Macabre…ish Horror Review: X
X, 2022/ 1 hr 46 min.
The sheriff (James Gaylyn) approaches a scene of slaughter at an old farmhouse that belongs to an elderly couple.
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It’s 1979 and amidst a booming home video and porn industry, aspiring adult actress, Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), with a wicked coke habit decides topless dancing is not enough. So she, her producer Wayne (Martin Henderson) and some other porn actors, Bobby-Lynn (Brittany Snow) and Jackson (Kid Kudi) and crew, pile into a van, with a script and equipment, and head to a Texas farm.
Wayne is met with a shotgun aimed at his face by the elderly host, Howard (Stephen Ure) but he did set this up ahead of time. The plan is to set up in a guest house and make The Farmer’s Daughters! But since their hosts are religious lurkers, they have to keep it quiet and make it quick. The old man clearly doesn’t trust them. So they get to work.
Meanwhile, Maxine wanders off for a swim in the pond, afterward, Howard’s wife, Pearl (Mia Goth) invites her into the house for lemonade. It is an awkward visit and the house is old and creepy. Pearl expresses jealousy of her youth, then rushes Maxine out of the house as Howard drives up. He takes notice of the two glasses of lemonade on the table though.
Later, Pearl spies through the window and watches them work, she envisions herself being part of the show. Then she returns home to her husband, who brushes her off, citing a bad heart.
One of the crew, not a performer, Lorraine (Jenna Ortega) wants to shoot a scene but the director, her boyfriend, RJ (Owen Campbell) angrily objects. He’s so hurt after it’s over, that he leaves once everyone is asleep and he runs into Pearl, who tries to seduce him. RJ rejects her and she stabs him to death and covered in his blood, she dances.
The same night, some of the group realizes he’s gone and searches the farm for him. In the pond, someone has secreted a car. And while looking for him, Pearl kills them in gruesome ways out of frustration. Howard kills others out of jealous rage.
While searching, the cellar of the farmhouse, Lorraine is locked in and there she finds a man, shackled and hanging, with his pants around his ankles.
Pearl then discover’s Maxine still in bed asleep, she gets naked and cuddles her until she wakes up screaming.
It would seem this elderly couple have been doing this a while as an answer to their dead bed issues.
This slasher was made in New Zealand and directed, written and edited by Ti West. It is set in the last 70s and it feels like it. This movie is brutally graphic when it comes to the violence and kills. The sexually explicit parts, were not as graphic as you might expect and the most sexually graphic is between the elderly couple. There’s nudity but not an unusual amount for a slasher. The physical effects are really good and the kills are varied. Very good attention to detail. I really enjoyed this!