X (2022) – movie review

An aspiring director who dreams of making a porn movie that makes people lose their underwear instead of dolls, is quickly brought down to earth by his producer in Texas. He hears there’s nothing to stress about, because it’s all about boobs anyway. But, while this is somewhat of a perverted act, it is not an artistic meta-ad, nor even less a complaint about reality, where bread and games count.
Because Ti West, right after the aforementioned scene, eagerly points to what we’re here for: joyfully spraying buckets of red paint. And while “X” is not without some reflections on the genre, and like the unforgettable “Devil’s House”, it focuses more on its aesthetic side, there is something to comment not only but also on your thoughts.

Following the American director’s films so far, it’s easy to see his fascination with the clash of old and new, but West never himself descended into a reckless epigon, following the tradition of horror cinema carved in stone. Nor did he ever fly into the stratosphere of self-referential postmodernism. never.

Instead, he found some kind of golden medium that allowed him to eat the cookie and still have the cookie. The great proof of this is the reviewed movie, which supposedly breaks the line, but at the same time remains purely slanted. In other words, there’s no point in being nervous, because after all, it’s all about tripe this time.

The taste of B-grade horror is, of course, intentional. The story takes place a few years after the events of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with which West corresponds not only at the level of single shots, but even the set design. A crew of young men go to the provinces to shoot a porn movie capable of rocking both the secondary movie theaters of Times Square, and the art world, by the rules of the genre, even driving to a dilapidated gas station.

Immediately, the filmmakers find a hundred-year-old farmer who is supposed to rent them out in the place they saw, and his elderly wife sighs for the lost years. But, despite the lack of choppy flop and at least one artistic heart (except maybe a double role for one of the actresses, which I won’t reveal), and the plot roughly follows the expected pattern, the director’s talent in the film is just enough to make “X” fall fresh on Although it feels old. What you think will happen will actually happen here, but West’s near-sales talents help sell shabby ideas like new ones.

Of course, this repetition, constantly flirting with stereotypes, is an element of creative strategy. The characters are chosen according to the once-valid switch, from a liberal blonde to a bespectacled person who mumbles something about art, while his girlfriend can’t wait to take off her underwear. Except no one here bears the infamous punishment for the carnal sins that clung to the slasher as if they were pop culture.

What is paradoxical, because we are talking about a porn crew all the time, the so-called “male gaze”, which is often a feature of the genre, is missing here, that is, random shots that embody the protagonists. In fact, West shows nudity not as fireworks, but something that naturally belongs in the gray area of ​​everyday life, and even makes his characters talk about the moral dimension of sex in front of the cameras.

The body is an important element of the plot, in fact it is the driving force for it, because here the murder is carried out by lust, although it is shrouded in longing. The West in a cunning way, amid all the slaughterhouses it serves us, is perhaps asking a really serious question about the limits of human sexuality, which, by current cultural standards, seem closer to the present today than we think.

Thus, it humanizes the character of the one who kills the members of the film crew one by one, giving him an understandable motive – desire and refusal. This is by no means a mitigating circumstance, none of those things, we’re dealing with really quirky individuals. Since “X” is only the middle part of the planned trilogy (the pre-part is ready), we’ll likely learn more about all interested parties soon.

I just hope it isn’t too much. Because even though West looks pensive, on his head, charms and rocks, it’s all about one thing.