Концерт «Hedonism Sunset Live. Postman»
36/40
In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film on a rural Texas farm, but when their lonely, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the crew finds themselves fighting for their lives. The day after the South by Southwest premiere of X (2022), writer/director Ti West revealed that he had written a prequel, Pearl (2022), during a mandatory two-week COVID-19 quarantine at his New Zealand hotel before production could begin on that film. A24 saw the script and gave the film the green light before production on X had even wrapped. He asked star Mia Goth if she would like to stay in New Zealand to shoot Pearl, and she happily agreed.
When Lorraine goes into the basement and turns on the light, there is a modern halogen light bulb that wasn’t there in 1979. Maxine: I won’t accept a life I don’t deserve. There are no opening credits. The title doesn’t appear on screen until the end.
An interesting, slow-burning film, but without enough of a punch to make it stand out from the countless other slasher films out there, X is a great film and another homage to the cult genre that made horror so popular. I’ll admit that I enjoy the occasional slasher film — I really enjoy films like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Valentine’s Day , but where X falls short is in its use of a fairly familiar formula without any truly unique purpose. Throughout the film, characters often talk about the X factor, something that makes Mia Goth’s character unique and worthy of stardom — but unlike the references, this film simply doesn’t have it. The acting is really good, as always I love the underrated Mia Goth – and Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson and even Kid Cudi did some pretty impressive work.
The cinematography is fantastic and fits the feel and tone of the film perfectly. The music is nice and tense and the pacing can be a little slow at times but allows for some interesting angles. Its main problem lies solely in the script, which largely revolves around the production of a pornographic film but has too many elements and formulaic tendencies from other horror films like The Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, The Visit and apparently The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to really stand out and become something of its own. Ultimately it’s not a bad film, I wouldn’t watch it again but I certainly wouldn’t mind watching it again.
It simply could have been better, especially considering the talent involved, but ironically settled for something worse. My rating: 5.8/10. A24 has produced some of the most memorable horror films of the 21st century.
