X

Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, In a Valley of Violence) serves up this clever take on the slasher genre that starts out intriguing but doesn't sit all that well by the end. Not that "sitting well" is a goal for most filmmakers working in this genre, but this is an A24 horror movie, so exploring lofty themes is practically as much of a requirement as making an audience jump.

The tale is set in rural Texas in 1979, around the end of the era when porno films had gone legit and right before the dawn of VHS. A small group of young folks rent an old farmer's guest house out in the middle of nowhere. Their plan is to shoot a porno flick using the farm setting as a way to make it distinctive. One of the actresses, Maxine (Mia Goth), the girlfriend of the producer, is convinced she'll soon be a major star. At one point, she's invited into the farmhouse by the elderly farmer's wife, Pearl (also played by Goth in heavy make-up). The decrepit Pearl is both jealous of Maxine's youth and beauty as well as aroused by it.

Longing for lost youth is at the heart of X, but I don't think West is the best director to convey this theme the way he's incorporated it into his sharp script. His execution makes Pearl seem pathetic when she should be sympathetic. And her longing for sexual contact is viewed as gross rather than woeful. West is much better at exploring the intersections of porn and horror in the late '70s. Like many of his films, the slow burn quality of the first two-thirds is far more interesting than the violent third act. But his small ensemble of characters is well-developed for this type of picture, and we're instantly engaged by their actions and attitudes. The conversation scenes captivate, but once the killing begins, things start to get dull (and that's empirically not good for a horror movie!). Nothing about the actual slashing in this slasher feels all that terrifying, suspenseful, or original. Still, X is a mildly enjoyable spin on / homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and it makes its points about the origins of the slasher genre being a kind of cousin of porno—both in terms of an excuse to see naked young people and an opportunity for ambitious young talent to break into the movie business.