Written And Directed by Ti West
Pearl: "You don't think I know who you really are? I saw what you did in the barn. You're a deviant little whore. We're the same. You'll end up just like me."
Maxine: "I'm nothin' like you."
One of the most talked about horror movies in the 2020s, I had to see what the fuss was about. The first in a trilogy that also comprised of a prequel and a sequel. X certainly got off to a chaotic start.
Set in 1979, we've got a film crew making a pornographic movie in a relatively abandoned farm in Texas. There's also an elderly couple running the farm. You can sort of predict where this film will go, but there's a surprise or two in the mix.
The crew themselves comprise of director RJ (Owen Campbell) and his assistant girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), nicknamed Churchmouse as well as producer Wayne (Martin Henderson) as well as adult actors Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), Bobby-Lynne Parker (Brittany Snow) and Jackson Hole (Scott Mescudi). They're a reasonable bunch of characters but only one of them was the true star of the movie.
That being the theme of this movie - being a star and having a certain X Factor. Maxine believed that she was destined for greatness and that everyone would know her name. She also didn't realise that there was a stigma with adult movies and yes, the murderous couple on the farm.
The couple being Pearl (Mia Goth) and Howard (Stephen Ure), who not only disapproved of their farm being used as the set of an adult movie, but took things into their own hands by murdering nearly all of the crew. Of course, the star herself Maxine survived the ordeal.
What made this film interesting was seeing Mia Goth playing off herself as both Maxine and Pearl. Pearl had the same dreams as Maxine and has been resentful ever since and Maxine had no problem resorting to murder herself in order to ensure that her own dreams wouldn't end before they truly began.
- The movie and ended with the aftermath of the main events with the Sheriff (James Gaylyn) pointing out that the events looked like a horror movie. Maxine's preacher father (Simon Prast) also appeared on television.
- Pearl made a point of hating blondes given her treatment of Bobby-Lynne as the latter was trying to be nice to her.
- No opening credits and the title doesn't appear until the end of the movie.
- The other movies in this trilogy include prequel Pearl and upcoming sequel, Maxxxine.
- Standout music: Bobby-Lynne and Jackson's version of Landslide, Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper and Moon Martin's Bad Case Of Lovin' You.
- Chronology: 1979 in rural Texas.
X got things off to a good but chaotic start for a trilogy. There's commentaries on ageing, beauty, sexuality and being a star with both Maxine and Pearl being on the opposite sides of this. There's nice homages to certain movies as well as well as various genres.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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