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A fresh spin on the classic slasher formula, X marks the spot where Ti West gets resoundingly back to his horror roots.

X isn't every horror fan's idea of a good time, but it's often unique and never boring.

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‘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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‘X’ Review: Trash, Art and the Movies

Ti West’s latest is a slasher film about the making of a porno film, but the result might not be what you expect.

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By A.O. Scott

“X” is a clever and exuberant throwback to a less innocent time, when movies could be naughty, disreputable and idiosyncratic. Two kinds of movie in particular: the dirty kind and the scary kind. Set in 1979, before the internet made pornography ubiquitous and before anyone was pontificating about “elevated horror,” this sly and nasty picture insists that the flesh and blood of down-and-dirty entertainment is, literally, flesh and blood.

Not that the director, Ti West, is simply replicating the cheap, tawdry thrills of the olden days. West, whose earlier features include “The House of the Devil” and “The Sacrament,” is both a canny craftsman and a genre intellectual. In the midst of the sex and slaughter, he conducts an advanced seminar on visual pleasure and narrative cinema.

And also a brief course in film history, with particular attention to “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and shout-outs to “Psycho” and “Debbie Does Dallas.” That X-rated landmark (later adapted into an Off Broadway musical ) provides inspiration for the six Texans who show up at a decrepit farmstead to shoot a hard-core oeuvre called “The Farmer’s Daughters.” The actual farmer, an apparently childless geezer named Howard (Stephen Ure), has rented them a bunkhouse on his property. He and his wife live in the creaky, creepy main house.

The cast and crew consists of three performers — two women and a man, the classic heterosexual porn ratio — a director, a technician and a swaggering entrepreneur who claims the title of executive producer. This guy, Wayne (Martin Henderson), is also romantically attached to one of the stars, Maxine (Mia Goth), who dreams of the Hollywood big time. Her veteran co-stars, Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson (Scott Mescudi, also known as the rapper Kid Cudi), are also a couple, as are RJ (Owen Campbell), the director, and Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who handles the sound and is, at least for a while, the designated prude.

Since “X” is a slasher film, it’s not spoiling anything to note that most of these people will not make it out alive. An ax, a pitchfork and a shotgun are all in easy reach, and for good measure there’s an alligator in the pond. Howard and his wife, Pearl, give off sinister vibes, and West’s knack for zooming, cutting, manipulating point of view and layering sinister sounds creates an unmistakable anticipation of doom.

But the sequence of deaths, the motives for the mayhem and the identity of the survivor may not quite match your expectations. Most notably, the old circuitry connecting horror and female sexuality — canonically diagramed in Carol J. Clover’s 1992 study “Men, Women and Chain Saws” — has been rewired. By the time it’s all over, the film has moved out of period pastiche into interesting new territory, exposing a feminist dimension in the horror tradition that may have been there all along. (Since West is reportedly already at work on a prequel, further exploration may be in store.)

In the meantime, you can sample the familiar, trashy pleasures of sin and skin, with a piquant sprinkling of meta. This is a movie about moviemaking, after all, like “Argo” or “Day for Night” or “Singin’ in the Rain,” and as such it teases the viewer with knowing winks and easy-access insider references.

Many of these come at poor RJ’s expense. With his stringy hair, wispy beard and wet-noodle physique, he’s a film-nerd caricature. He wants to bring experimental techniques — “the way they do in France” — to “The Farmer’s Daughters,” and worries Wayne with his commitment to the avant-garde. Still, he’s not entirely a satirical scapegoat. His sensitivity about the kind of movie he’s actually making (especially once Lorraine sheds her disapproval) isn’t played for laughs. His toast “to independent cinema” is a punchline, but it could also be West’s motto.

When RJ argues against the importance of plot, he has a point, one West both upholds and challenges. Horror and hard-core both use narrative as a flimsy excuse to show the audience the action it really came to see. And while the sex in “X” is strictly R-rated, the movie isn’t shy about appealing to voyeurism. There’s nothing coy or arty about the bloodletting.

The twists of the story — the shifts in attention from Wayne and Maxine and their colleagues to Howard and Pearl — are hardly arbitrary. West, unlike his pornographers, has things to say as well as bodies to show. Most of all, he has an aesthetic that isn’t all about terror or titillation. “X” is full of dreamy, haunting overhead shots and moments of surprising tenderness.

One of these arrives in the middle, while everyone is still alive and wearing clothes, and Bobby-Lynne, accompanied by Jackson on guitar, breaks into a heartfelt rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.” (One thing that definitely sets “X” apart from its ’70s influences is a robust budget for musical clearances.) The song serves no narrative end, or any prurient or profound purpose. It’s an unexpected gift. So is “X.”

X Rated R. Not quite what the title promises, but still. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this article misstated where the theatrical production of “Debbie Does Dallas” ran. It was an Off Broadway musical, not a Broadway one.

How we handle corrections

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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X review – Bump’n’grindhouse from horror director Ti West

The film-maker’s latest, about a porn shoot gone wrong, is a playful gore-fest

T he year is 1979 and a foxy gang of actors from Houston, Texas, are pounding down the highway in a truck plastered with the name “Plowing Service”. The latest film from horror director Ti West ( The House of the Devil ), about a porn movie shoot gone wrong, is ripe with playful winks and nudges.

Producer Wayne (Martin Henderson) casts his younger girlfriend, the coke-snorting Maxine (Mia Goth), in “The Farmer’s Daughter” alongside Bobby-Lynne (a witty Brittany Snow) and former marine Jackson (Scott Mescudi, AKA Kid Cudi). Director RJ (Owen Campbell) aspires to make “a good dirty movie”, but to his sound recordist girlfriend, Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), “it’s smut”. Their activities titillate the older couple next door. West has great fun teasing the audience ahead of the gory climax. Even more provocative is the real “money shot”, which sees the elderly lovers getting their kicks.

X is released in US and UK cinemas on 18 March

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The Observer
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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-

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

A woman with a bloodied hand sobs in Ti West’s X

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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.

The doomed crew of X walks through tall grass, film equipment in hand

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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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.

Mia Goth shushing someone in the film "X"

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.

A sherriff walking from his patrol car to a bloody tarp on the road

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: 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.

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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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‘X’ marks a smart, inventive take on gory horror and old-school porn

Full of dark humor and surprising twists, the homage explores themes of sexuality, judgment and religion..

Mia Goth in new movie “X” as the fame-seeking character Maxine, whoruns into trouble on the set of the adult film she’s making.

Fame-seeking Maxine (Mia Goth) runs into trouble on the set of the adult film she’s making in “X.”

If we had an awards category for best cover song in a motion picture, I would instantly nominate the Brittany Snow/Kid Cudi rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” in the spectacularly gruesome, wickedly funny and just plain badass gore fest that is “X,” with Kid Cudi on acoustic guitar and Snow delivering lovely and lilting vocals, set to a split-screen montage featuring another character from the film who is either deeply sympathetic or a psychopathic killer, or maybe a little of both.

Ta da! If that doesn’t tell you writer-director Ti West has fashioned something unique and devilishly strange in the genre that has come to be known as “elevated horror,” then I just don’t know what.

Of the approximately one kabillion homages to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” we’ve had since the release of Tobe Hooper’s visceral classic in 1974, this is one of the most inventive and creative entrants I’ve ever seen.

With echoes of everything from “The Shining” to “Psycho” to “Boogie Nights” to “Alligator” to “Hardcore” to infamous porn films such as “Andy Warhol’s Blue Movie” and “Debbie Does Dallas,” this is an homage but also a strikingly original and cheerfully grotesque work, filled with dark humor, relatively complex subtext and gung-ho, all-in performances from the talented ensemble cast.

It’s the kind of movie that has you reeling in disgust at certain moments, then laughing at the blood-spattered absurdity of it all.

It’s a new twist on the period-piece slasher movie, smart and strange and fantastically depraved. I kinda loved it.

With West often employing techniques mimicking the grindhouse cinema of the time, “X” is set in 1979, with “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry setting the tone as we meet the six Houstonians who are headed to a remote farm in the Texas countryside where their leader has rented a cottage to surreptitiously shoot “The Farmer’s Daughter,” a homemade porn movie designed to capitalize on the brand-new home-video market.

Their ranks include:

Wayne (Martin Henderson), the constantly upbeat, smooth-talking, fortysomething huckster and producer who is the putative mastermind behind the project.

Brittany Snow and Kid Cudi in a scene in “X,” playing would-be porn stars who share a song during downtime from filming.

A couple of would-be porn stars (Brittany Snow and Kid Cudi) share a song during their downtime.

Maxine (Mia Goth), Wayne’s freckle-faced girlfriend, who indulges in a regular cocaine habit and yearns to become famous “like Lynda Carter.”
Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), who is street-smart and supremely self-confident and believes in touching all the hedonistic bases while she’s still young.
Jackson (Kid Cudi aka Scott Mescudi), a Marine who served in Vietnam and is all too happy to launch a career in porn, as he’ll be playing the stranded stranger who winds up at a farmhouse where daddy isn’t home, and the farmer’s daughters, played by Bobby-Lynne and Maxine in the movie-within-this-movie, are determined to show him the time of his life.
R.J. (Owen Campbell), who fancies himself a director in the French New Wave tradition and believes porn will be his springboard to Hollywood, and R.J’s innocent and prudish girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who will handle boom mic duties and is mortified, at least initially, when filming commences. (Sidebar: With “Scream” and “Studio 666” and now this film, Jenna Ortega is setting the land-speed record for most consecutive horror movie appearances.)

Even before the van with “Plowing Service” (haha) painted on its sides gets to the farm, there’s ominous foreshadowing, from the sight of cow entrails gunking up the road after an accident to the obligatory stop at the creepy gas station/convenience store, where we see a fire-and-brimstone televangelist (Simon Prast) on the black-and-white TV, railing against those who give in to the temptations of the human flesh. (It’s not the last time we’ll see that preacher on a TV.)

Once the gang arrives at the farm, they’re greeted with surly suspicion by crusty ol’ Howard (Stephen Ure), who looks to be about 100 years old and answers the door waving a shotgun. Staring from an upstairs window in classic horror movie fashion is Howard’s wife Pearl. And here’s the thing about Pearl: She’s also played by Mia Goth, who is virtually unrecognizable beneath some truly impressive makeup and prosthetics, which has us wondering if there’s going to be some sort of supernatural element to the proceedings, and I’m not spoiling that either way for ya.

“X” is that rare film that takes you inside the lives of the spooky villains, as we learn Pearl was once a beautiful young dancer whose dreams were cut short and who, and in present day, still yearns for the touch of Howard, who is mortified by the idea and says he can’t risk physical contact because of his bad heart. (West has reportedly filmed a prequel, also starring Goth as Pearl, set in 1918.)

The story takes a number of surprising twists and turns, all while exploring themes of sexuality, judgment and, of course, religion.

Even with all of the stylized tricks and splatter moments and gruesome violence, we believe these are real people in a real situation that goes really, terribly, horribly, entertainingly horrific.

X (II) (2022)

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‘X’ Movie Review – Ti West Goes Full-Throttle on Savagely Funny and Intense Throwback Horror

Bloody Disgusting’s X movie review is spoiler free.

It’s been almost an entire decade since writer/director Ti West ‘s last horror feature, The Sacrament . Far too long. Luckily, West ensures that the wait has been worth it with A24’s X , an homage to the gritty indie horror of the ’70s but with savage style and a deranged sense of humor that’s pure Ti West. A deceptively simple setup gives way to a go-for-broke horror-comedy that leaves you breathless, both from laughter and nail-biting tension.

Set in 1979 Texas, X opens to the aftermath of a bloodbath, to the befuddlement of local officials. Cut to 24 hours earlier, where a group of aspiring adult filmmakers load up in a van and drive from Houston out to the boonies to shoot. Producer Wayne ( The Ring’s Martin Henderson ) attempts to cut every corner for their limited budget, first by securing a young cinephile to direct, RJ ( Owen Campbell ), who’s brought girlfriend Lorraine ( Jenna Ortega ) to assist and handle the boom mic. Wayne’s enlisted his girlfriend Maxine ( Mia Goth ), Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ), and Jackson ( Scott Mescudi ) to star. Then he’s rented a boarding house on the cheap from the reclusive, elder Howard ( Stephen Ure ), who warns them to stay out of his wife’s sight.

The porn production quickly devolves into a fucked up horror picture when things spiral out of control.

Ti West's 'X' Highlights Horror Films Premiering at SXSW's 2022 Film Festival!

West has many surprises in store for X , but the first straight out of the gate is just how wickedly funny it is. From the little details like “Plowing Service” emblazoned across Wayne’s van to the consistent tongue-in-cheek euphemisms befitting of the adult film production, X has a delightfully wicked sense of humor. Snow and Mescudi stand out for their line delivery and comedic timing; their character gags and one-liners land with perfection.

The second significant shock in store is how fiercely the filmmaker matches the comedy with the horror. While it’s no surprise that West knows how to build tension, he brings it to a whole new level here. West, who co-edits with David Kashevaroff , finds ingenious and innovative ways to create edge-of-your-seat suspense through editing. Spliced scenes don’t just create visual interest; they deliver potent scares. Overhead shots instill unease, a masterclass of terror and foreshadowing with gratifyingly intense payoffs later. West’s intoxicating blend of style and scare-crafting creates a visceral horror experience.

That doesn’t even begin to cover the gore of it all. X is a crowd-pleasing doozy when it comes to brutal bloodletting and kills. Some deaths leave you queasy, and some will leave you cackling with glee. All of it is immensely satisfying.

X is West firing on all cylinders. The commitment to the period is top-level, capturing the aesthetic and vibe without ever coming close to feeling pastiche. It’s all the more impressive considering just how much humor gets injected, which could’ve pushed this into spoof territory quickly in other hands. The editing is a masterclass, a marvel of how West structures this wild tale to maximize the tension or offer reprieve through an onslaught of terror.

Then there’s the cast. The lean, straightforward narrative gets straight to the goods and never wastes time on heavy exposition. It’s all in the little details and the talented cast making these characters feel lived-in with a shared history. We root for this wacky, free-spirited bunch because they’re so charming and genuine. Naturally, it lends well to the horror’s impact.

The setting and period make for easy comparisons to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , and West uses that to lull viewers before pulling the rug out from under them. They share similar DNA and pure grit, but it’s a narratively different beast that demonstrates why West should be given full reign to go full throttle on deranged, savage, and intense horror-comedies more often. It’s a blast.

X releases in theaters on March 18, 2022.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

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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

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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Sex, gore and double roles: How A24 slasher ‘X’ mines the horrors of growing old

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Mild spoilers for Ti West’s “X” follow. To the power of independent cinema.

Mia Goth really wasn’t interested in making another horror film. Then she read the surprising and provocative script for “ X ,” writer-director Ti West ’s blood-soaked return to the genre after nearly a decade, about an amateur porn crew whose film shoot on a rural Texas farm sends their geriatric hosts into a murderous tizzy.

Channeling exploitation cinema influences through a decidedly modern lens, the rollicking ’70s-style slasher, in theaters now, oozes smart and salacious thrills under the banner of art-house distributor A24 . As the credits roll on the company’s first horror franchise, many moviegoers will be surprised to discover the film’s wildest gambit, which is also the reason Goth came aboard West’s R-rated sex- and gore-fueled romp.

In “X,” Goth (“Suspiria,” “High Life”) is transfixing as Maxine, a cocaine-fueled stripper eyeing adult film stardom as her ticket to the life she craves. And in a second role, transformed by makeup and prosthetics by Weta Workshop, she also plays Pearl, one of the farm’s elderly owners and the film’s surprising villain, driven to violence by her lusty envy of the nubile youngsters getting busy in her boardinghouse.

Mia Goth sits in front of a light-filled makeup counter.

Inside Ti West and Mia Goth’s already filmed secret prequel to A24 slasher ‘X’

‘Pearl,’ starring Mia Goth, was filmed in secret in part because of COVID-19 restrictions

March 24, 2022

The physical and psychological challenge of embodying two characters as perversely simpatico souls “was just not something that comes your way every day,” Goth said recently over video chat, her soft-spoken voice startlingly incongruous with her chameleonic turns in the critically acclaimed “X.” “They see each other very much in themselves. That’s rather invigorating. And for Maxine, it’s pretty terrifying.”

It was a feat not just anyone could execute. Even as he assembled his cast for his most ambitious film yet, West — known for breathing fresh life into horror in 2009’s “ The House of the Devil ,” 2011’s “ The Innkeepers ” and 2013’s “ The Sacrament ” — wasn’t sure he’d find an actor who could pull off the trick, until his first meeting with Goth. “I remember her saying, ‘I could kill this,’” said West. “And I was like, ‘I believe you.’”

To do it, Goth switched between characters on different days and weeks, spent eight hours at a time in a makeup chair and performed opposite body doubles. Where Maxine’s sexual openness was at times “challenging to find within my own self — but also very liberating,” said Goth, playing Pearl required her to stay within the physical range of an octogenarian while losing herself in the character’s gory reveries.

Of all the conceptual big swings in “X” — to be followed by “Pearl,” a prequel secretly filmed back-to-back with “X” last year, starring and co-written by Goth — the unusual dual role tapped into the intentional way West, who also co-edited the film with David Kashevaroff, sought to highlight film craft in his return to horror. Like the thrill he still gets from the shark in “Jaws” or from watching another virtuosic Spielberg shot glide impossibly through the recent “West Side Story,” West wanted to reignite a reverence for movie magic for audiences — and maybe himself too.

A woman lies on a bed in the horror film "X," with an old woman watching her.

Shot outside Whanganui, New Zealand, on immersive sets built by production designer Tom Hammock (“Godzilla vs. Kong”) and lensed with evocative visual style by cinematographer Eliot Rockett, the world of “X” is texturally dense by design, rife with film references, cinematic nods and Easter eggs for West’s other movies, including “Pearl.”

After his last feature, the 2016 western “ In a Valley of Violence ,” West spent several years directing television. Drawn back to genre but finding mainstream horror somewhat uninspiring, he wrote “X” at the intersection of independent horror and porn — two “symbiotic” outliers of Hollywood. Even that choice was a risk, West admits; in the wrong hands, the same film could easily veer into lurid territory. Had A24 said no, he said, “I don’t think I would have made the movie.”

The ideas within “X” intrigued him. Setting it in 1979 against the waning American New Wave, he invented an ensemble of wannabe filmmakers shooting a XXX-rated independent movie in the cash-strapped Texas countryside. Instead of rural cannibals or masked stalkers, he anchored the horrors of “X” in universal fears of getting older, growing obsolete and the terror of living a life unfulfilled — the kind of existential dread just about anyone, perhaps especially artist types, might relate to.

It’s what Brittany Snow , alum of the “Pitch Perfect” films, connected with when she read “X.” “I remember saying to [West], ‘Wow, you made a movie about the fear that takes hold of you when you’re getting older,’” said Snow, who goes boldly against type as the shrewd and uninhibited Bobby-Lynne. “The scariest part of the whole movie is that you feel for the villains because we’re all going to be those people eventually.”

The scariest part of the whole movie is that you feel for the villains.

— Brittany Snow

“X” follows the ragtag crew of “The Farmer’s Daughters,” led by executive producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), a smooth talker scheming to hit “Debbie Does Dallas” numbers on the emerging home video market; swingers Bobby-Lynne (Snow) and ex-Marine Jackson Hole (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi); and Wayne’s much younger fiancee, Maxine (Goth), who pack into a van with director RJ (Owen Campbell), a cinephile who wants to elevate the pic with “a touch of the avant-garde,” and his conservative gal pal Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who may want to do more than just hold the boom mic.

Filming their hardcore opus under the puritanical nose of the gun-toting farmstead’s owner, Howard (Stephen Ure), who worries that his ailing wife, Pearl, will catch wind of their guests’ sordid activities, the crew trades philosophical barbs over art, sex and freedom when they’re not getting down to business, singing a little Fleetwood Mac and taking dips in a gator-filled pond — until tensions erupt into bloodshed.

The horrors are punctuated by sound design by Graham Reznick (“Deadwax,” “Until Dawn”) and an ethereal score by composer Tyler Bates and musician Chelsea Wolfe, whose cover of the 1918 tune “Oui, Oui, Marie” serves as the film’s haunting theme.

A woman sits on a couch, with a guitar-playing man next to her.

Before signing on to a role involving intimate scenes, nudity and depictions of sex work, however, Snow had questions for West.

“I wanted to know why he wanted to make something like this, and I wanted to know that he was a man who had a lens on this that wasn’t going to be gratuitous or exploitative of women in general, and of women as sexual objects at that time,” said Snow, who is now prepping her own directorial debut, “September 17th,” with a cast including “X” co-star Mescudi. “But I think what was at the core of what he wanted to do was so much more intelligent and sex-positive and women-empowering.”

In Bobby-Lynne, a Southern belle using what God gave her to pursue her white-picket dreams, she wanted to do justice to women like her character who are easily misunderstood, onscreen and off. “There was a way of playing it that disrespected that type of woman, and there was a way of playing it that actually made her the smartest woman in the room,” she said. For inspiration, she studied Dolly Parton interviews to imbue Bobby-Lynne with a Dolly-esque sense of feminine self-awareness.

“Like Dolly Parton, Bobby-Lynne is aware of what she’s doing, but she owns it and she has the confidence and the swagger to be able to turn it on and off because she realizes it’s a means to an end,” said Snow. “It’s almost a character that she’s putting on as an occupation.”

A woman stands in a field holding a blanket around her shoulders.

In a genre hallmarked by “final girl” tropes in which virginal young women are usually the ones who outlast their peers, “X” offers a rebuttal in its spectrum of characters who have agency over their sexual wants and general desires. Even its empathy for Howard and Pearl argues that jealousy, repression and judgment are poisons that lead to violence — and no one, even us watching, is necessarily immune.

Plumbing those depths felt like a rare opportunity in a horror project, said Ortega, a former Disney star with a recent turn in “Scream” who, at 18, was the youngest member of the cast. As the quiet and watchful Lorraine, Ortega wanted to see her character upend the expectations projected onto her — by her boyfriend, by the other crew members and by the audience itself.

“[Lorraine] is a conservative Christian girl who has an openness to her that isn’t really expected for somebody like her during this time,” she said. “What I loved about this project was that everything that you thought you knew about a period piece and a horror film, it’s all the opposite. It comes off as something that could be very grotesque or exploiting characters and their bodies, but the undercurrent and slow burn of it all is realizing that everything that you think you know, you don’t know.”

A young woman and man sit in the back of a van.

It helped that, in tackling their sex scenes, intimacy coordinator and actress Tandi Wright “was an actual angel” who worked to get the cast comfortable with actions that were motivated by and deepened their understanding of their characters, said Snow. Wright was so beloved by the cast and crew that during production on “X,” West suggested she tape an audition to play Goth’s German mother in the WWI-set prequel that was scheduled to film after the first movie wrapped.

“Owen [Campbell] shot it, and Martin [Henderson] read opposite her,” said West. “I remember coming to set the next day and being like, ‘Tandi, you’re in the movie.’”

West knew going in that the setting of “X” would inevitably invite comparisons to Tobe Hooper’s 1974 slasher classic “ The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ” — and that he could use that to his advantage. (The second film, “Pearl,” takes its cinematic cues from Douglas Sirk melodramas and Disney movies.)

To that end, he used every trick in his toolbox to lean into genre assumptions and tease viewers into a false sense of familiarity, including working with his cast to create dimensional, compelling characters that no one would want to see meet a grisly end.

Five people walk across a field with a barn and a farmhouse in the background.

“I was like, well, let them think it, and then let them incorrectly follow their expectations one way down the road of the movie,” said West. “Then, when we go a different direction, they’re going to go, ‘Wait, what?’ Once a modern audience goes, ‘Wait, what?’ as a filmmaker, you kind of have them because otherwise, everyone’s very hip to what’s coming.”

“But I’m hoping that a quarter or halfway through the movie, you’re like, ‘I actually don’t know who’s not going to make it because there aren’t really throwaway characters — everybody has their own personality, their own ambitions, their own charm. And even though I signed up for a movie to see everybody die, I’m not sure if I want anyone to die.’”

He has designs on a third film to complete the trilogy, but A24 hasn’t yet dated “Pearl,” which will rewind in time to explore the young Pearl’s backstory circa 1918.

“I’m interested to see what people think of ‘X,’ and then I’m interested to see how they feel about ‘Pearl,’” he said, “and then I’m interested to see how they feel about them both together. And if we are fortunate enough to then do another one. … There’s something interesting to me about the bigger picture of it all because I’ve never had that opportunity. It’s unlikely I’ll have that opportunity again.”

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"X" Is A New Horror Movie From A24 About People Trying To Make A Porn Film

If you're squeamish...you're gonna have a hard time with this one.

BuzzFeed Staff

If you're like me, the moment the A24 logo pops up on screen before a movie, especially if it's a horror movie , you fully expect to be taken on a strange, dark, and atmospheric ride.

Mia Goth as Maxine, wearing bright blue eye shadow, swimming in a lake, head above water

And their latest horror film, X , is no exception. Written and directed by filmmaker Ti West, X follows a group of filmmakers in 1979 who set out to make an adult film in rural Texas. The whole thing gives off The Texas Chain Saw Massacre meets Boogie Nights vibes. And, for good measure, there's even some surprisingly sad twists thrown in.

The film stars Mia Goth ( Nymphomaniac ), Jenna Ortega ( You ), Brittany Snow ( Pitch Perfect ), and Scott Mescudi, aka Kid Cudi ( How to Make It in America ).

Note: Light spoilers ahead!

So, x opens on a grim crime scene at a run-down-looking farm. a cop arrives and appears just as clueless as we are as to what the hell happened there. then, we get a flashback to "24 hours earlier.".

James Gaylyn as the sheriff, wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses

We meet wannabe movie star Maxine (she idolizes Linda Carter!), her porn producer boyfriend Wayne, fellow sex workers Bobby-Lynne and Jackson Hole (who are kind of a couple, but only "sometimes"), and fledgling filmmaker RJ and his girlfriend Lorraine (who RJ has wrangled into working as his sound person for the shoot).

Mia Goth in her blue eyeshadow, reading a script, looking out the window as she rides in the passenger seat of a van

The group heads out on a quick road trip to rural, Bible-thumping Texas to make an adult film called The Farmer's Daughters . They even make a stop at a sad-looking gas station, which TRULY sets The Texas Chain Saw Massacre tone.

The group sitting in a van on their roadtrip, Wayne driving, Maxine in front

Our filmmakers finally arrive at — what else — the ranch from the beginning of the movie. And WHO are they greeted by? Oh, only a creepy-looking old man named Howard who's CLEARLY not happy about renting his boarding house out to half naked, hot young people. He has a televangelist on blast on his TV 24/7, after all.

The group walking through a field, carrying their equipment

Howard warns Wayne and the others to not disturb his wife, Pearl, as she's apparently kind of "sensitive" to people who are up to no good. Fine by them, they say.

An old man in a robe standing in the field

The cast and crew of The Farmer's Daughters get right to work and film a bunch of sex scenes worthy of Euphoria (which is somewhat ironic when you consider that Sam Levinson is also an executive producer on X ).

Wayne and Bobby-Lynne watching a scene in a barn, looking impressed

Meanwhile, Pearl — who looks like a cross between Norma Bates and the old lady from It Chapter 2 — has DEFINITELY noticed something is afoot on her property. So, she proceeds to creep around the premises, following Maxine in particular. "She's got something special," Pearl explains.

An old woman looking out from behind a tree in the woods

As it turns out, Pearl has some WEIRD stuff going on. Not only is she uncomfortably obsessed with Maxine, but she's also very obsessed with youth, saying things like, "I was once like you" as she strokes Maxine's skin without her consent.

The old woman in bed with Maxine, touching her side

Pearl also has a penchant for wandering out of the house at night (heck, even during the day)...

The old woman standing in the dark at night

...you can kinda see where things are headed with this, right?

A man sitting in the driver's seat of the van looking out the front window at something, shocked

Now, OBVIOUSLY, I'm not going to spoil the ending of the movie for you or explain how shit hits the fan, but let's just say shit hits the fan along with A LOT of blood, guts, and more.

A woman screaming, covering her mouth, hand covered in blood

Basically, things go from zero to 100 pretty quickly.

So, ya know, if you're squeamish...you're gonna have a hard time with this one.

Overall, X is a WILD ride. Things start out pretty boilerplate for a horror movie, but they go off the rails quite quickly. The filmmakers have done a nice job really making the film feel like it's from 1979 (there's a lot of fun, very era-specific editing and camera choices being made) and they also added some fun nods to other iconic horror films like Psycho and The Shining . There are twists that will make you cringe, some that will make you yell, and others that will likely make you laugh. So, if you're a fan of horror — 10/10 would recommend!

Curious to see the madness yourself x opens in theaters march 18, and you can check out the trailer here:.

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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.

X (2022) – Review | Ti West Horror Movie

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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Ti West’s ‘X’ Is Coming to Netflix Next Month Ahead of ‘MaXXXine’s Release

The slasher stars horror icons Mia Goth and Jenna Ortega.

The Big Picture

X, a slasher film directed by Ti West, is coming to Netflix on February
It pays homage to classic grindhouse cinema and slashers from the 20th century.
The film explores themes of aging and generational differences, with a backdrop of the porn industry. It is known for its gruesome kills and unapologetic sexual nature.

Horror sequels are seemingly endless these days and 2024 is going to be full of them. However, one of the most beloved modern franchises of late has been Ti West ’s X . The slasher starring Mia Goth in a horrifying duel role debuted in the spring of 2022. Genre fans haven't looked back since. Now, ahead of the final part in the X trilogy, MaXXXine , debuting later this year, X will be killing its way to Netflix next month .

The popular streamer has announced that X will be coming to the platform on Thursday, February 1 . West has been one of the genre's hidden gems for over a decade with uniquely hunting tales like The House of the Devil and The Innkeeper under his blood-soaked belt. However, with X , the filmmaker finally hit the big time with a film that was not only a love letter to classic grindhouse cinema, but an ensemble slashers that took over the genre in the latter half of the 20th century, like Friday the 13th and Scream . The Texas Chain Saw Massacre influences could be felt throughout this entire sun-soaked nightmare.

However, it was the gruesome kills, unapologetic sexual nature, and thought-provoking themes that made X a satisfyingly nasty breed of its own creation. Using the backdrop of the porn industry, X was this hypnotic experience that chillingly explored our fear of aging and how the older generations continue to look down on their younger counterparts . The 70s backdrop also created this eerie dream-like edge that got under our skin as much as it cleverly reinforced the stereotypes that were put on the characters. When you add the razor sharp cast that includes Jenna Ortega (Scream), Kid Cudi, Brittney Snow, Martin Henderson and Stephen Ure , X was arguably the first must-watch slasher experience of the 2020s.

Mia Goth’s a Horror Queen

However, nothing compares to Goth’s masterful performance as both Maxine and Pearl in the film. While Maxine was a young up-and-coming actress, Pearl was this monstrous older soul whose own “American Dream” was crushed decades prior . Her tragic jealousy fueled the horror of X , with what Goth brought to both roles being something that should have gotten her an Oscar nomination . It’s simply a masterclass in acting to the point that Pearl is now a genre icon. Even though the character’s not even two years old, it's hard to imagine horror without her frightening dance moves. Pearl’s star status was also cemented by the character's self-titled prequel, which was released in the fall of 2022 and completely flipped the franchise’s themes on its head in a demented Wizard of Oz -infested fever dream. This was a mind-bending exercise that Goth co-wrote with West.

When Does ‘MaXXXine’ Release?

MaXXXine doesn’t have an exact release date yet, but it’s set to hit theaters sometime in 2024 . Plot details are scarce at the moment. That being said, the sequel will pick up in the 80s after the deadly events that took place at Pearl’s farmhouse. It will be heavily influenced by the VHS boom as Maxine finally lives out her dream as a “legitimate” film star. While horror fans anxiously wait for this slasher trilogy capper’s first trailer, you can begin your West rewatch binge this February when X scares its way to Netflix . The trailer can be viewed below.

Horror movie ‘Late Night With the Devil’ earns eerie amount at box office, Variety reports

(NEXSTAR) – In an eerie twist that’s sure to please the publicity team behind “Late Night With the Devil,” the new horror movie earned $666,666 at the box office on Sunday, Variety reported.

The film, which hit theaters March 22, earned a total of $2.8 million during its entire opening weekend. In doing so, it also gave IFC Films its biggest opening weekend ever, shattering the previous record of $826,775 earned during the opening of 2022’s “Watcher” despite debuting on roughly the same number of screens, according to Variety .

It’s worth nothing that Box Office Mojo, an online resource for box-office data, did not yet account for Sunday’s earnings for “Late Night With the Devil” on its site as of Monday. ( Deadline published estimates that the film earned slightly more than Variety reported — $733,000 on Sunday — though representatives for IFC Films were not immediately available to confirm the box-office tally for Nexstar.)

The found footage-style horror film stars David Dastmalchian (“The Suicide Squad,” “Oppenheimer”) as Jack Delroy, the host of a fictional 1970s talk show.

“However, ratings for the show have plummeted since the tragic death of Jack’s beloved wife,” reads a plot description at the film’s official site. “Desperate to turn his fortunes around, on October 31st, 1977, Jack plans a Halloween special like no other — unaware he is about to unleash evil into the living rooms of America.”

As of Monday morning, the movie had earned favorable “certified fresh” rating of 97% at Rotten Tomatoes. The film fared slightly worse by the standards at MetaCritic, with a score of 72 (which still indicated “generally favorable” reviews from critics).

“Late Night With the Devil” opened sixth at the box office over the weekend behind “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ($45 million), “Dune: Part Two ($18 million), “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($17 million), “Immaculate” ($5.4 million) and “Arthur the King” ($4.4 million), per IMDb.

Still, Scott Shooman the head of the AMC Film Group — the parent company of IFC Films — told Deadline that the opening numbers for “Late Night With the Devil” were encouraging.

“’Late Night With The Devil’ continues to showcase that there is still potential for highly reviewed, intelligent auteur films in movie theaters across all genres,” Shooman said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.

Horror movie ‘Late Night With the Devil’ earns eerie amount at box office, Variety reports

Civil War’s New ‘AI’ Movie Posters Spark Controversy

By Vansh Mehra

A24’s newly released Civil War movie posters have led to a major uproar from the fans, with people calling them an example of false marketing.

Despite the film finding major success at the box office in its opening weekend , it has succumbed to negative controversy before the second week of its theatrical run.

Civil War’s movie posters accused of being AI-generated

View this post on Instagram A post shared by A24 (@a24)

A24 posted six new Civil War posters on its Instagram handle to continue marketing the film. The posters depict a post-war scenario showcasing destruction all over the iconic locations in the US. But the problem with all these war-torn posters is that none of the scenes showcased in them are in the film — and eagle-eyed viewers pointed out discrepancies with the images that have led them to speculate the posters are AI-generated.

Civil War is A24’s most expensive movie to date, with a reported production budget of $50 million. The posters, however, make the film look even more expensive, highlighting events that didn’t appear in the final cut, causing some to criticize A24 for misleading viewers.

Furthermore, AI-generated work has always been frowned upon across Hollywood — Secret Invasion caused a stir with its AI intro . Now, A24’s recent Civil War movie posters raise a similar argument amongst fans, with people expressing their disappointment over them.

One fan wrote in the comments on A24’s post:

“Using AI for advertising might be a sign. Maybe it’s the beginning of the end for a company that used to rely on indie aesthetics. It’s incredibly disappointing.”

Another fan calls out the confusing marketing campaign led by the Civil War movie posters:

“None of this happens in the movie. I don’t understand this campaign. You are selling a movie that doesn’t exist, and it’s very bizarre. I love A24 with all my heart, but I am so bloody confused about what happened with this film.”

Vansh is an SEO Contributing Writer for ComingSoon. His passion for cinema and the superhero genre is what turned him into a movie/series analyst. In his spare time, Vansh can be found screaming at his screen while watching cricket matches or binging all sorts of streaming content to brush up on his entertainment knowledge.

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The Absolute Best Horror Movies on Hulu

Here are some highly rated scary films to try.

Hulu is packed with fascinating horror titles. Before we get into a list of the absolute best options on the streaming service, let's cover some worthy alternates.

Hulu is home to David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future (2022) and Bong Joon-ho's The Host (2022). There's also action flick Shadow in the Cloud (2020), spine-chilling sci-fi Alien (1979) and romance-gone-wrong Fresh (2022). Finally, you should check out The Descent (2005), The Omen (1976) and post-apocalyptic sequel A Quiet Place Part II (2020).

Now on to a roundup of the best horror movies on the streamer. All these films scored higher than 70 on Metacritic.

Hatching (2022)

This Finnish creature movie is plucked straight from your feathery nightmares. The flick introduces Tinja, a 12-year-old girl who discovers a strange egg that hatches into a monstrous bird. The horrendous creature contrasts greatly with her family's expectations of perfection. So it's kind of like a cursed version of E.T. Well, maybe not. You can watch and come to your own conclusions.

Prey (2022)

If you count incredibly capable, invisible killing machines as scary, you may be watching some of the scenes in Prey through your fingers. This addition to the Predator franchise takes place in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago and centers on a young warrior named Naru. Watch this one for a compelling underdog story about a human determinedly fighting against a powerful alien.

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

For surprises and plenty of nightmare fuel, The Cabin in the Woods is the way to go. The twisty and terrifying horror-comedy introduces a group of unsuspecting college kids, including one played by Chris Hemsworth, who head to a remote cabin for a fun weekend. The first half hour or so is relatively calm, but when the horror show starts, it doesn't let up.

You Are Not My Mother (2021)

You Are Not My Mother is a creepy, slow-burn mystery you'll want to stick with, anchored by a strong central character. The movie introduces Char, a bright teenage girl who's living with her grandmother and mentally ill mother, Angela. Angela disappears, and when she returns, she acts eerily different.

Piggy (2022)

A teenage girl is viciously bullied at a local pool and then happens upon a stranger abducting her three tormentors. This gripping, Spanish-language movie is based on a short film and stars Laura Galán.

Infinity Pool (2023)

Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård star in this disturbing film directed by Brandon Cronenberg (son of horror filmmaker David) about a vacationing couple that ventures outside their island resort and accidentally commits a crime. You won't be able to take your eyes off scream queen Goth, and Succession fans will enjoy more of the talented Skarsgård.

The Babadook (2014)

A seemingly made-up monster creeps more and more into the lives of a single mother and her young son in this critically acclaimed movie. The horror escalates after a haunting storybook turns up. The film is written and directed by Jennifer Kent, who also wrote and directed the 2018 thriller The Nightingale.

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Screen Rant

Radio silence duo compares melissa barrera's abigail & scream characters.

Abigail directors Tyler Gillett & Matt Betinelli-Opin talk Melissa Barrera's ability to draw in horror fans and where they're at with Ready or Not 2.

Abigail is not your typical horror movie, as it combines heist elements with a bloodthirsty monster twist.
Directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Betinelli-Opin praise Melissa Barrera's fearlessness and empathy in her performance.
Practical effects take center stage in creating the impressive and bloody scenes in Abigail , adding to the tactile horror experience.

In Abigail , a crew of criminals kidnap a young girl in order to ransom her back to her father for $50 million. However, while staying in the secluded house where they are keeping her for the night, tensions run high as strange occurrences befall them. They soon discover that not is all as they believed when they discover that they are trapped in the house with the little girl, Abigail, who is actually a bloodthirsty monster in disguise, not the other way around.

The Radio Silence directing duo Tyler Gillett and Matt Betinelli-Opin have made quite a name for themselves in horror. They cut their teeth with V/H/S and Ready or Not before rekindling excitement for the beloved horror franchise Scream with Scream and Scream VI . Abigail is an opportunity for them to not just tap into the horror and comedy that they have become synonymous with, but play with the heist genre as well.

Abigail Review: Scream 6 Directors Reinvent Vampire Movies In Highly Entertaining, Gory Horror

Screen Rant interviewed Radio Silence directing duo Tyler Gillett and Matt Betinelli-Opin about their new horror movie Abigail . The pair praised Barrera's performance and explained how she draws audiences in with both Abigail and Scream . Betinelli-Opin also gives an exciting update on Ready or Not 2 and discussed keeping details about the heist crew in Abigail under wraps.

Abigail Directors Praise Melissa Barrera's Fearlessness, Vulnerability, And Empathy

Barrera has made quite a name for herself in the horror space, becoming one of the more well-known scream queens of today. Her performance as Sam Carpenter in Scream and Scream VI helped to reignite excitement for the franchise, drawing in countless new fans. In Abigail , she once again plays a complicated character tapping into vulnerability and toughness in an extraordinary situation.

Tyler Gillett: I think that Melissa is incredibly relatable and she's not afraid to be vulnerable. I think that is what you have to have. You have to have a character at the center of any horror movie that's going to draw you in and that you can see yourself reflected through. And Melissa there's a fearlessness in the way that she approaches every character that we've worked with her on that I think is just really sticky. It has audiences leaning in. At the end of the day, if you feel empathy for that character, then you're afraid when they're in peril, and you're so satisfied if they make it out alive. Melissa just does that remarkably, remarkably well. It seems effortless the way that she handle that. Matt Betinelli-Opin: Just to add one thing to it too, I think she also has an incredible sense of empathy. So the way she cares about Abigail in this makes you care about her in a great way. Same thing with the way she cares about Tara in the Scream movies. You can feel it in every scene when she's with somebody else.

Abigail begins as a heist movie with a team of criminals each playing an important role in a scheme to kidnap a young girl in order to ransom her to her father. As part of their protocol, details about each criminal are kept closely guarded. However, as the movie spirals into a monster, movie secrets begin to spill out, in part because they are attempting to survive while trapped in a house with a bloodthirsty monster.

Matt Betinelli-Opin: A lot of that was on the page and it was really wonderful watching it come to life with these actors. We joked a lot about how they're kind of all in different movies from different eras even. So much of the fun of it was we got a lot of stuff when we were shooting and then in the edit really deciding, we don't need to know that yet. Let's wait till later. Let's wait till later. And trying to hold off as long as we could for most of the information.

While CG special effects have become instrumental to movie making today, the use of practical effects is still a key part of great horror. Gillett explained how using practical effects helps to build camaraderie on set, as the many different production teams must work together to pull off the impressive and bloody scenes.

Tyler Gillett: We set out to try to achieve any effect as practically as possible. For us that's about certainly the audience's experience. We as fans of movies that deploy those kind of practical effects, feel a connection to the movie when you can tell that it's handmade, that the magic of what you're seeing is actually crafted. And so that's a huge part of it for us. But just in terms of being behind the camera, it's so fun to watch that stuff take shape to design those moments. It creates a morale on set when everybody has come together to achieve something like that. There's a community of people that come together and the energy of that, it's so fun to be a part of. It's so fun to design. At the end of the day, I think it's why people show up to make horror is because it's so tactile and so there's an enthusiasm that you get when you're making something practically that you just can't achieve any other way.

Directors Give An Update On Ready Or Not 2 Script, "It's Written, It's Fantastic"

Radio Silence also gave a promising update on the highly anticipated sequel to their smash hit Ready or Not . Although they are keeping details close to the vest, they did hype up the script for Ready or Not 2 and confirm that the script has been written.

Matt Betinelli-Opin: It's written, it's fantastic. That is not as much as we know. The script is incredible, though.

About Abigail

After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.

Check out our other Abigail interviews:

Screen Rant 's Abigail set visit
Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin at WonderCon
Dan Stevens at CinemaCon
Melissa Barrera & Alisha Weir
Kathryn Newton & Dan Stevens
Kevin Durand & William Catlett

Abigail hits theaters on April 19.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Abigail (2024)

Abigail is a 2024 horror thriller directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The plot follows a group of people who kidnap the daughter of a dangerous crime lord only to discover that the little girl is actually a vicious vampire out for blood. Alisha Weir stars as the titular character alongside Kathryn Newton, Melissa Barrera, and Dan Stevens.

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Those going to the theatre to see the nudity and gore of the horror movies of yesteryear will leave satisfied. Jul 25, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews Movie Info. Synopsis In 1979, a ...
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X. NYT Critic's Pick. Directed by Ti West. Horror. R. 1h 45m. Find Tickets. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. "X ...
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Movie Reviews; X (2022) Ti West; Horror; About The Author. Chase Hutchinson (748 Articles Published) Chase Hutchinson is a longtime editor and writer with more than a decade of experience in ...
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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 ...
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A24 presents a film written and directed by Ti West. Rated R (for strong bloody violence and gore, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language). Running time: 105 minutes. Now ...
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A real yawner. Leofwine_draca 2 November 2022. X (2022) is a recent horror from Ti West that feels like a homage to THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE complete with '70s trappings and grindhouse feel. The story is about the actors and crew of a low budget porn shoot heading to a remote cabin owned by a couple of oldsters.
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X is a 2022 American slasher film written, directed, produced and edited by Ti West.It stars Mia Goth in dual roles: a young woman named Maxine, and an elderly woman named Pearl. The film also stars Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure and Scott Mescudi appearing in supporting roles. Set in 1979, the film follows a cast and crew who gather to make a ...
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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….
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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 ...
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Radio Silence Duo Compares Melissa Barrera's Abigail & Scream Characters
Screen Rant interviewed Radio Silence directing duo Tyler Gillett and Matt Betinelli-Opin about their new horror movie Abigail.The pair praised Barrera's performance and explained how she draws audiences in with both Abigail and Scream.Betinelli-Opin also gives an exciting update on Ready or Not 2 and discussed keeping details about the heist crew in Abigail under wraps.

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

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

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