X Marks the Spot For Disturbingly Gross and Weird
LIKES:
Moves: Most of the films in A24's repertoire is not paced to my personal liking, dragged out displays of horror that try to "elevate" the horror genre and get you appreciating other factors. This one though does not suffer from that pace, instead just diving right into the antics and trying to get to the heart of the movie without delay. This moving pace was a nice change for me, and fits with what I believe the goal of this film was, and keeping the horror element fun and enjoyable for the most part. X will keep horror fans very entertained and may enjoy not having to ponder all the meander that is often thrown into the mix.
The Laughs: Whether it's intentional or not, X's writer and direction are indeed accomplishing some laughs in this film. The premise of the film is enough to get you chuckling, young filmmakers in the 70s hoping to make adult films, already setting grounds for humorous funs. West accomplishes this very well, his methods to filming the scenes, writing the quips, and forcing the dialogue to feel very adult like one of my favorite parts of the movie. There are other bouts of banter and error in logic making this movie very fun, and those darker comedy moments surprisingly lighten up the rest of the film, especially the justification of making good adult films that aren't just smut. Nice work there.
Feels Like a Slasher Film: The genre of slashers has been famous for years now, and A24 somehow gets the feeling right, but adds a blend of modern and traditional pain that works very well together. X's jump scares are very reminiscent of Jason and Ghost Face's antics, using cheesy timing, poor logic of characters, and conveniently placed devices and timing to issue the punishment. All of the characters feel very welcome in these types of roles, with very few having redeeming qualities to actually care about, focusing on the slasher element. It makes for a very cheesy horror that slashers have been known for, and yet there is a little essence of terror mixed into it as well.
Throw in how ridiculous half of these kills occur, and again you get that element that horror guys love.
The Twist: There is one element of the movie that is a bit of a mystery device to the film and trying to connect it to the movie in some big way. Sometimes this device is merely an atmosphere device as we have seen A24 do, but surprisingly there is a nice twist to connect that tool to the current plot. While it does not blow us all away, West gets props for a double use of this device that can be difficult to accomplish.
The Acting: Horror movies seldom rock the boat of acting, often reducing the characters to very minor and selfish characters. However, this time, that direction and the actors accomplishing it are worthy of fantastic nods to what they played and portrayed in this movie. Mia Goth wins for most diversity in more ways than one, with her character Maxine having an edge and deeper side that gradually starts to rear its head by the end of the movie. She does all her roles well, and though I hated part of her character, how Goth executed those roles was awesome. Ortega has elevated herself once again for me, as she continues to rise up from her Stuck in the Middle Days. A character with a lot more extremes in her performance, she manages to take these moments to the full extent and still remain a believable and less annoying character compared to others. As for Snow, it's Zoey from Pitch Perfect getting kicked into an R rated film. Her humor and sass are indeed stereotypical of these roles, but somehow it works for me in this film, including the little songstress mode coming out as well. The guys are also noted for their skills in acting, with Kid Cudi accomplishing the balanced role of stoner and lover, with a little more depth that gets exploited. Henderson accomplishes a Matthew McConaughey imitation quite well, and is the forced ringleader that again is annoying, but works in the theme of the movie. And Campbell, well he hits the nerd role well, and I had only hoped for a little more use of that nerd ingenuity than what they did to help separate him out from the other rag tag group.
The Cinematography; A24 may be controversial on a lot of things, but I have to agree they know how to shoot a movie. X is no exception to the beautiful work of West's vision, with a very foreboding nature always following the moment of the movie. He does manage to make you feel as if you have fallen back in time to the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s. West then takes the feeling of both horror and an adult film, blends them together, and somehow makes us feel we are actually in the lens of the camera for much of the filming process. As the horror settles in, he then goes on to evolve the presentation into something dark and foreboding, taking the mind breaking horror and fusing it with shadow and carnage that this movie is going for in the grand design. Each angle, each play of the scenery, and every close up serves a purpose to paying homage to the tropes of the slasher film, capturing the carnage in the best light possible. This may be the best part of the movie for most and is truly a nod for the creativity he brings.
Dislikes:
Plot Gaps: This is more so reflecting how the story does not feel complete, with a lot of missing pieces sticking out for what A24 is known to fill. X has a lot of characters that have underlying moments and breaks that we want to explore, but the runtime and other elements overshadow those investigations. What's worse, is more so the complete background and explanation of why the characters the way they are, and how they even began to behave the way they do. Given how A24 always adds reasons behind the bizarre characters they create, you would think there would be more, but alas it remains a mystery and does not stand on its own as well. Staying after the credits may reveal the plan to rectify this, but I can't say these characters were the most in-depth creations of the studio.
The Characters Are Annoying: While not achieving Zola levels, X's cast is for the most part very annoying for a reviewer like me. Sure, this makes them perfect for the horror genre, but some of the moments are a little too much for me and a little tiring in not seeing them evolve past their shallow levels. It's again not the worst for me, but I can say I've liked other characters better over the ones we got in this installment.
The Gore: A24 is not shy to making their movies hard to watch, and this film is no different in how they paint the walls with the disturbing level of gore and blood. While again not the most disturbing element to this movie or most of their movies, X has the moments of sickening death and torture that are not my cup of tea. Not really tasteful, this film throws caution to the wind and sinks its teeth into the psychotic obsession of mauling that is not for those with weak constitutions. Some of these moments may turn your stomach, and at times felt a little unnecessary if I'm being honest. I know you are to go in expecting these things, but you always hope for a little less gore and more balance towards something bigger. Not the case my friends.
Disturbing Moments That Aren't About Blood.
It's A24 studios and sex, you can probably guess where I'm going with this. My least favorite thing about this film does indeed have to do with the disgusting moments that this studio loves to show us, almost as if it is a calling card for their productions. It starts with showing genitalia and uncouth sex, though at least for once it involves people, we would be okay seeing doing the act. That all changes though, as some rather gross and uncomfortable moments turn into disturbing ones that are hard to unsee, which I did not enjoy or find funny in the boundaries they crossed. Then, like all their movies, they take it one step too far, and the obsession with nudity goes into levels I don't want to see, but they rub in the face. The result is again unnecessary and disgusting stuff that adds little to the movie and something I wish they would stop, and yet they won't seek the counseling they need.
The VERDICT:
If you are an A24 fan, this movie is finding home in their vaults for the wickedly disturbing and unique spins on the tried-and-true series. X is a movie that gets nods for so much creative direction, fusing the worlds of 70s, horror, and porn to this homage that somehow makes things work. The acting works well to fit all these folds, and the looks of the characters helps bring the atmosphere to full light in the way they present their characters. However, it is the cinematography that is the crowning achievement with this film for me, and I enjoyed the crazy level of techniques used to capture the horror elements. However, A24 still has not achieved perfections, diving into extremes I don't enjoy bathing in that they seem to love continuing. The gore and plot holes are one thing, but it's those other disturbing actions, primarily with nudity, that are the real yuck factor for me and take away from the film rather than add. Thus, my scores for this installment are:
Horror: 7.0 Movie Overall: 7.0.
Moves: Most of the films in A24's repertoire is not paced to my personal liking, dragged out displays of horror that try to "elevate" the horror genre and get you appreciating other factors. This one though does not suffer from that pace, instead just diving right into the antics and trying to get to the heart of the movie without delay. This moving pace was a nice change for me, and fits with what I believe the goal of this film was, and keeping the horror element fun and enjoyable for the most part. X will keep horror fans very entertained and may enjoy not having to ponder all the meander that is often thrown into the mix.
The Laughs: Whether it's intentional or not, X's writer and direction are indeed accomplishing some laughs in this film. The premise of the film is enough to get you chuckling, young filmmakers in the 70s hoping to make adult films, already setting grounds for humorous funs. West accomplishes this very well, his methods to filming the scenes, writing the quips, and forcing the dialogue to feel very adult like one of my favorite parts of the movie. There are other bouts of banter and error in logic making this movie very fun, and those darker comedy moments surprisingly lighten up the rest of the film, especially the justification of making good adult films that aren't just smut. Nice work there.
Feels Like a Slasher Film: The genre of slashers has been famous for years now, and A24 somehow gets the feeling right, but adds a blend of modern and traditional pain that works very well together. X's jump scares are very reminiscent of Jason and Ghost Face's antics, using cheesy timing, poor logic of characters, and conveniently placed devices and timing to issue the punishment. All of the characters feel very welcome in these types of roles, with very few having redeeming qualities to actually care about, focusing on the slasher element. It makes for a very cheesy horror that slashers have been known for, and yet there is a little essence of terror mixed into it as well.
Throw in how ridiculous half of these kills occur, and again you get that element that horror guys love.
The Twist: There is one element of the movie that is a bit of a mystery device to the film and trying to connect it to the movie in some big way. Sometimes this device is merely an atmosphere device as we have seen A24 do, but surprisingly there is a nice twist to connect that tool to the current plot. While it does not blow us all away, West gets props for a double use of this device that can be difficult to accomplish.
The Acting: Horror movies seldom rock the boat of acting, often reducing the characters to very minor and selfish characters. However, this time, that direction and the actors accomplishing it are worthy of fantastic nods to what they played and portrayed in this movie. Mia Goth wins for most diversity in more ways than one, with her character Maxine having an edge and deeper side that gradually starts to rear its head by the end of the movie. She does all her roles well, and though I hated part of her character, how Goth executed those roles was awesome. Ortega has elevated herself once again for me, as she continues to rise up from her Stuck in the Middle Days. A character with a lot more extremes in her performance, she manages to take these moments to the full extent and still remain a believable and less annoying character compared to others. As for Snow, it's Zoey from Pitch Perfect getting kicked into an R rated film. Her humor and sass are indeed stereotypical of these roles, but somehow it works for me in this film, including the little songstress mode coming out as well. The guys are also noted for their skills in acting, with Kid Cudi accomplishing the balanced role of stoner and lover, with a little more depth that gets exploited. Henderson accomplishes a Matthew McConaughey imitation quite well, and is the forced ringleader that again is annoying, but works in the theme of the movie. And Campbell, well he hits the nerd role well, and I had only hoped for a little more use of that nerd ingenuity than what they did to help separate him out from the other rag tag group.
The Cinematography; A24 may be controversial on a lot of things, but I have to agree they know how to shoot a movie. X is no exception to the beautiful work of West's vision, with a very foreboding nature always following the moment of the movie. He does manage to make you feel as if you have fallen back in time to the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s. West then takes the feeling of both horror and an adult film, blends them together, and somehow makes us feel we are actually in the lens of the camera for much of the filming process. As the horror settles in, he then goes on to evolve the presentation into something dark and foreboding, taking the mind breaking horror and fusing it with shadow and carnage that this movie is going for in the grand design. Each angle, each play of the scenery, and every close up serves a purpose to paying homage to the tropes of the slasher film, capturing the carnage in the best light possible. This may be the best part of the movie for most and is truly a nod for the creativity he brings.
Dislikes:
Plot Gaps: This is more so reflecting how the story does not feel complete, with a lot of missing pieces sticking out for what A24 is known to fill. X has a lot of characters that have underlying moments and breaks that we want to explore, but the runtime and other elements overshadow those investigations. What's worse, is more so the complete background and explanation of why the characters the way they are, and how they even began to behave the way they do. Given how A24 always adds reasons behind the bizarre characters they create, you would think there would be more, but alas it remains a mystery and does not stand on its own as well. Staying after the credits may reveal the plan to rectify this, but I can't say these characters were the most in-depth creations of the studio.
The Characters Are Annoying: While not achieving Zola levels, X's cast is for the most part very annoying for a reviewer like me. Sure, this makes them perfect for the horror genre, but some of the moments are a little too much for me and a little tiring in not seeing them evolve past their shallow levels. It's again not the worst for me, but I can say I've liked other characters better over the ones we got in this installment.
The Gore: A24 is not shy to making their movies hard to watch, and this film is no different in how they paint the walls with the disturbing level of gore and blood. While again not the most disturbing element to this movie or most of their movies, X has the moments of sickening death and torture that are not my cup of tea. Not really tasteful, this film throws caution to the wind and sinks its teeth into the psychotic obsession of mauling that is not for those with weak constitutions. Some of these moments may turn your stomach, and at times felt a little unnecessary if I'm being honest. I know you are to go in expecting these things, but you always hope for a little less gore and more balance towards something bigger. Not the case my friends.
Disturbing Moments That Aren't About Blood.
It's A24 studios and sex, you can probably guess where I'm going with this. My least favorite thing about this film does indeed have to do with the disgusting moments that this studio loves to show us, almost as if it is a calling card for their productions. It starts with showing genitalia and uncouth sex, though at least for once it involves people, we would be okay seeing doing the act. That all changes though, as some rather gross and uncomfortable moments turn into disturbing ones that are hard to unsee, which I did not enjoy or find funny in the boundaries they crossed. Then, like all their movies, they take it one step too far, and the obsession with nudity goes into levels I don't want to see, but they rub in the face. The result is again unnecessary and disgusting stuff that adds little to the movie and something I wish they would stop, and yet they won't seek the counseling they need.
The VERDICT:
If you are an A24 fan, this movie is finding home in their vaults for the wickedly disturbing and unique spins on the tried-and-true series. X is a movie that gets nods for so much creative direction, fusing the worlds of 70s, horror, and porn to this homage that somehow makes things work. The acting works well to fit all these folds, and the looks of the characters helps bring the atmosphere to full light in the way they present their characters. However, it is the cinematography that is the crowning achievement with this film for me, and I enjoyed the crazy level of techniques used to capture the horror elements. However, A24 still has not achieved perfections, diving into extremes I don't enjoy bathing in that they seem to love continuing. The gore and plot holes are one thing, but it's those other disturbing actions, primarily with nudity, that are the real yuck factor for me and take away from the film rather than add. Thus, my scores for this installment are:
Horror: 7.0 Movie Overall: 7.0.
- rgkarim
- Mar 19, 2022