies of Jenna Ortega)
• Scream (2022)
• Scream VI (2023)
• (There are no more worst movies of Jenna Ortega)
• (There are no more better movies of Brittany Snow)
• Prom Night (2008)
• John Tucker Must Die (2006)
• Pacifier, The (2005)

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Spy x Family Code: White

After receiving an order to be replaced in Operation Strix, Loid decides to help Anya win a cooking competition at Eden Academy, by making the director's favorite meal in order to prevent hi... Read all After receiving an order to be replaced in Operation Strix, Loid decides to help Anya win a cooking competition at Eden Academy, by making the director's favorite meal in order to prevent his replacement. After receiving an order to be replaced in Operation Strix, Loid decides to help Anya win a cooking competition at Eden Academy, by making the director's favorite meal in order to prevent his replacement.

• Kazuhiro Furuhashi
• Takashi Katagiri
• Ichirô Ôkouchi
• Tatsuya Endo
• Takuya Eguchi
• Atsumi Tanezaki
• Saori Hayami
• 11 User reviews
• 24 Critic reviews
• 66 Metascore

• Loid Forger
• Anya Forger

• Bond Forger
• Franky Franklin

• Sylvia Sherwood
• (as Yuko Kaida)
• Henry Henderson
• Damian Desmond
• Becky Blackbell

• Fiona Frost
• (English version)

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• Dec 23, 2023
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• April 19, 2024 (United States)
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• CloverWorks
• Toho Animation
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• Apr 21, 2024
• $51,316,935

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• Runtime 1 hour 50 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• IMAX 6-Track

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Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Movie Review: ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’

NEW YORK (OSV News) – Moviegoers tempted by a title like “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” (Warner Bros.) are presumably not in search of Shakespearian levels of dramatic insight. Even so, the disparity between the reasonably impressive special effects on offer in the film and its low-grade human interaction remains noticeable.

In creating this sequel to 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong,” returning director Adam Wingard and screenwriters Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater at least set themselves a fresh goal. Namely, to have the two familiar creatures of the title abandon their longstanding feud and unite for a worthy purpose.

Their human handlers hope the monsters — within this franchise known as Titans — can come together to defeat an evil ape king and the ice-spewing dragon he’s enslaved to serve his own purposes. Teamwork makes the dream work, after all.

In between the outsized battles that ensue, viewers are invited to care, once again, about the relationship between scientist Ilene (Rebecca Hall) and her adoptive indigenous daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle). Another character from the previous outing, podcaster Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry), is also part of the mix. Dan Stevens plays newbie Trapper, an adventurous veterinarian.

The movie’s respectful treatment of Jia’s deafness can be commended as implicitly pro-life. But the fact that Kong serves as the closest thing the story has to a moral compass is not a good sign.

Still, he frowns at oppression, befriends an initially hostile young simian of his own species and saves the life of an enemy — albeit only momentarily, since the rescued opponent proves implacable. All this is easier to take than the predictable idealization of the nature-friendly lifestyle of Jia’s extended tribe or the notion that they can communicate telepathically.

Such ideas might confuse impressionable kids. But this latest clash of the Titans is possibly acceptable for older adolescents, a few off-color exclamations in the dialogue notwithstanding.

The film contains stylized monster violence, about a dozen mild oaths, a few crude terms and a couple of crass expressions. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Spy x Family Code: White review – ingenious espionage antics with special-power family

Popular manga characters receive their first film adaptation as they seek out a villainous colonel and an elusive dessert, brought off with great style by director Takashi Katagiri

A fter a successful TV adaptation, the popular characters of the bestselling manga Spy x Family are ready for their big screen closeups. Directed by Takashi Katagiri from an original story, this highly entertaining film maintains the ingenious blend of espionage escapades and slice-of-life shenanigans that has made the series a smash hit, all while expanding its set pieces to a more spectacular scale. To achieve this delicate balance between comedy, suspense and action thrills is no easy feat and for the most part, the film accomplishes this mission well.

The lovable Forger trio of spy papa Loid, assassin mama Yor, and telepathic daughter Anya, are swiftly reintroduced; this fake family embarks on a hilarious adventure involving an elusive dessert, stolen negatives and a villainous colonel. Brought together by a top-secret assignment, the Forgers must hide their special powers from one another, a conundrum made even more comical by the inclusion of their fluffy pet Bond, a lab dog that has the ability to see the future.

Although modelled after cold war conflicts, any hint of politics is a mere MacGuffin, adding a touch of the pastiche to the film’s universe. From the jazzy score to chic gadgets and disguises, the tactile details are a welcome change from other movies that prioritise action over elegance. Spy × Family Code: White doesn’t always get the balance right; compared with the first half which, like the TV series, sees child-rearing as its own kind of mission impossible, some of the later scenes are bogged down by lengthy showdowns between the Forgers and their foes. The wacky humour, however, re-emerges in a surreal, gorgeously animated daydream dedicated to the god of poop. It is this full-throated commitment to silliness that makes this film, and Spy x Family as a whole, a singularly delightful experience.

• Animation in film
• Action and adventure films

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'Spy x Family: Code White' Review: The Beloved Anime Gets a Fun Movie

Anya, Twilight, and the Thorn Princess make their big screen debut!

The Big Picture

• Spy x Family: Code White is a standalone adventure suitable for new viewers, efficiently recapping the series' plot.
• The film balances all main characters effectively, with Anya being the driving force and Yor's role serving as comic relief.
• Code White offers great action sequences and animation but lacks new perspectives, making it more like an extended filler episode.

Of all the things that make Spy x Family so unique, the main element is that we instantly fell in love with the Forgers. Whether we’re following Twilight’s daring adventures, Yor’s intense battles, or Anya getting into hilarious situations, there’s never a dull moment for our favorite fake family. Spy x Family: Code White marks the series' first time on the big screen , and while it’s not without its faults, the film stays true to what makes Spy x Family such an exceptional anime.

Spy x Family Code: White

Spy x Family: Code White sees Anya and her parents go on a family road trip as they try to finish a school project . This reasonably simple premise allows the film to focus on the Forgers without diving deep into a massive villain plot or introducing a ton of exposition and unnecessary world-building. Instead, the film sticks to the basics, which is all it ever really needed to do.

'Spy x Family: Code White' is the Franchise at Its Best

Spy x Family: Code White is a standalone adventure that anyone can watch without seeing the anime’s previous two seasons. The film encourages new viewers to jump right in as it does a fantastic job efficiently recapping the show’s plot. When we meet the family in Code White , it’s very much a day in the life of the Forgers, making it easy for all viewers to get into.

The film is essentially a nostalgic journey through Spy x Family ’s greatest hits, as we see almost every major character appear, and the film doesn’t cover any themes not seen in the series. However, it’s still an entertaining watch. The film’s main storyline focuses on Anya accidentally getting mixed up in a villain plot while the Forgers are out on a family trip. Coinciding with Twilight also having to stop said villains, Yor gets suspicious of Loid’s behavior and suspects infidelity. These familiar themes, executed with precision, are what make the film stand out and evoke a sense of connection for returning fans.

One of the major struggles of Spy x Family has always been balancing the screen time between the three main characters. In Season 1, Yor was rarely the main focus, while in Season 2, Twilight’s role was significantly reduced. Code White does the incredible feat of keeping every character relevant to the plot and leaning into their strengths. Anya, like always, is the driving force of the film. She’s the only one consistently aware of what’s happening at all times, which always puts her at the center of events. Anya brings that sense of joy and childlike wonder as she gets into trouble. At the same time, Yor’s role in the film is much more subtle. She’s often used as comic relief, but her fears are real; losing this family can leave her with nothing, and we see that she legitimately cares for Anya and Loid. The threat of this family falling apart is again not entirely new to the series. Still, the execution is good enough to make it feel earned, especially when Twilight’s directives change throughout the film.

'Spy x Family: Code White' Might Not Be Best For Returning Fans

Unfortunately, Code White 's strengths are also a double-edged sword . The film, while entertaining, adds little for those familiar with the series. With little bearing on Operation S.T.R.I.X. , this entire mission can be viewed as an extended filler episode. We know Twilight and Yor stay together and that Anya’s safety is not in danger, which undercuts much of the dramatic tension the film hopes to create. With no real sense of urgency, Spy x Family: Code White feels like it can drag on a bit, especially in the second act. It also doesn't help that the film's main antagonist, Snidel, was not that interesting. He's a serviceable foil for Twilight and Anya, but he serves no purpose outside of being a bad guy who needs to be punched.

The film does have great action sequences , and the animation is some of the best we’ve seen in the franchise. The 1960s aesthetic aids the classic spy feel, making the art stand out. Twilight is in his James Bond bag as the spy antics are amped to a level we haven’t seen since Season 1, while Yor specifically has a highlight moment during her third-act battle with a new villain. Anya and Bond do their usual slapstick moments that are still cute but might overstay their welcome just a bit too long.

The film needed to take bigger swings to have a lasting impact. It keeps the status quo of the anime and doesn’t do anything to give a new perspective or spin on these characters. While the status quo is still the series that has become a cultural phenomenon, we can only look at Code White and wonder just how great it could’ve been if it had attempted something new.

Spy x Family: Code White is a fun adventure with the Forger family . However, it offers very little for those looking for a more character-driven story or even a threatening new antagonist to Twilight. Instead, they keep things consistent with the show so it's an easy entry for new viewers. If you’ve enjoyed the series up to this point, you’d have fun with the film. Just know that it’s not mandatory viewing. That said, a day in the life of the Forgers is still an outstanding time.

Spy x Family: Code White is a fun journey with the familiar characters of the series though doesn't add much of anything new.

• The film stays true to what made the anime series so great.
• All of the characters get the attention they deserve, ensuring the movie remains balanced.
• The animation is some of the best we've seen from the series, with great action sequences providing plenty of highlights.
• While consistent, there is still something lacking from the movie as it doesn't take that extra leap into something new.

Spy x Family: Code White is now in theaters in the U.S. in the original Japanese subtitles and English Dub. Click below for showtimes near you.

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8 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week

Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or an avid buff, our reviewers think these films are worth knowing about even if you’re not planning to see them.

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By The New York Times

A vampire flick with a familiar bite.

A group of bumbling criminals kidnap a young girl and hold her for ransom, but the titular 12-year-old ballerina turns out to have more than just tulle up her sleeve.

From our review:

A cheerfully obvious splatterthon, the new horror movie “Abigail” follows a simple, time-tested recipe that calls for a minimal amount of ingredients. Total time: 109 minutes. Take a mysterious child, one suave fixer and six logic-challenged criminals. Place them in an extra-large pot with a few rats, creaking floorboards and ominous shadows. Stir. Simmer and continue stirring, letting the stew come to a near-boil. After an hour, crank the heat until some of the meat falls off the bone and the whole mix turns deep red. Enjoy!

In theaters. Read the full review .

Less-than-glorious “basterds.”

‘the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare’.

Based on a true story of an (until recently) unknown World War II operation, this film features some ungentlemanly types who are tasked with cutting off Germany’s resources by sinking their supply ships.

“The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” the latest offering from the director Guy Ritchie, is a perfect airplane movie. That is not a compliment, but it’s not exactly a dis. Some movies shouldn’t be watched on planes — slow artful dramas, or movies that demand concentration and good sound (please do not watch “ The Zone of Interest ” on your next flight). But you’ve got to watch something, and for that, we have movies like this one.

Like if Dorothy Gale was your Uber driver.

‘the stranger’.

In this thriller, originally released as 13 short-form episodes on the streaming service Quibi, the indie-film scream queen Maika Monroe plays a Los Angeles transplant fresh from Kansas who works as a ride-hail driver who must face off against a murderous passenger.

The recut version (on Hulu) bears little trace of its earlier form, although its life span across algorithm-driven streaming companies does cast the villain’s tech preoccupations — “whoever figures out the mathematical formula determining the losers and the winners in life will rule” the world, he declares — in a new, meta light.

Watch on Hulu . Read the full review .

A queer period piece — but the period is summer 2020.

‘stress positions’.

After New York goes on lockdown, Terry (John Early) clashes with the other tenants of the brownstone he shares with his soon-to-be-ex-husband.

If some of the points seem muddy, the filmmaking is expressive and deliberate. With shimmer, shadow and verve, “Stress Positions” — which recently closed the New Directors/New Films festival — captures the often hallucinatory pandemonium wrought by that “long-ago” moment.

The prince and the pauper fall in love.

Ryuta (Hio Miyazawa) is a personal trainer with an ailing mother, a big secret and no cash. Can a romance with a wealthy magazine editor fix his problems, or do their differences doom their relationship from the start?

Class is the central theme in “Egoist”: Kosuke and Ryuta’s star-crossed romance shows us how money, and the struggle to make ends meet, can complicate even the most genuine love. But as the film leans into melodrama, it loses both its friction and frisson, and a steaming-hot premise turns into something cold to the touch.

There’s always one more “one last job.”

‘blood for dust’.

Seventeen months after a theft scheme goes horribly wrong, two former colleagues-in-crime reunite for a drug-running operation.

Directed by Rod Blackhurst, “Blood for Dust” is a throwback, in the sense of being exceedingly familiar. An early shot of a snow-covered parking lot inevitably evokes “Fargo,” but “Blood for Dust” doesn’t have a witty line or a glimmer of humor. The climactic shootout is so dimly lit that it’s difficult to discern who is firing at whom. It’s easy enough to guess.

In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms . Read the full review .

A private world of childhood friendship, ruptured.

‘we grown now’.

Two young boys, residents of the Cabrini-Green public housing development in Chicago, confront harsh realities while also chasing whimsy (including an excursion to the Art Institute of Chicago).

You’re immediately invested in Malik and Eric, who together have formed a private world that, like the museum, exists apart from real life, its pressures and its dangers. The sound design is particularly effective at conveying the little bubble that the children have created for themselves. The babble of outside voices and music in Cabrini never seems to stop flowing, but you never really hear what anyone says.

Zack Snyder serves up a chaotic stew of references.

‘rebel moon — part two: the scargiver’.

The second half of Zack Snyder’s space opera follows a group of interplanetary warriors as they attempt to defeat an imperial army.

The script by Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten trips over its aspirations whenever any character talks. There’s not a single authentic conversation, just exposition dumps and soliloquies. Finally, after an hour of speeches, we’re treated to an hour of rousing warfare. Primal, pitiless, agonizing carnage is where Snyder excels. He’ll kill anyone, even nice people, even grandmothers-turned-guerrilla warriors who just want to get back to folk dancing.

Watch on Netflix . Read the full review.

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Hoa Xuande had only one Hollywood credit when he was chosen to lead “The Sympathizer,” the starry HBO adaptation of a prize-winning novel. He needed all the encouragement he could get .

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

Theda Hammel’s directorial debut, “Stress Positions,” a comedy about millennials weathering the early days of the pandemic , will ask audiences to return to a time that many people would rather forget.

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

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Rebel Moon: Part Two - The Scargiver

• The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
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Watch Rebel Moon: Part Two - The Scargiver with a subscription on Netflix.

What to Know

Less a course correction than a compounding of everything that tangled up its predecessor, The Scargiver is an uninvolving space opera full of flat notes.

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