X – A Sex-Crazed Gore-Fest that lacks its ‘X’ factor

WorthAWatch Rating: 4/10

X (Ti West, 2022), Mia Goth as Maxine

After being involved in some great modern horror films such as Hereditary (2018) and Saint Maud (2019), A24’s latest film is an immature mess that feels more like an exercise in superfluity than it is a meaningful narrative.

Set in 1979, X follows six Americans as they arrive at an isolated farmhouse for a weekend, intent on shooting a porno. Hosted by an unsettling, elderly couple, things soon turn into a full-blown bloodbath.

Obviously inspired by Tobe Hooper’s classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), writer-director Ti West ensured that X was full of slasher tropes, adding little originality to an already saturated genre. Where it does succeed is creating characters with some personality. Mia Goth’s Maxine is noticeably unstable but tries to believe that she is a star. Bobby-Lynne, played well by Brittany Snow, comes across as the more witty, experienced porn actor. Jackson (Kid Cudi) is a Vietnam veteran, while Wayne (Martin Henderson) and RJ (Owen Campbell) provide the overseeing eyes to the pornographic production. Finishing off the cast, Jenny Ortega plays the outsider of the group, Lorraine.

Lacking believable or serious motives, the killers in the film were nonetheless unique, providing some creepiness and mystery. However, this soon subsides as we learn their quite ludicrous reasons for their murderous streak. They will certainly not be remembered as iconic horror characters.

From the beginning, the film uses themes of religion to juxtapose the vices taking place. The TV in the house shows a programme of a preacher discussing sin, which is repeated throughout the film. As well as this, a well-crafted shot of Lorraine taking off her cross while giving in to the temptation of being involved in the pornographic film hints at what could have been further developed. Unfortunately, the theme is only touched upon within the hour-forty-five runtime, in what seems a missed opportunity to flesh out the barren story.

This slasher focuses too much on numerous scenes of nudity in the first half of the film which then mostly moves aside to allow for excessive gore. The extended sex scenes are used in place of well-written dialogue and provide little else than what you would expect. It seems as if Ti West had more of an interest in indulging in some sort of manic sex-gore film than providing any substance to this horror show. And while the gore was well executed with some great effects on display, they are at times over the top and not for the faint of heart.

The editing of the film was unique, but rather out of place. Alongside this, X lacked adequate direction, with suspense in short supply and predictability with every kill. The film did not use perspective enough and could have created further tension within scenes by narrowing the viewer’s vision and creating a more personal point of view.

Without a strong plot, X fails to create a memorable story and instead focuses on showing something more akin to a pornographic film and a gore-fest. The killers were boring and the kills felt formulaic. Decently written characters could not make up for some of the bizarre dialogue and while gore was in abundance suspense was not.