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‘X’ Review: ’70s Horror Meets ’70s Porn in the Rare ‘Chain Saw’ Homage That Earns Its Fear

In 1979, a group of renegades rent a Texas farmhouse to shoot a porn film — and for once the mayhem that follows doesn't feel cheap.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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If I had a dime — or maybe a drop of blood — for every movie that tried to recreate the vibe, the situation, and the high anxiety of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” I’d have a pretty big bucket of blood. For decades, I’ve been watching movies that open with a handful of obnoxious kids in a vehicle, tooling down a redneck roadway, and then…well, you know what happens next. They land in a remote house somewhere, at which point the film in question stops bearing any resemblance to “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” Instead, it turns into one more instance of deadening formula trash: another piece of slasher-movie roadkill.

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More than that, it’s a movie made with genuine mood and skill and flavor. Your average “Chain Saw” knockoff never seems remotely like a movie from the grainy outlaw ’70s. It is, rather, contempo product that feels like product; the movies in the “Chain Saw” franchise itself are made with the worst kind of synthetic digital sheen. But “X,” set in 1979, actually achieves the look and atmosphere of 1979: the free-ride waywardness, the needle drops (Pablo Cruise, “In the Summertime”), the local televangelist barking at his stuffy minions on a black-and-white TV set. The film’s images have a no-fuss pastoral documentary lyricism, and it’s not just the way the shots look. It’s the way they’re cut together — slowly and calmly, without razzmatazz, so that the film seems to be taking place in real time, at a time when technology was a lot quieter. The folks within those frames actually seem like real people.

Her boyfriend, the middle-aged cowboy stud Wayne (Martin Henderson), is producing the film and running the shoot. Maxine is going to be one of the farmer’s daughters, and so is Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), who works, like Maxine, at a Houston burlesque club. Jackson (Scott Mescudi, a.k.a. Kid Cudi), the one male porn actor in the group, is Bobby-Lynne’s’s boyfriend, and the other two kids are the filmmakers: RJ (Owen Campbell), the stringy-haired geek who’s directing the film (i.e., pointing the camera), and has convinced himself it’s going to be a piece of “cinema,” and his girlfriend, Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who’s on hand to hold the boom mike. They have rented a farm cottage about 75 yards from the main house, and they’re going to use that and the cow barn to stage their country-vixen fantasy.

“Texas Chain Saw,” the granddaddy of the slasher genre, had an atmosphere that was sexualized enough that the porn-film plot of “X” feels like a natural extension of it. We see several of the porn scenes being shot, and like the ones in “Boogie Nights” they’re realistic and true to the scruffy pre-video porn vibe. So what’s there to be scared of? When they arrive at the farmhouse, Wayne is greeted at the door by a gnarly old man who looks about 100, like the grandpa in “Chain Saw.” He doesn’t seem that scary until he picks up a shotgun. Even so, there’s got to be more.

Is there a Leatherface? Not quite. But grandpa has a wife, who looks about as old as he is, and she starts to show up in odd places, her white hair, in a Victorian bun like the one on the corpse of Norman Bates’ mother, looking like a nimbus. These two ancient codgers are the quintessence of creepy. But we wonder what’s going to happen, since Ti West, in making this film, strikes a kind of deal with the audience. He basically says: I won’t cheat. I won’t have an insane killer coming out of nowhere. I will earn your fear. And he does.

“X” is no “Chain Saw.” What is? Nothing comes close (except for maybe Takashi Miike’s “Audition,” the most disturbing horror film since). But “X” is a wily and entertaining slow-motion ride of terror that earns its shocks, along with its singular quease factor, which relates to the fact that the demons here are ancient specimens of humanity who actually have a touch of…humanity. West, as a filmmaker, reverses tropes in a way that speaks to the era that was coming. The men, for once, are the first to get killed off, and where movie slashers tend to represent the suppression of female sexuality, “X” is a kind of feminist horror film in which the principal demon is a woman who wants to embrace sexuality. The world just won’t let her.

Reviewed at Stateside at the Paramount (SXSW), March 13, 2022. MPAA rating: R. Running time: 105 MIN.

Production: An 24 release of a BRON Creative, MAD SOLAR production. Producers: Jacob Jaffke, Kevin Turen, Harrison Kreiss, Ti West. Executive producers: Sam Levinson, Ashley Levinson, Peter Phok, Scott Mescudi, Dennis Cummings, Karina Manashil.
Crew: Director, screenplay: Ti West. Camera: Eliot Rockett. Editors: David Kashevaroff, Ti West. Music: Tyler Bates, Chelsea Wolfe.
With: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell,. Stephen Ure, Scott Mescudi.

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The Texas Softcore Massacre

X will hit theaters on March 18, 2022.

A ’70s slasher throwback, X is writer-director Ti West’s first film in six years, and his first horror movie in nearly a decade. It feels, in many ways, like an antidote to several recent horror trends, like the self-professed sheen of “prestige horror” from distributors like A24 (who, as it happens, distributed X as well, and manage to have their cake and eat it too). In less intentional course correction, it’s also more cutting homage to Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chain Saw Massacre than the recent Netflix sequel , which drops the ball in many respects. Set in a secluded farmhouse near Houston in 1979, and following a group of low-budget porno filmmakers, X manages to be fun, thoughtful, and even innovative on occasion, even if its eventual thrills and kills end up peaking rather early.

What makes X especially enticing during its lengthy setup is its characters, who we meet as they pack themselves into a van (winkingly marked “Plowing Service”) en route to the secluded setting. Maxine (Mia Goth), an image-obsessed porn star harboring hints of a mysterious past, is the other woman in the recently crumbled marriage of her producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), who brings the smoothness (and occasional shirtless-ness) of early romcom Matthew McConaughey, but the subtle seediness of McConaissance roles like Dallas in Magic Mike. Maxine is Wayne’s “next big thing,” though she has to share the screen with a more experienced adult actress, the sweet but feisty Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), who has indelible pre-existing chemistry with their co-star Jackson Hole (Scott Mescudi a.k.a Kid Cudi), a man who hides his insecurities behind a gruff façade. Rounding out the main cast is RJ (Owen Campbell), a young filmmaker trying to get his start by bringing an avant-garde sensibility to the production — much of X’s commentary on “prestige horror” stems from his misguided perspective — and RJ’s shy, sheltered girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who agrees to help him work the sound equipment without realizing he’s making porn, but who eventually warms up to the idea (much to his dismay).

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The characters are fleshed out from the word go, making their every interaction delightful as they head towards inevitable doom; X opens after the bloodshed is dispensed with, but it doesn’t hint at who exactly has died, or how, before flashing back to the previous day. It has no pretense about being anything but a gnarly, cheap-thrills horror flick first and foremost, as unapologetic as the X-rated movie its characters are filming. This comparison comes up implicitly and often, both through dialogue — RJ wants to bring an artistic sensibility to the porno’s story, but the stars insist that people are just going to watch it for the sex — and through a number of fascinating cross-cuts between the actual plot and the film within the film, as tension builds in both stories and X attempts to draw a straight line between sex and violence in the American psyche. It doesn’t always succeed — its initial attempt at commenting on this connection is the overt and clunky appearance of a fear-mongering preacher on TV — but before long, this dynamic takes hold in the movie’s cleverly conceived antagonists.

The cast and crew are hosted by a suspicious, shotgun-toting elderly gentleman with wandering eyes, Howard (Stephen Ure), whose only instructions involve staying clear of the main house and sticking to the nearby guest lodging, so as not to disturb his easily confused wife, Pearl. The trailers already hint at a story in which this aged, demented old woman creeps out of the shadows and is eventually involved in some of the bloodshed, so there’s no real surprise when things go awry in her presence. However, what is surprising is the role she plays in the film’s overt themes. Maxine is the center of attention for Wayne (and for director West), and her dreams of stardom are expressed alongside lingering doubts, even though she insists on projecting a confident vanity as she struts about the property. Pearl is immediately drawn to Maxine, as a reflection of her own lost youth and sexuality; in a move that engenders a strange and complicated sympathy, West casts Goth in the role of Pearl as well, burying her underneath eerie makeup, but intrinsically connecting Pearl’s wistful jealousies to Maxine’s own fears of fleeting time and temporary youth.

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This clash between the old and new is at the heart of X, which is, at once, a modern take on a decades-old style of filmmaking, and applies a grimy, 1970s horror classic lens to new ideas. This manifests in a tongue-in-cheek way in an early landscape shot filmed through barn doors, resembling an old 4:3 frame, which pushes slowly forward to reveal its wider frame and its wider, more modern perspective, and it manifests even more overtly as the film goes on. For instance, many recent horror films like The Visit, Hereditary, and IT: Chapter 2 feature a distinct revulsion towards aging bodies — an idea that X not only skillfully subverts, but weaves boldly into its text.

Rather than making Pearl’s resurgent urges — sexual, and otherwise — a matter of disgust, West injects them with a sense of mournful beauty, placing the audience right alongside his apparent “monster.” The first time she kills, it’s hard not to feel for her, and equally hard not to be drawn in by the artistry of the kill itself, which involves an ingeniously conceived lighting change. However, from this point on, the kills don’t really stack up. One is edited in an intriguing way that maximizes its impact. Another is funny and surprising. Few of them, however, are any two of these things at once, and the remaining bloodshed seems to pass by without sticking in the mind or beneath the skin. For all of X’s ruminations on what fans truly want from movies — the sex in porn, and the blood and jump scares in horror — the film’s tension-building is much scarier and more incisive than any of its payoffs.

X, though it pokes fun at RJ’s perspective on filmmaking, doesn’t dismiss it outright. The character talks of editing his film in an oblique way, and though we don’t get to see what he means — we’re mostly shown the porno as it’s being shot, mostly in closeups — we do get a blast of tension from West and his co-editor David Kashevaroff during several scene transitions, where footage doubles up and the frames whips back and forth a few times between two consecutive moments. While it sounds like this approach should get repetitive, it’s used in a number of different ways, whether to contrast action and stillness, or to connect story moments with scenes from RJ’s movie, or to simply create anticipation as the screen flickers between one charged moment and the next.

Even though X’s payoffs aren’t always satisfying — they’re gory, but hardly discomforting for anyone who watches enough horror — the film as a whole flows like a murky river with hints of something sinister lurking underneath. It’s fun, and when it slows down to humanize its villains, it’s oddly reflective and melancholy, in a way few modern slasher films dare to be.

While its gnarly payoffs eventually peter out, X is filled with fun and intense setups that harken back to classic slasher fare. A story of a doomed porn crew shooting in the middle of nowhere, it has the makings of a traditional splatter-fest, but injects its story with an unexpected sympathy for its cleverly conceived villains.

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X review: A horror movie about what really horrifies us

Kid Cudi, Jenna Ortega, and others in a scene from X, from A24 entertainment.

X , from arthouse distributor A24, is a slasher movie about what really horrifies us. Writer/director Ti West ( The House of the Devil ) is too intelligent and thoughtful a filmmaker to believe that conventional boogeymen top our list of fears. He knows that a youth-obsessed society is far more terrified not only of growing old, but of confronting the fact that the elderly may still possess some very inconvenient desires.

A movie about making movies

X earns its place among a24’s best.

The movie is set in 1979 Texas and stars Mia Goth as Maxine, an aspiring young porn performer who travels with her older producer boyfriend (Martin Henderson) to a remote farm outside Houston to shoot an adult film. Along for the ride are two other performers (Kid Cudi and Brittany Snow), as well as the director and soundperson (Owen Campbell and Jenna Ortega), the latter of whom quickly decides that her best talents lie in front of the camera, not behind it. The ambition of all involved to make cinema out of porn echoes the similar aspirations of the adult film industry folks in Boogie Nights . And that is only the first of many, many references to other films in X .

True to form, the farm is isolated and creepy, and the group’s first interaction with the ancient proprietor (Stephen Ure), Howard, comes at the business end of a shotgun. Howard makes it clear that he disapproves of any youthful shenanigans on his property (and that’s well before he realizes what they are actually up to). He claims he wants to protect his elderly wife, Pearl, from any shocks. But just who needs protection — and from whom — quickly grows complicated.

Everything, in other words, screams for the group to get the hell out of there. But X wouldn’t be in the tradition of slasher films like Friday the 13 th or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (the film pays homage to both) if the characters had sense enough to not walk into situations that clearly spell their downfall. And yet, these aren’t the typical dumb, helpless twentysomethings common to the genre. On the contrary, they are capable and intelligent. But West wants to show that despite their physical superiority over the, ahem, monsters on the loose, the visitors are nevertheless doomed by their ignorance and inexperience, underestimating the threats on the farm until it’s too late. It never even occurs to them to consider what some people might still want — or be capable of.

West has worked in horror for a long time and he is in full command of both the genre tropes and his craft. His camera is fluid but not showy, and he finds the right muted colors and textures to convey the grain of ’70s film stock without making the movie look like a carefully curated Instagram account. He has said that he wanted to make a more “highbrow” slasher pic, and it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t succeeded.

The movie opens with, then later repeats, a shot from inside a barn that invokes Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter, in which Robert Mitchum terrorizes a family on a farm. There are also at least one verbal and two visual references to Psycho . West follows an early scene in which a character mentions the French New Wave by staging a grizzly homage to the famous traffic accident sequence in Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend . A shot of Maxine running away from the farmhouse is straight out of Terrence Malick’s ’70s classic, Days of Heaven . Cinephiles and breathless film students will surely spot many more references over repeated screenings.

Thankfully, the allusions are carefully integrated and resonate thematically with the films they invoke. West has made cinema that engages in intelligent dialogue with other cinema — a far cry from the glaring in-universe references in, say, Star Wars and Marvel movies that perform fan service but typically have no grander purpose.

Given all that, is the movie too highbrow for its genre? Does West’s insistence on interrogating the relationship between cinema and youthful beauty compromise some of the suspense? Maybe a little bit. The middle act could be tighter. And the final “twist” bludgeons the viewer with its irony. It’s an unnecessary reveal that is too on the nose compared to the subtlety of what’s come before it.

Overall, though, X is a movie that works well even for those who haven’t had a few semesters of film studies. The cast is charismatic. There are moments of visual wit, such as when the film cuts from a passionate kiss to a cow chewing cud. And the final third of the picture delivers all the gore and shocks demanded of the genre. Still, in the tradition of A24 arthouse horror such as Hereditary , Midsommar , and The Witch , the movie puts ideas in the foreground as much as it does bloodshed. West knows that slasher and porn films are less about violence and sex, respectively, and more about the shock and titillation of social transgression. With X , he has made a movie in which the most unsettling moments compel the viewer to question what society really considers taboo and why.

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X review: Mia Goth, Kid Cudi, and Jenna Ortega stumble into expertly wrought backwoods terror

Director Ti West knows the red meat horror fans want, and serves it up with panache.

Senior Editor, Movies

Traipsing into danger is the essential playbook of horror, a path well-trodden. But the brutal, giddy-making X , written and directed by Ti West, makes that journey somehow feel both fresh and comfortingly familiar. That dichotomy is at the heart of West's style, honed over years of indie horror filmmaking (and lately, an impressive amount of episodic TV). His features come clad in impeccable retro stylings: The House of the Devil from 2009 was the feathered-hair, Fixx-soundtracked '80s babysitter thriller you didn't know you needed.

But that fondness for details arrives with a sly sense of interrogation. You wouldn't call it "elevated horror" — God forbid — so much as exfoliated. West loves a good splattery kill and an off-putting stare, and if the house in the middle of the rural wilderness ain't broke, he isn't going to fix it.

West also clearly has a fondness for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , Tobe Hooper's revolutionary 1974 landmark, a film that X , set only five years later, explicitly echoes to an uncanny degree — and also revises. (Pay no attention to that official sequel that came and went a few weeks ago.) You can feel it in X 's oppressive sense of fly-buzzed heat, or observe it in the movie's perfectly re-created lean-to gas station (no sizzling barbecue this time) or the way a zoom lens follows a van creeping up to a spooky farmhouse.

In the van are six porn makers — porn stars is definitely pushing it. Maxine ( Mia Goth ), Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ), and Jackson (Scott Mescudi, a.k.a Kid Cudi ) are the onscreen talent; all three of the actors nail that sweaty Boogie Nights desperation. Wayne ( Martin Henderson ), their ringleader praying for a Debbie Does Dallas he can call his own, has dollar signs in his eyes. His cinematographer, R.J. (Owen Campbell), meanwhile, has convinced himself he's making an art film. As for R.J.'s girlfriend, Lorraine (former Disney kid Jenna Ortega), holding the boom pole? She's a little undecided about what side of the lens she wants to be on.

Even though they're headed out of Houston to get some privacy to make their magnum opus, The Farmer's Daughters , we already know that they're not alone. Yet before blood is spilled — and West does savor his slow build — there's another dynamic at play: a shifting power struggle about seeing and being seen, and occasionally just as brutal. The sexual battle tactics are refreshing given what usually passes for horror, and when X does burst into violence, they somehow continue, with icky scenes that pit longing against envy and destruction.

Revealing the identities of the killers would be unsporting (let's hint that those recent full-body transformations of Jared Leto and Colin Farrell are becoming a thing). For its whole running time, X has ideas on its mind. Like the doubled-edged title itself, both an evocation of the grungy rating this movie might have received in 1979 and something more suggestive ("You've got that X factor," Wayne says of Maxine's allure), it indicates a film that feels unpinned, ominous, and potentially unforgettable. Grade: A-

'X' Review: Ti West's Horror Masterwork Leaves You Breathless In Both Terror and Ecstasy

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When considering the all-time great films that have made use of the exquisite cinematic potential of horror, there must now be a place for the explosive experience that is writer-director Ti West ’s riveting and raucous X . With wild abandon, it is a film that carves out a place amongst not just the best horror from A24 , but of the glorious genre writ large. It is a meticulous and patient work that also packs a wicked sense of humor that never lets you go once it has you in its grasp. Even as it wears many of its horror influences on its sleeve, West weaves his own thrilling and terrifying tale of a 1979 Texas porn shoot gone oh so very wrong.

We know this explicit production takes a turn for the worse as the film opens on the chaotic and bloody aftermath where bodies are strewn everywhere at a remote farm. The police are at a loss, pacing around the scene in cowboy boots and trying to avoid stepping in the pools of blood. It is an otherwise peaceful setting save for this carnage and the film keeps much of the viscera initially hidden, ensuring that there is still an abundance of tension to be found in seeing all the pieces come back together. Our story then properly begins 24 hours before the violence with Mia Goth ’s magnetic Maxine alone in a dressing room. A dreamer with a bit of a cocaine habit, she has big plans for herself that she reflects on in the first of several mirror scenes. Goth is already a standout horror performer, having been a memorable presence in Suspiria and High Life , though it is X that now cements her as an icon of the genre.

This moment is interrupted by Martin Henderson ’s cocksure Wayne who bursts into the room, proceeds to dial up the smarm in a smooch with Maxine, and informs her everyone else is waiting to get on the road. In just this opening scene, you learn so much about both of them and their relationship with each other. It is only the beginning of how West builds complete and complex portraits of people with an efficiency that speaks to both his craft as a writer as well as the assured performance of each actor. This extends to the entire porn production posse which is made up of a wonderful cast of quirky characters. There is the suave male talent Jackson ( Kid Cudi ) who, in addition to being a veteran, is also particularly known for his talents in the bedroom (at least in his own mind). Alongside him is his girlfriend as well as co-performer Bobby-Lynee ( Brittany Snow ) who packs an unending amount of irreverent snark. There is the awkward director RJ ( Owen Campbell ) who wants to make a serious art film in line with the French New Wave. Assisting him with the boom mic is his unassuming and cross-wearing girlfriend Lorraine ( Jenna Ortega ) who gets the nickname “church mouse.”

RELATED: ‘X’: Ti West Reveals He Shot a Prequel Film with Mia Goth In Tandem with the Original

This ragtag group of smut connoisseurs is taking a bit of a road trip as they are hoping to make their own porn film. Some, like Maxine, believe it will bring them fame and make them like Linda Carter . Others, like Wayne, see it as a chance to make some money by tapping into an otherwise yet-untapped market where people can watch porn at home. As they all hop in a van that is appropriately and humorously emblazoned with “Plowing Service” on the side, the clearest reference point is to the early tone of the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre . In fact, even as West’s film is very much its own thing, it is an experience that is a more worthy successor to such iconic horror than the abysmal Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel that came out exactly one month prior to X . Yes, both of these new films pack an abundance of brutality and gore, though it is in how West approaches his story that makes it such a superior work. The horror is found in the fearsome aspects of the broken people at its core, delving deep into the murderous underpinning of our world with a captivating eye. The persistent use of a rambling pastor preaching on television compliments this perfectly, revealing how the places people find solace when isolated have a more sinister undercurrent.

When our characters arrive at a remote farm, we begin to hear the repeated use of an evocative score that is a combination of haunting yet melodic chanting that is then mixed with creepy breathing. Even as the film is packed with a bunch of other fitting music, much of it happening diegetically, it is this score that really puts you on edge. The first interaction Wayne has with the property owner, an elderly man who seems to want nothing to do with them, is as ominous as it is awkward. It soon becomes clear that neither the man nor his wife has any idea whatsoever about what the group is intending on using their small boarding house for. Thus, the sex film is surreptitiously shot. In addition to creating a distinguishing color palette as well as a more narrow aspect ratio, West approaches the porn production with a playfulness that is also mixed with something more sinister. A scene where a lonesome Maxine explores the farm is intercut with the purposely cheesy dialogue of the porn that shifts from being humorous to haunting very quickly. It is one of many times West expertly intersplices seemingly incongruous visual sequences together for dramatic effect.

There are also frequent moments where the film will quickly cut to three brief glimpses of a distinct visual from another scene that then informs the other. It is a remarkably effective and unsettling element that disrupts the film’s cinematic grammar visually. Each time it happens, it puts you on edge and ratchets up the growing feeling that something is seriously wrong. What that something is will not be revealed here as the darker elements of the story are worth experiencing with as little foresight as possible. This is especially true considering how patient West is with the whole film. Of course, this won't surprise anyone who has seen his similarly dedicated and foreboding 2009 film The House of the Devil . Both films let scenes play out to an absolute breaking point, leaving you in a state of constant anticipation and curiosity about what exactly is coming next. One such moment of many to be found in X is a beautiful extended shot of a small body of water from above that finds both horror and humor in how long it goes on. When other films might cut away much too soon and undercut the terror of this moment, West lets each of these scenes play out until you are out of breath in anticipation.

This only makes the unrestrained climax of X all the more rewarding as these setups and quiet hints are paid off perfectly. Like a punchline to a joke, these moments were met with a rising up of elation that reached a roar. It is a film that kills both in its comedic sensibility and gruesome inclinations. At my screening, you could both feel the audience release all their pent-up energy and hear them exclaim in joy at these moments. It all reveals how West is completely in control, both narratively and formally, as he wrenches the maximum amount of payoff out of every single moment he can. From the way the headlights of a car change color in an extended violent outburst to a more reserved subsequent scene where a character remains asleep, everything is impeccably attuned to create maximum impact. It makes for one of the most fully realized pieces of horror cinema in recent memory that never sets a wrong foot even as its characters do nothing but. It is a dynamic, deadly work of filmmaking that achieves all its lofty ambitions and then some to become an absolute masterwork.

X is in theaters now.

Movie Reviews

The Slasher Film X Is a Modern Classic

The movie evokes the grind-house energy of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre while also pulling off thoroughly modern cinematic tricks.

Mia Goth shushing someone in the film "X"

A month ago, another installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series was released, an attempt to modernize the horror franchise while still harkening back to its gritty 1970s roots. It was a creative failure, too reliant on digitally enhanced gore and thudding callbacks. The task of matching an all-time classic seemed impossible. But a new horror film proves that challenge was hardly insurmountable: Ti West’s X is a lurid slasher based in rural ’70s Texas that brings plenty of invention to a tried-and-true setting.

X blends old and new, rather than just proffering empty references. The film evokes the grind-house energy of the original Texas Chainsaw while also pulling off complicated cinematic tricks that wouldn’t have been possible 50 years ago. West is a director with a deep understanding of period aesthetics—his breakthrough 2009 work, The House of the Devil , was a precise homage to the VHS video nasties of the ’80s; it looked like a once-banned movie that had just been unearthed. X could be another tribute, and even hints at the nasties genre with a teasing prologue in which a local sheriff comes upon a crime scene littered with mysterious film canisters.

A sherriff walking from his patrol car to a bloody tarp on the road

West’s latest is titled after the now-defunct rating once given to the most shocking movies; fittingly, the canisters contain a few spicy reels of pornography. X follows a semiprofessional film crew that journeys to a small town to make a skin flick, renting a house on the land of two elderly farmers. Eventually, their shenanigans attract their hosts’ attention, the dynamic turns sour, and characters start to die, but X takes a surprisingly long time to move into slasher territory. West carefully builds out the relationships between each worker on the shoot while incorporating detailed backstory for the creepy older couple, meaning the monstrousness that unfolds later has real narrative purpose.

Read: The most purely enjoyable horror movie made in years

X is spearheaded by a pair of performances by the same actor, Mia Goth, who plays Maxine, one of the stars of the porno, and (buried under pounds of excellent makeup) Pearl, the reclusive older woman who takes an interest in the scandalous goings-on. The dual showcase is a remarkable one for Goth, who previously stood out in supporting roles in Emma , High Life , and A Cure for Wellness . Maxine is headstrong and assured of her future stardom. Pearl is a wispy ghost of a woman, reminiscing on her youthful beauty. West could have easily presented the character as pathetic, or stirred up by an inscrutable demonic fervor, but he instead lets the audience get to know Pearl and her ornery husband, Howard, before the two start chasing the youngsters around the farm.

The other unlucky guests are played by Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Scott Mescudi, and Brittany Snow, each of whom gets to have fun with characters who are vague without being mere cannon fodder. West is genuinely interested in analyzing the clash that takes over the farm, not just between old and young but between the repressed and the liberated; the carnage the couple carry out is motivated by their own confused feelings about sex. In the slashers of yore, an eye-roll-inducing motif was that sexually active characters would be picked off before the heroic virgins. Here, West makes that unspoken rule explicit, and so casts Howard and Pearl’s pent-up fury as all the more unsettling.

Outshining those thematic underpinnings, though, is West’s pure craft; he designs each scare sequence with consummate care, and refrains from using cheap jumps or overwhelming music to push up the tension. X has one of the best “character explores a dark cellar” scenes that I’ve ever seen—a standard of the genre, fine-tuned to perfection here. The set is simple—just two ramshackle homes and a field between them—and the budget seems fairly small, but the richness of West’s script and the depth of his characterization make everything feel expansive. The horror genre has, of late, been hijacked by purportedly “elevated” takes that avoid the simplicity of something like a slasher. X provides a map for how to do the classics right while still taking the formula somewhere original.

About the Author

‘X’ Review: Ti West’s Rollicking Porn Slasher Brings the Spirit of the ’70s Back to Movie Theaters

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“X” kicks off on a secluded Texas farm surrounded by local police. The opening scene, framed within a barn, peers outside toward a simple wooden home peeking above the brush landscape. As an incessant buzz of flies swarm, the camera tracks outside revealing a trio of cop cars. There is a blood-soaked sheet covering an unknown body. A recently used ax grips the porch and a wide streak of crimson leads to inside the quaint, albeit creepy home. On the television plays a Southern televangelist, one of those local holy roller church services that never seems to go off air. Yes, something bad happened here. Related Stories ‘The Crow’ Review: Bill Skarsgård Is an Emo Angel of Death in This Pretty Corpse of a Thriller ‘Strange Darling’ Review: JT Mollner’s Deconstructed Date Night Will Make You Love the Movies Again

Backtracking to 24 hours earlier, we meet the coke-snorting, assured Maxine ( Mia Goth ), who works as an exotic dancer for the grifting, brutish Wayne (Martin Henderson) at his Bayou Burlesque. The couple, who share an uncomfortable muse-artist relationship, believe they’re destined for more, and Wayne is willing to bankroll a low-budget hardcore porn titled “The Farmer’s Daughter,” which Maxine will star in, to prove it.

The burlesque owner also enlists Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ), a blonde bombshell in the mold of Marilyn Monroe, and her ex-military boyfriend with a giant dong, Jackson ( Kid Cudi ) to star in the movie too. Rounding out the skeleton crew are RJ (Owen Campbell), a hungry director wanting to make an artistic adult film through the school of French avant-garde cinema, and his quiet but observant girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega). They board Wayne’s blue van, a vehicle emblazoned with the winking name “Plowing Service,” to a secluded farm owned by an elderly couple.

Only one problem visibly exists: Howard (Stephen Ure) and Pearl (a heavily prosthetic-laden Goth). The elderly couple, a grotesque combination of swollen and reedy features, replete with mangled teeth and disintegrating white hair, are unaware that this band of filmmaking outlaws are making a porno on their own property.

West plays out this anxiety for eerie dread and sly laughs, often drawing parallels between Maxine and Pearl. The latter, in her time, commanded attention as a free-spirited beauty. But now she pines for youth, fetishizes smooth skin and wants the kind of sex Howard seems incapable of giving anymore. There is a friskiness, for lack of a better term, to Pearl in the barely steadied but hurried way she moves. We immediately know she’s disturbed. We can also see the hulking mass of repulsiveness that is Howard. And we’re not quite sure who’s the villain or who’s the victim.

West giddily relaxes on this liminal plane, patiently building tension through stillness and ambiguity. DP Eliot Rockett loves scenes of extremely long shots, allowing the high grass landscape to consume the actors. He further adores leveraging negative space for big frights. In one scene, a bird’s eye view sees a character floating in the middle of a grim pond, the only other figure is a stealthy alligator, swimming toward her. The sparse tableau provides intense results.

While “X” is an ingenious rejiggering of genre archetypes, a few shortcomings hold it back: The instigating reason behind the murders, intoxicating sex, feels underdeveloped. The mystery behind the elderly couple is a tad too cute, too knowingly brisk. Still, the melding of two seemingly different but closely related energies — those of adult films and bloody slashers — is a fascinating angle from which to interrogate the horror of aging in relation to sexual status. The maxim “you can never be too old,” applies nearly everywhere, except in West’s “X.”

“X” premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on Friday, March 18.

Ti West’s X aims its slasher-movie homage straight at classic horror fanatics

Mia Goth stars in a dual role in a movie that pays tribute to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, in its own striking way

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by Rafael Motamayor

A woman with a bloodied hand sobs in Ti West’s X

This review of Ti West’s X originally came from the 2022 media expo SXSW. It has been updated for the film’s digital release.

The House of the Devil director Ti West never left horror. It’s been nearly a decade since his last horror movie, The Sacrament , but he’s stayed busy in horror TV, directing episodes of Scream: The TV Series , The Exorcist , Them , and more. He returns to his big-screen roots with X , a deliciously gory, delightfully funny homage to 1970s indie filmmaking that lures viewers into a false sense of security with a fun hangout movie, then unleashes all hell on the screen. By the time the credits roll, it makes sense that A24 would confirm this as the distribution house’s first horror franchise .

In 1979, strip-club owner Wayne (Martin Henderson) decides to gather a group of friends, employees, and a couple of idealistic filmmaking-enthusiast tagalongs to shoot a porn film that will make them all famous . There’s Wayne’s girlfriend Maxine (Mia Goth), Bobby-Lane (Brittany Snow), and Jackson (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi), who will star in the film. Of course, this won’t be just any old porn film. As writer, director, editor, and cinematographer R.J. (Owen Campbell) explains, he’s here to prove that it’s “possible to make a good dirty movie.” He’s ready to employ avant-garde techniques and everything, and he’s brought along his girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega) as boom-mic operator. Of course, given that this is a ragtag production, corners are cut — most notably, the cast and crew are staying at a remote farmhouse owned by an elderly couple who are supposedly unaware of what they’re planning to do. Soon enough, bodies start dropping.

Though the premise of a porn shoot turning into a horror show could easily result in a schlocky parody, Ti West has more in mind. The adult-film angle serves two purposes — it puts a meta spin on the practically mandatory nudity and adult content of R-rated slasher films, and it uses the adult industry to speak about indie filmmaking at large. The first half of the film is a love letter to independent filmmaking, to the satisfactions of grabbing a group of like-minded friends and a camera, and heading to a remote location to make movies. At the Q&A following the film’s SXSW premiere, Ti West spoke about the similarities between horror and porn in the 1970s — specifically, the desire to break free from studio systems and make a name for yourself, with nothing in hand but a good idea.

The doomed crew of X walks through tall grass, film equipment in hand

Given that this is a horror film about a group of young people in Texas, there are clear homages to Tobe Hooper’s original 1974 movie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , especially in the beginning, where West is following a group of friends having a good time, unaware of the carnage waiting for them. West carefully waits to unveil the carnage, choosing to focus on character work and setting a creepy mood through long takes and ominous cutaways. (The A24 way!) The story isn’t all gloom and doom — West is clearly having a ball making this an enjoyable comedy, too. Double entendres and crude jokes fill the first half of the film, like the team’s van reading “Plowing Services.” Even when the killings begin, most of them have a lighthearted tone.

This is in no small part due to the cast, especially Brittany Snow, whose turn as a wannabe porn star makes for a hilarious return to horror for the actress. Meanwhile, Mescudi does an impressive job as the guy full of bravado and confidence, a veteran who fears nothing, even when he should. Still, this is Mia Goth’s movie: She pulls double duty as both the lead character and as house owner Pearl, subject of a planned spinoff prequel. Goth infuses both characters with a burning desire to obtain fame, and a deep fear of losing it. Even when buried under tons of makeup, her performance shines through.

As funny as X gets at times, however, it’s just as effective at providing scares as it is at provoking laughs. Once the kills begin, West unleashes heavy gore and entertaining death scenes, enhanced by effective, novel editing that West and his co-editor David Kashevaroff use to enhance the scares, or create new ones. From smash cuts and juxtapositions to cutting away from a kill to an unrelated scene to screen wipes and split-screens, X makes for an unpredictable experience.

Sadly, as great as the makeup is, it follows the recent unfortunate trope of villainizing the elderly, implying that aging naturally turns people into vicious villains . Get ready for gratuitous scenes of naked elderly people, designed to suggest that aging is gross and scary.

Tired stereotypes aside, though, West delivers a crowd-pleasing return to horror that’s a love letter to the genre without becoming a parody. This is no Texas Chain Saw Massacre rip-off , but it is still the best Texas Chain Saw Massacre film of the year. Ti West is back — may he not leave us again anytime soon.

X is now widely available for rental or purchase on Amazon , Vudu , and other digital platforms. The prequel, Pearl , is coming to theaters Sept. 16.

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‘X’ Review: Trash, Art and the Movies

Ti West’s latest is a slasher film about the making of a porno film, but the result might not be what you expect.

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By A.O. Scott

“X” is a clever and exuberant throwback to a less innocent time, when movies could be naughty, disreputable and idiosyncratic. Two kinds of movie in particular: the dirty kind and the scary kind. Set in 1979, before the internet made pornography ubiquitous and before anyone was pontificating about “elevated horror,” this sly and nasty picture insists that the flesh and blood of down-and-dirty entertainment is, literally, flesh and blood.

Not that the director, Ti West, is simply replicating the cheap, tawdry thrills of the olden days. West, whose earlier features include “The House of the Devil” and “The Sacrament,” is both a canny craftsman and a genre intellectual. In the midst of the sex and slaughter, he conducts an advanced seminar on visual pleasure and narrative cinema.

And also a brief course in film history, with particular attention to “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and shout-outs to “Psycho” and “Debbie Does Dallas.” That X-rated landmark (later adapted into an Off Broadway musical ) provides inspiration for the six Texans who show up at a decrepit farmstead to shoot a hard-core oeuvre called “The Farmer’s Daughters.” The actual farmer, an apparently childless geezer named Howard (Stephen Ure), has rented them a bunkhouse on his property. He and his wife live in the creaky, creepy main house.

The cast and crew consists of three performers — two women and a man, the classic heterosexual porn ratio — a director, a technician and a swaggering entrepreneur who claims the title of executive producer. This guy, Wayne (Martin Henderson), is also romantically attached to one of the stars, Maxine (Mia Goth), who dreams of the Hollywood big time. Her veteran co-stars, Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson (Scott Mescudi, also known as the rapper Kid Cudi), are also a couple, as are RJ (Owen Campbell), the director, and Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who handles the sound and is, at least for a while, the designated prude.

Since “X” is a slasher film, it’s not spoiling anything to note that most of these people will not make it out alive. An ax, a pitchfork and a shotgun are all in easy reach, and for good measure there’s an alligator in the pond. Howard and his wife, Pearl, give off sinister vibes, and West’s knack for zooming, cutting, manipulating point of view and layering sinister sounds creates an unmistakable anticipation of doom.

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Cast & crew
User reviews

Metacritic reviews

100 Screen Daily Nikki Baughan Screen Daily Nikki Baughan There are some tremendous misdirects, effective jump scares, and literal piles of gore. There just happens to be plenty of brains to go with all that blood.
91 Consequence Brett Arnold Consequence Brett Arnold Ti West’s X is a strange and wonderful return to form for the indie-horror phenom, an ode to the life-altering magic of cheap and dirty horror pictures. 13 years after his breakout hit in the genre, Ti West has added another great horror film to the canon.
85 Slashfilm Matt Donato Slashfilm Matt Donato Ti West is back with a violent vengeance, slicing and dicing through likable characters that light up the screen throughout their doomed and debaucherous overnight shoot. West is operating on another level — even the slightest editing cut cranks fear factors another notch higher.
83 The Playlist Jason Bailey The Playlist Jason Bailey With its shout-outs to horror classics and juicy pay-offs of its own, X feels like the movie West was born to make.
83 The A.V. Club Todd Gilchrist The A.V. Club Todd Gilchrist While you’re languishing in the performances and period detail, West is sneaking up to pull the rug out from beneath you, or to raze some outdated cliché. X is bloody, ballsy fun.
83 IndieWire Robert Daniels IndieWire Robert Daniels While West isn’t always operating on the same levels as his influences, his signature flair for tension through simmering slow-burn pacing remains unparalleled.
82 Polygon Rafael Motamayor Polygon Rafael Motamayor West delivers a crowd-pleasing return to horror that’s a love letter to the genre without becoming a parody.
80 Variety Owen Gleiberman Variety Owen Gleiberman X is a wily and entertaining slow-motion ride of terror that earns its shocks, along with its singular quease factor, which relates to the fact that the demons here are ancient specimens of humanity who actually have a touch of…humanity.
80 Empire Kim Newman Empire Kim Newman West’s frightfilms are playful — a stereotype is inverted as guys wander half-naked to their doom like stereotypical slasher starlets — but run to serious scares. X is a properly satisfying shocker.
75 RogerEbert.com RogerEbert.com X is a clever formal experiment, but one that plays like a feature-length joke for horror fans and filmmakers rather than offering a distinct perspective. West conjures nasty fun with a genre enthusiast’s expertise and then doesn't offer much beyond that.
See all 35 reviews on Metacritic.com
See all external reviews for X

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‘X’ marks a smart, inventive take on gory horror and old-school porn

Full of dark humor and surprising twists, the homage explores themes of sexuality, judgment and religion..

Mia Goth in new movie “X” as the fame-seeking character Maxine, whoruns into trouble on the set of the adult film she’s making.

Fame-seeking Maxine (Mia Goth) runs into trouble on the set of the adult film she’s making in “X.”

If we had an awards category for best cover song in a motion picture, I would instantly nominate the Brittany Snow/Kid Cudi rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” in the spectacularly gruesome, wickedly funny and just plain badass gore fest that is “X,” with Kid Cudi on acoustic guitar and Snow delivering lovely and lilting vocals, set to a split-screen montage featuring another character from the film who is either deeply sympathetic or a psychopathic killer, or maybe a little of both.

Ta da! If that doesn’t tell you writer-director Ti West has fashioned something unique and devilishly strange in the genre that has come to be known as “elevated horror,” then I just don’t know what.

Of the approximately one kabillion homages to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” we’ve had since the release of Tobe Hooper’s visceral classic in 1974, this is one of the most inventive and creative entrants I’ve ever seen.

With echoes of everything from “The Shining” to “Psycho” to “Boogie Nights” to “Alligator” to “Hardcore” to infamous porn films such as “Andy Warhol’s Blue Movie” and “Debbie Does Dallas,” this is an homage but also a strikingly original and cheerfully grotesque work, filled with dark humor, relatively complex subtext and gung-ho, all-in performances from the talented ensemble cast.

It’s the kind of movie that has you reeling in disgust at certain moments, then laughing at the blood-spattered absurdity of it all.

It’s a new twist on the period-piece slasher movie, smart and strange and fantastically depraved. I kinda loved it.

With West often employing techniques mimicking the grindhouse cinema of the time, “X” is set in 1979, with “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry setting the tone as we meet the six Houstonians who are headed to a remote farm in the Texas countryside where their leader has rented a cottage to surreptitiously shoot “The Farmer’s Daughter,” a homemade porn movie designed to capitalize on the brand-new home-video market.

Their ranks include:

Wayne (Martin Henderson), the constantly upbeat, smooth-talking, fortysomething huckster and producer who is the putative mastermind behind the project.

Brittany Snow and Kid Cudi in a scene in “X,” playing would-be porn stars who share a song during downtime from filming.

A couple of would-be porn stars (Brittany Snow and Kid Cudi) share a song during their downtime.

Maxine (Mia Goth), Wayne’s freckle-faced girlfriend, who indulges in a regular cocaine habit and yearns to become famous “like Lynda Carter.”
Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), who is street-smart and supremely self-confident and believes in touching all the hedonistic bases while she’s still young.
Jackson (Kid Cudi aka Scott Mescudi), a Marine who served in Vietnam and is all too happy to launch a career in porn, as he’ll be playing the stranded stranger who winds up at a farmhouse where daddy isn’t home, and the farmer’s daughters, played by Bobby-Lynne and Maxine in the movie-within-this-movie, are determined to show him the time of his life.
R.J. (Owen Campbell), who fancies himself a director in the French New Wave tradition and believes porn will be his springboard to Hollywood, and R.J’s innocent and prudish girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who will handle boom mic duties and is mortified, at least initially, when filming commences. (Sidebar: With “Scream” and “Studio 666” and now this film, Jenna Ortega is setting the land-speed record for most consecutive horror movie appearances.)

Even before the van with “Plowing Service” (haha) painted on its sides gets to the farm, there’s ominous foreshadowing, from the sight of cow entrails gunking up the road after an accident to the obligatory stop at the creepy gas station/convenience store, where we see a fire-and-brimstone televangelist (Simon Prast) on the black-and-white TV, railing against those who give in to the temptations of the human flesh. (It’s not the last time we’ll see that preacher on a TV.)

Once the gang arrives at the farm, they’re greeted with surly suspicion by crusty ol’ Howard (Stephen Ure), who looks to be about 100 years old and answers the door waving a shotgun. Staring from an upstairs window in classic horror movie fashion is Howard’s wife Pearl. And here’s the thing about Pearl: She’s also played by Mia Goth, who is virtually unrecognizable beneath some truly impressive makeup and prosthetics, which has us wondering if there’s going to be some sort of supernatural element to the proceedings, and I’m not spoiling that either way for ya.

“X” is that rare film that takes you inside the lives of the spooky villains, as we learn Pearl was once a beautiful young dancer whose dreams were cut short and who, and in present day, still yearns for the touch of Howard, who is mortified by the idea and says he can’t risk physical contact because of his bad heart. (West has reportedly filmed a prequel, also starring Goth as Pearl, set in 1918.)

The story takes a number of surprising twists and turns, all while exploring themes of sexuality, judgment and, of course, religion.

Even with all of the stylized tricks and splatter moments and gruesome violence, we believe these are real people in a real situation that goes really, terribly, horribly, entertainingly horrific.

‘X’ Movie Review – Ti West Goes Full-Throttle on Savagely Funny and Intense Throwback Horror

Bloody Disgusting’s X movie review is spoiler free.

It’s been almost an entire decade since writer/director Ti West ‘s last horror feature, The Sacrament . Far too long. Luckily, West ensures that the wait has been worth it with A24’s X , an homage to the gritty indie horror of the ’70s but with savage style and a deranged sense of humor that’s pure Ti West. A deceptively simple setup gives way to a go-for-broke horror-comedy that leaves you breathless, both from laughter and nail-biting tension.

Set in 1979 Texas, X opens to the aftermath of a bloodbath, to the befuddlement of local officials. Cut to 24 hours earlier, where a group of aspiring adult filmmakers load up in a van and drive from Houston out to the boonies to shoot. Producer Wayne ( The Ring’s Martin Henderson ) attempts to cut every corner for their limited budget, first by securing a young cinephile to direct, RJ ( Owen Campbell ), who’s brought girlfriend Lorraine ( Jenna Ortega ) to assist and handle the boom mic. Wayne’s enlisted his girlfriend Maxine ( Mia Goth ), Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ), and Jackson ( Scott Mescudi ) to star. Then he’s rented a boarding house on the cheap from the reclusive, elder Howard ( Stephen Ure ), who warns them to stay out of his wife’s sight.

The porn production quickly devolves into a fucked up horror picture when things spiral out of control.

Ti West's 'X' Highlights Horror Films Premiering at SXSW's 2022 Film Festival!

West has many surprises in store for X , but the first straight out of the gate is just how wickedly funny it is. From the little details like “Plowing Service” emblazoned across Wayne’s van to the consistent tongue-in-cheek euphemisms befitting of the adult film production, X has a delightfully wicked sense of humor. Snow and Mescudi stand out for their line delivery and comedic timing; their character gags and one-liners land with perfection.

The second significant shock in store is how fiercely the filmmaker matches the comedy with the horror. While it’s no surprise that West knows how to build tension, he brings it to a whole new level here. West, who co-edits with David Kashevaroff , finds ingenious and innovative ways to create edge-of-your-seat suspense through editing. Spliced scenes don’t just create visual interest; they deliver potent scares. Overhead shots instill unease, a masterclass of terror and foreshadowing with gratifyingly intense payoffs later. West’s intoxicating blend of style and scare-crafting creates a visceral horror experience.

That doesn’t even begin to cover the gore of it all. X is a crowd-pleasing doozy when it comes to brutal bloodletting and kills. Some deaths leave you queasy, and some will leave you cackling with glee. All of it is immensely satisfying.

X is West firing on all cylinders. The commitment to the period is top-level, capturing the aesthetic and vibe without ever coming close to feeling pastiche. It’s all the more impressive considering just how much humor gets injected, which could’ve pushed this into spoof territory quickly in other hands. The editing is a masterclass, a marvel of how West structures this wild tale to maximize the tension or offer reprieve through an onslaught of terror.

Then there’s the cast. The lean, straightforward narrative gets straight to the goods and never wastes time on heavy exposition. It’s all in the little details and the talented cast making these characters feel lived-in with a shared history. We root for this wacky, free-spirited bunch because they’re so charming and genuine. Naturally, it lends well to the horror’s impact.

The setting and period make for easy comparisons to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , and West uses that to lull viewers before pulling the rug out from under them. They share similar DNA and pure grit, but it’s a narratively different beast that demonstrates why West should be given full reign to go full throttle on deranged, savage, and intense horror-comedies more often. It’s a blast.

X releases in theaters on March 18, 2022.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

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Fede alvarez teases a hidden ellen ripley easter egg in ‘alien: romulus’.

The events of Alien: Romulus take place between the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens , with Rain and friends encountering the Xenomorphs approximately 20 years after Alien and roughly 30 years before Aliens . Ellen Ripley does not actually appear in Alien: Romulus , but you might be wondering what the iconic character was up to at that time.

As you may recall, Aliens revealed that Ripley was in stasis aboard an escape shuttle (known as the Narcissus) for 57 years after the events of Alien , which would mean that Ripley is very much still floating around out there during the events of Alien: Romulus . Her journey to the Sulaco is still far from over during the events of Alien: Romulus , if these timelines all line up.

Alien: Romulus does mention that there was one survivor of the Nostromo nightmare, that survivor of course being Ellen Ripley, and we do get a brief glimpse of the wreckage of the USCSS Nostromo at the start of Fede Alvarez’s new movie. That’s the beginning and ending of the Ripley connections in Romulus , at least as far as we noticed on our first watch.

In a chat with the ReelBlend Podcast , however, Alvarez seems to indicate that the whereabouts of Ripley are hinted at in some kind of Easter egg many fans have yet to find.

“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible,” Alvarez told the podcast when asked if it was on the table for Ellen Ripley to be worked into the Romulus storyline. He continued, “Because no one knows exactly what happened in all those years that she’s been drifting away. I cannot say more. I think for legal reasons, I cannot say more. I would say it’s not impossible. I think it’s totally possible that it could’ve been a part of this story somehow.”

“There’s a few things that I’ve hid in that movie that is the answer to this question,” Alvarez elaborates a little bit further. “It’s just very well hidden. But they’re kind of hiding in plain sight.”

He goes on to refer to those Easter eggs as “a few clues I’ve planted in the movie,” while noting that “it kind of defeats the whole purpose” if he spills the beans at this stage in the game.

The website AvP Galaxy speculates that the Narcissus escape shuttle may in fact appear in Alien: Romulus , which could very well be one of the Easter eggs that Alvarez is referring to.

Did you spot any other signs of Ripley in the movie? Sound off below!

In Alien: Romulus , “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

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X Review: A Slick And Stunning Original Slasher [SXSW]

"There just aren't any good original slashers anymore." Really? Because Ti West's Texan hack-em-up "X" is the latest in an ever-growing list of titles that prove this still overheard complaint so wrong. After successful years spent as a prolific television director, West's return to horror cinema channels all the sleazy lewdness of '70s exploitation through the director's slower-burning signatures. It's a welcome return and — for my money — is West's best film yet, given how authentic every element feels. "X" screams '70s and '80s slashers from blood-drenched gore to technical flourishes that boil down to choices like using older-school lighting rigs — because West wanted to make a full-immersion throwback like few others are right now.

Mission accomplished.

From the minute Wayne (Martin Henderson) leaves his 1979 Houston strip joint "Bayou Burlesque," it's all table setting for the horrors ahead. Maxine (Mia Goth) snorts bumps of coke and self-fulfills herself by repeating mantras about stardom like a final girl in training. Centerfold and mainstage starlet Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) proves there's more behind her money-making looks. Jackson (Scott Mescudi, aka Kid Cudi) flashes his dog tags as a soldier at the ready — we know these horror character arcs. We're supposed to. West brings Wayne's crew into the middle of nowhere to shoot an adult film called "The Farmer's Daughters" in trigger-happy owner Howard's (Stephen Ure) bunkhouse, behind conservative territory lines where televangelists rage about the scourge of sinful sex and narcotics. Intentions are laid plainly, as bohemians invade private property owned by an elderly couple that didn't survive two world wars so America could be taken over by smut peddlers and free spirits.

The artistry behind "X" and West's vision is meticulously rich. Cinematographer Eliot Rockett is fluent in visual storytelling from the very first shot — a doorway mimics tighter aspect ratios, which widen to reveal cop cars and devastation as the camera pushes outside. Rockett also implements overhead shots from a bird's eye view that interrupts serenity with enclosing dangers or paints a symmetrically dazzling horror tapestry. "X" sears picturesque visuals as West channels sweaty southern environments like "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" or "The Town That Dreaded Sundown," playing with filmmaking techniques that just aren't part of a lot of horror's vocabulary right now. The ways shadows project, or how composers Tyler Bates and Chelsea Wolfe's disquieting score scampers with chaotic freneticism, all play into the abject fear and scintillating entertainment that trademarks this pornographic slasher with thoughtful connections drawn between horror and adult cinema.

Ti West is back

Performers superbly portray their roles as dreamers with progressive ideals — enter overwhelmed sound technician Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), nicknamed "churchmouse," girlfriend of director RJ (Owen Campbell), who sees "The Farmer's Daughters" as an opportunity to elevate pornography with French "avant-garde" skillsets. Lorraine's moral hesitations instigate more perceptive conversations than average T&A slashers and lead to standouts Brittany Snow and Scott Mescudi devouring every ounce of the screen. Snow sells both her "Debbie Does Dallas" persona and the intelligence behind Bobby-Lynne's god-given talents (Snow is so, so funny during the porn shoots) — typical bombshell stereotypes be damned — while Mescudi's vanity is enough to draw laughs just by flexing in front of windows or doorways buck-naked. It's such a strong cast that draws you in during their secret filmmaking around Howard's farmland — necessary star-chasing charms allow the film's second half to terrify exquisitely because we care about who dies.

Once the horrors of "X" ignite, West rewards his patient audience with 100% commitment to an enormously enjoyable slasher boasting all the thrills and chills promised. WETA provides practical effects that sell excessively gnarly deaths inspired by everything from Italian Giallos to M. Night Shyamalan's "The Visit." Easy trailer comparisons to "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" are less apt since West pursues something genuinely unique as Rockett's crooked camera captures everything from the consequences of repression to surprise aquatic horror. Practical effects stay impressively realistic and gratuitous — a calling card of golden age slashers — that will leave fans abuzz after credits roll. "X" lives its name by pushing grindhouse appeal to the extreme, delivering what horror lovers will undoubtedly describe as "old-fashioned horror fun."

So much of "X" and its despicable spiral into bloodlust at the hand of republican and religious panic toes spoiler territory, so this is where I leave you. Ti West is back with a violent vengeance, slicing and dicing through likable characters that light up the screen throughout their doomed and debaucherous overnight shoot. West is operating on another level — even the slightest editing cut cranks fear factors another notch higher. It's so good you can't help but wonder how many other knockouts we've been robbed of had West not turned to television for a spell, but more inspiringly, what West still has in store for us now that he's back (for now). Slashers are alive and well, and even breathe new life in the case of "X" — if only we supported new original slashers as much as the next "Halloween" or "Scream," studios would take more unbelievable risks like "X." Here's your chance.

/Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

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Common Sense Says
Parents Say 13 Reviews
Kids Say 37 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Grindhouse-style exploration of aging, sex, and gore.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 17+?

Intense, graphic violence designed to shock. Lots and lots of blood, spurting, s

Several sex scenes, with characters sharing partners (performed for an adult mov

Several uses of "f--k," plus "t-ts," "c--k," "ass," "d--k," "bitch," "son of a b

Main character snorts cocaine in at least three scenes. Smoking. Characters drin

Old 1970s Coca-Cola cooler displayed. Wonder Bread shown and mentioned.

Any Positive Content?

Of the six main characters, three are women (one Latina) and one is a Black man.

Movie's themes aren't exactly streamlined, but it touches on faith-based repress

Even though main characters are all likable and generally positive, their life c

Violence & Scariness

Intense, graphic violence designed to shock. Lots and lots of blood, spurting, spraying, gurgling, oozing. Bloody, gory crime scene. Extremely gory slaughtered cow, hit by truck: Slabs of flesh hang from the truck and are shoveled from the road. Van wheels smoosh through cow guts. Character stabbed repeatedly in throat until flesh torn; lots of spurting blood. Head smashed with wheel of truck. Corpse with torn-up face. Rifle shown, characters shot. Handgun shown. Character torn up, eaten by alligator. Man breaks woman's fingers. Character steps on protruding nail. Naked male corpse hanging from wall. Character has heart attack.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Several sex scenes, with characters sharing partners (performed for an adult movie). Bare breasts and bottoms, plus thrusting, moaning, etc. Penis seen in silhouette. A character wipes ejaculate from her thigh with a towel. Man naked except for tiny underwear. Passionate, slurpy kissing. Sex-related dialogue. Dialogue about adult movies; Debbie Does Dallas is mentioned. A skinny-dipping woman is shown fully naked in an extreme long shot. A character touches another character's hand to his penis ("feel how hard my c--k is!"). Penis seen on male corpse.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Several uses of "f--k," plus "t-ts," "c--k," "ass," "d--k," "bitch," "son of a bitch," "hell," "whore," "pecker," "smut," "oh my God," and "God save me."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Main character snorts cocaine in at least three scenes. Smoking. Characters drink beer with dinner.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Diverse representations.

Of the six main characters, three are women (one Latina) and one is a Black man. One woman seems to be the driving force of the movie, becoming the only survivor. A Black sheriff appears in just two scenes but has two of the movie's best lines.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Positive Messages

Movie's themes aren't exactly streamlined, but it touches on faith-based repression vs. sexual freedom, and sexual freedom vs. emotional commitment. But main themes concern age and desire: Despite a life of faith, the older couple still feel desire, but the younger people are revolted by them. Draws no conclusions on these themes but leaves viewers with something to talk about.

Positive Role Models

Even though main characters are all likable and generally positive, their life choices are iffy, and all but one pay a high price. The survivor is somewhat self-involved and doesn't suffer consequences for problematic choices.

Parents need to know that X is a horror movie set in 1979 about people making an adult film in a remote farmhouse who end up being stalked by the elderly couple that owns the place. Ultra-gory and explicit, it's also funny, clever, and effective, touching on themes of sexuality, repression, and aging in unique ways. There are multiple instances of partial nudity (breasts, bottoms, slightly obscured penis), a fully naked skinny-dipping woman seen in a long shot, and several sex scenes, with thrusting, moaning, and more. Violence is very graphic, with lots of blood (spurting, spraying, gurgling, oozing), bloody carnage, gruesome murders, torn flesh, broken bones, eyes stabbed, etc., as well as guns and shooting. Strong language includes "f--k," "t-ts," "c--k," "ass," "d--k," "bitch," and more. A main character uses cocaine without consequences, and there's social drinking and smoking. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (13)
Kids say (37)

Based on 13 parent reviews

Rated 18 (strong bloody violence, sex).

MAIN CONTENT ISSUES - There are several scenes of strong bloody violence, sometimes featuring gory injury detail. These include a man being stabbed in the neck multiple times, a man being stabbed through the eye, a man being shot in the chest, a woman having her fingers battered with the butt of a shotgun, a woman being shot in the face with gory aftermath detail, and a woman having her head crushed by a vehicle causing a big spurt of blood and gore. Some of these sequences are quite sustained, and linger on injury detail. There are also multiple prolonged sex scenes, featuring heavy thrusting and sexual moaning, explicit sexual dialogue and references, as well as graphic breast and buttock nudity. One moment also shows a woman wiping some semen from her hip. These sexual scenes primarily take place in the context of the characters filming a pornographic film, although no actual penetration is shown and the sex is only simulated. | OTHER ISSUES - There is strong threat and suspense throughout, including a sustained sequence of sexualized threat where a woman is inappropriately touched and caressed by another woman whilst sleeping. There are also some scenes of drug use where a woman snorts cocaine. Multiple uses of strong language ("f*ck"), as well as milder terms ("c*ck", "b*tch", "wh*re", "p*ssy", "d*ck", "sh*t", etc). | Rated "18" - Suitable only for persons aged 18 years and over. Contains content recommended for viewing by adults only.

What's the Story?

In X, it's 1979 in Houston, Texas. Wayne ( Martin Henderson ), who runs a burlesque club, climbs into a van with two of his sex workers, his girlfriend Maxine ( Mia Goth ), and Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ). Also along for the ride are Bobby-Lynne's boyfriend, sex worker Jackson ( Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi ), filmmaker RJ (Owen Campbell), and sound recordist/RJ's girlfriend Lorraine ( Jenna Ortega ). Their destination is a remote house on a ranch owned by an odd older couple. There, the team hopes to film an adult-oriented movie, The Farmer's Daughters , and make a fortune in the burgeoning home video market. The shoot begins well, but then one of the home's owners starts to exhibit extra-creepy vibes, leering at the youngsters. Over dinner and beers, Lorraine decides to be in the movie as well. A distraught RJ storms off into the night, thus setting off a shocking cycle of violence and gore.

Is It Any Good?

More than just a stylish grindhouse throwback, this gorefest explores sex and violence in fresh ways. It takes into account the oft-ignored subject of aging bodies and balances things with moments of wry humor. It's no surprise that the confident direction is the work of Ti West , whose The House of the Devil , which has a similar throwback style, has already become a horror classic and whose other genre works deserve the same fate. The look and feel of X comes from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre textbook, and West understands it inside and out -- not only its shock and gore, but also its sense of place and unexpected comic touches. But he uses it to create his own thing, rather than a slavish copy.

For example, in many traditional horror movies, sex is equated with death -- but in X , sex is treated as natural and freeing. Even though the actors are creating "smut," they seem in control of their bodies ... that is, until the attacks start coming. Those are fueled partly by faith-based righteousness and partly by jealousy of youth and beauty. It's a deadly combination, and certainly West could have gone deeper with it, but instead he focuses on sheer sensation. Some shots, like the click of a basement light switch, a casual swim in a pond (accompanied by a hungry gator), and a protruding nail, create giddy squeals that are practically old-fashioned. The combination of shock, titillation, and laughs may seem a bit messy, but that may be precisely what X is really all about.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about X 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

How is sex depicted? In the story, how is filmed sex different from "real" sex?

How are drugs depicted? Are they glamorized? Are there consequences? Why is that important?

Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies ? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

How does the movie touch upon themes of repression and liberation? Of aging and desire?

Movie Details

In theaters : March 18, 2022
On DVD or streaming : April 14, 2022
Cast : Mia Goth , Jenna Ortega , Brittany Snow
Director : Ti West
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
Studio : A24
Genre : Horror
Run time : 105 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : strong bloody violence and gore, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language
Last updated : August 3, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

X (2022) Movie Review – Striking religious parallelism elevates this thrilling slasher

Blending the horrific, the religious, and the erotic.

As I settled into a theater seat to watch X –Ti West’s new 70s-era slasher horror–the two teenagers behind me were apparently playing a word association game. One of them whispered to the other–“ Jesus ”–when production company “Little Lamb” flashed across the screen.

While the first-century religious leader may not have anything explicitly to do with the production studios behind X , this still seemed like a weirdly appropriate introduction to the horror film, which West imbues with prominent themes of evangelical purity culture and religious trauma.

The A24 picture centers a somewhat-meta narrative: In 1979, a group of filmmakers pay to stay at a dilapidated Texas farmhouse. It’s the perfect setting for their pornography feature in the making, The Farmer’s Daughters . Spearheaded by easy-going producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), the project stands to gain from indie director RJ’s (Owen Campbell) arthouse approach.

But as Bobby-Lynn (Brittany Snow) confidently asserts, the production would be nothing without its subjects: herself, her “sometimes” boyfriend Jackson (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi), and rising star Maxine (Mia Goth). RJ’s girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega) assists on the technical side, her insinuated Christianity keeping her skeptical of the film, but intrigued nonetheless by the actors’ comfortable sexuality.

It’s an eclectic crew they make, and one that doesn’t appear to belong in the rural, religious environment. They’re compelled to be discreet due to the callous nature of their host, Howard (Stephen Ure), and his mysterious wife, Pearl (also played by Goth, inciting a striking comparison between her two characters). Unbeknownst to the wannabe stars, a discovery of their ‘deviant’ sensual pursuits would have disastrous (and bloody) consequences.

While the tension intensifies slowly but masterfully, the first half of X focuses its attention mainly on character building and weaving in its major themes. And whereas no explicit horror takes place until at least the halfway point, a sense of eerie anticipation underscores the entire viewing experience. It is guiding hints–not misdirection–that arrest our attention and urge questions leading into the slasher’s killings. Who will be the killer? What are their motivations? X peels back these layers while revelling in clever and gory kills that shock and horrify and still delight in their absurdity.

Drawing inspiration from films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , West’s approach to the slasher genre salutes its pioneers. The very beginning scene evokes the old-school, squared aspect ratio–only to reveal this as a smart trick of the camera, the scene having been framed by open barn doors. It also honors its setting of ‘70s rural Texas, down to featuring only the local beer of the period. But way beyond beer cans and aspect ratios, West undertakes something entirely new–and it’s through Goth’s fictional counterparts and their opposing ideals.

“I will not accept a life I do not deserve.” Maxine’s oft-repeated mantra finds vivid antiparallelism in Pearl’s character and roots in biblical themes. The teachings of a Christian televangelist pervade the Texas town, including Howard’s and Pearl’s home.

They spread the message of eternal life given to those who are not worthy–of suppressing one’s true desires in order to be deserving of such life. And these religious ideals inform and enrich every subject of the film: particularly the divide between generations, between the sexually liberated and sexually repressed. It is not for shock value, then, that X focuses on sex and pornography, as these central themes are set compellingly against West’s concept of oppressive religious ideology–the true villain of the slasher horror.

Although religious themes are not at all new to the horror genre, X uniquely and effortlessly weaves a story of aging, sex, loss, and liberation in a world so affected by a conservative Christian belief system. The result is a slasher that’s poignant, meaningful–and absolutely thrilling.

Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!

Verdict - 10/10 10/10

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Maxine is the first to tour the grounds and notices that things are off. She doesn’t relay that to the group, but they probably wouldn’t have listened anyway. Meanwhile, Howard and Pearl are in a loveless marriage and want intimacy, but he can’t because of the husband’s heart problems. When Pearl witnesses the group shooting in all their naked glory, this ignites a sexual rage in her that she chooses to take out on the young group. Let the game begin!

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The idea that lack of sexual connection could cause one to become a murderer is interesting but isn’t expounded upon here. Pearl sees Maxine as a “special woman,” but the reason why isn’t revealed until the last scene. There are too many loose ends to count, but the redeeming cast is what keeps X afloat. Each actor brings their own quirks to the table. They are good-looking, dynamic and having a good time.

I give West credit for having a vision and sticking to his influences. He knows what he wants to do and how to execute it unapologetically. X is surface-level entertainment — focused more on having fun than telling a good story — but still a satisfying piece of indie horror filmmaking that’s worth taking a chance on. Don’t expect anything like his previous film, The Innkeepers, but don’t think too hard while watching X . Just enjoy the ride.

‘X’ Trailer: Late-’70s Rural Texas Porn Shoot Goes Bad In Ti West’s Horror Pic

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Considering that sequels to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre are still being cranked out, writer-director Ti West ( The House Of The Devil , The Innkeepers ) shows guts in reframing many images from Tobe Hooper ’s 1974 classic early in X . Quite a few of his nods are deliberate misdirections and this has more on its mind than power-tool homage. He also evokes other major horrors — especially Psycho and Hooper’s Chain Saw follow-up, Death Trap , aka Eaten Alive — to build background dread while the main characters think they’re in a comical, down-home Boogie Nights .

The 1970s was an era when young filmmakers who might have made horror films thought there was mileage in arty dirty movies, and older producers were distracted from young flesh by the prospect of big box office. X has fun with the seamy milieu, showcasing bright performances from Brittany Snow and Mia Goth as would-be sex stars, Jenna Ortega as a porn-curious sound recordist (the real sound design, by Graham Reznick, is excellent), and Martin Henderson as a cowboy-hatted Larry Flynt wannabe.

When natural and unnatural desires are awakened on the porno shoot and an aged American-gothic farm couple get involved, the horrors go into overdrive, as X races through its second half with eye-opening (and -piercing) shocks and surprises — funny, horrific, and just plain weird. Many who attempt retro horror fall into the trap of simply imitating their favourite films, but Tobe Hooper, George Romero and Brian De Palma were as hung up on French New Wave, Bergman and underground cinema as Hitchcock and Hammer, and West judiciously stirs in these influences. He uses disorienting editing tricks to ratchet tension, but also holds long, cool shots of folks relaxing in nature, unaware of looming threats — a lake scene with Goth and a gator is liable to be much-cited.

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X (United States, 2022)

X is a fun movie – a throwback to the Grindhouse pictures of the 1970s and the slasher genre of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. With a tongue-in-cheek, devil-may-care approach, writer/director Ti West embraces many of the tropes that have since fallen into disfavor (copious T&A, for example) and splashes them all over the screen. The caveat, of course, is that a love of gory horror is a prerequisite for enjoying X .

West, as is his wont, doesn’t jump right into the action. Favoring a slow-burn to a burnout, he spends some time with the characters and, although none develops the full three dimensions, they have better rounded personalities than the plastic targets who populate most slasher films. Roughly the first half of the movie is an homage to ‘70s soft core/exploitation pictures, although there’s always creepy Howard (Stephen Ure) hanging around in the background to remind us that things are eventually going to get bloody. (There’s also a wraparound structure that opens the movie with police investigating what looks like a slaughterhouse massacre, so we know there’s going to be a substantial body count.)

The premise is simple enough – in 1979, a group of six adults have come to an out-of-the-way corner of Texas to make a porn movie. The director, RJ (Owen Campbell), has artistic aspirations. He prefers to call his picture an “independent film” and he’s focused more on the integrity of the production than its commercial prospects. The dollar signs are the purview of executive producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), who has arranged his merry band to rent a guest house from the geriatric, somewhat frightening Howard. RJ’s cast includes the well-endowed Jackson (Scott Mescudi), whose afro is as impressive as what he’s packing in his trousers; the free-spirited Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), who’s up for anything; and Wayne’s squeeze, Maxine (Mia Goth). Also along on the trip is RJ’s girlfriend, Lorraine (Jenny Ortega), who handles the sound equipment before deciding that she’d like a taste of what the other women are having.

The movie is funny – intentionally and in the right ways. West plays with tropes while at the same time honoring them. Despite having very little budget, he’s able to recreate the 1979 aesthetic with such aptitude that one can be forgiven thinking he found the movie rather than making it. (He takes a pointed jab at the “found footage” genre.) There are a lot of references, Easter Eggs, and in-jokes. The most obvious inspiration is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the Tobe Hooper 1974 original) but there’s a little Halloween and a dash of Friday the 13th to be found. (The use of Blue Oyster Cult’s “The Reaper” is a direct nod to the John Carpenter film.) West finds a way to use all of the horror/slasher cliches in such a way that they’re hip and engaging rather than tired and trite. It all comes down to tone.

In 2022, horror has become a template-based genre that is more often than not made-to-order either for teenagers or 20-somethings who adore jump-scares. X is a reminder that, while the slasher genre had some very deep valleys, some of the most effective horror emerged from it (especially in the early days before the films became little more than orgies of inventive eviscerations). With X , West seeks to recapture some of the fun, edginess, and energy of those productions while at the same time delivering a few surprises. That he succeeds makes X a must-see for those who claim an affection for this sort of film.

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Halloween (1978)
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Netflix viewers obsessed with ‘intense’ Stephen King psychological horror you haven’t heard of that even creeped out the author

Stephen king himself said that it ‘won’t leave his mind’.

Michael Slavin

Is there anything creepier than a Stephen King adaptation?

Something about the author's numerous novels just seems to lend themselves to the most unsettling of TV and film adaptations.

King’s adaptations are almost always a hit, whether it be Gerald’s Game being so grim it made fans pass out , Pet Sematary traumatizing numerous childhoods, or IT ruining clowns for all the cowards amongst us (I am the 'cowards' I talk about here).

I may be a 26-year-old man but I'm a 26-year-old man with the good sense to be afraid of clowns. (Warner Brothers.)

There is another film though based on a Stephen King novella, and you likely won’t have even heard of it.

Not only is it a scary and intense watch, but it’s so creepy that King himself said that it ‘won’t leave his mind’.

Check out the trailer below:

The movie in question is 1922 , follows a man who conspires to kill his wife with the help of his son when they run into financial difficulties.

As they begin to become consumed by guilt due to their acts however, their lives begin to fall apart.

Released on Netflix in 2017 with a budget of just $5 million, it is based on a novella of the same name written by the horror master King.

Though some claimed 1922 was slow, many instead chose to describe the movie as ‘patient’, insisting that the build-up is paid off in the end.

With a 92 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes it was a hit with reviewers.

Rebecca Hawkes, of the Daily Telegraph, said in her four star review: “In cinemas, it might have been overshadowed by flashier rivals, but perhaps, on demand, this slow, but winningly bleak little tale will find the audience it deserves.”

The film is deeply unsettling. (Netflix)

King was full of praise for the adaptation of his work prior to its release, telling Yahoo: “The one you want to watch for is, Netflix did an adaptation of 1922 from Full Dark, No Stars .

“I think that’s going to be out in October or something, and man, I saw a rough cut of that and it won’t leave my mind. That is super creepy.”

The film was also a hit with fans, with one saying in their four star Letterboxd review: “ 1922 is a film that’s assured of itself, thankfully being on Netflix the creators didn't have to worry about turning this film into a lowest common-denominator jump-fest.

“Instead it respects its audience and asks them to come along on a journey through the protagonist's mind.

“The films acute attention to detail makes 1922 an effective psychological (horror) film.”

1922 is available to watch on Netflix now.

Topics: Stephen King , Horror , Netflix , Film and TV

Michael Slavin is a Film and TV writer for UNILAD and LADbible. After completing an English Literature with Creative Writing degree at Surrey University, followed by a Masters in International Journalism at Salford University, he began working for the Warrington Guardian as a reporter. Throughout this though, he did freelance work about Film and TV for publications such as DiscussingFilm, looking for any excuse to get to rant about films. He has now finally got that wish.

@ MichaelSlavin98

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‘furiosa: a mad max saga’ 4k ultra hd movie review.

The continuation of the extended mythology of warrior Max Rockatansky’s brutal universe underwhelmed audiences but looks for a resurgence with its 4K debut in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ( Warner Bros . Home Entertainment, rated R, 148 minutes, 2:39:1 aspect ratio, $49.98).

Filmmaker George Miller’s origin story of his legendary female Imperator of “Mad Max: Fury Road” takes place in a post-apocalyptic Australia , turned into a dangerous wasteland run by warlords.

Viewers meet a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) taken by the Biker Horde minions of Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) while she lived with her mother and tribe in the Green Place of Many Mothers, a lush land that still supports agriculture.

After the warlord crucifies her mother, after a failed rescue attempt, Furiosa becomes the unwilling adopted daughter of Dementus.

As a prisoner of the future lord of Gas Town, Furiosa gets stuck in the middle of the conflict between Dementus and the Citadel boss Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), becoming barter between the lunatics.

Eventually traded to Immortan Joe, an older Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) learns the ways of a rig driver as the apprentice to Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) while slowly plotting her revenge against Dementus.

As expected, the grisly violence, extreme vehicular battles and close-quarter fights concocted by Mr. Miller and his team are visually exhilarating as viewers watch the characters’ antics taking place among Gas Town, Bullet Town and the water-rich Citadel.

Mr. Miller has created a rich mythology nearly impressive as any superhero universe, and it’s too bad it took him nine years to deliver “Furiosa.” I have to believe any potential theater audience forgot what they loved about “Fury Road.”

Hopefully he gets a chance to continue the franchise with the yet fully developed though reported “Mad Max: The Wasteland.”

4K in action: The presentation boasts a native 4K transfer shot on Arri Alexa 65 digital cameras to deliver rich color and detail to every cinematic choice made by Mr. Miller and cinematographer Simon Duggan.

Moments to savor amid the scorched red-and-yellow earth overwhelming scenes include a sandstorm blowing in and covering the screen as a motorcycle rider drives toward Dementus’ lair; and one of Immortan Joe’s War Boys sliding down a rope and launching himself to the ground to explode in fiery orange hues.

Also, falling under the category of odd but visually impactful, is looking inside of a tanker to view a War pup dwarf in complete white makeup bloodied by a hole in his head while surrounded by green heads of lettuce and veggies.

Crisp details can be found in shots such as Furiosa’s eyeball mirroring her mother being crucified and killed; Dementus eating a sausage as he’s bathed in deep-blue moonlight; and the fine lettering on the body, face and tunic of the history man.

My only regret is that the film was not presented in an Imax aspect ratio to fully appreciate the punch in the face-style extreme action.

Best extras: A beefy collection of digital goodies starts with a 47-minute documentary that has all key cast and crew discussing the film and its creation.

Most interesting is footage of the actors exploring their characters and stories with Mr. Miller in a roundtable atmosphere; the on location reminiscing about shooting around Broken Hill, Australia , for “Furiosa” (41 years ago. Mr. Miler shot “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” in the same area); and learning it took four months of analysis, rewrites and rehearsal to play out the final conflict between Dementus and Furiosa.

The long segment also touches on weapons, costume design outfitting outrageous survivalist gear and garb, make-up design, designs on Gas Town and Bullet Farm, advances in digital pre-viz storyboarding, musical composition and sound design.

Next, viewers get 14 minutes with production designer Colin Gibson and his vehicular creations all made from found objects. He covers building highly customized motorbikes, super trucks and vehicles, Dementus’ tricycle chariot and specifics down to a gear stick made out of a femur and the metallic mural pressed on the curved body of a war rig tanker.

As informative is another 11-minute extra exploring the stowaway action sequence set on the war rig tanker that required 200 stunt people and 197 shots that was completed over nine months.

The sequence features bombing mortifiers on parachutes dragged by motorcycles and a final Zeppelin-like “Octoboss” smashing into the rear of the tanker and its “Bommy Knocker” (a drill with spinning spiked balls and a bowling ball attached).

Finally, viewers also get, two 11-minute character breakdowns on Dementus and Furiosa as explained by each actor, the director and costars.

• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at [email protected] .

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