"We love everybody, but we do as we please," sings the 1970s rock band Mungo Jerry during X's opening scene. From this first pitch-perfect needle-drop and onward, Ti West's X envelops the audience in the hazy good-time of 1979, a time when societal norms were discarded in regards to what Brittany Snow's Bobby-Lynne calls a "disco" mentality.
After delivering audiences a gut-wrenching and slow-burn take on 80s-era haunted house films in The House of the Devil, West reimagines 70s-era slashers with A24's X. Directed, written, and edited by West, X takes an impressive and detailed inventory on the genre of film and time period it's lovingly homaging. What works best in X is how it knows just what details of 70s slashers to bring into the bloodsoaked frame and what character tropes, harmful messaging, and audience expectations can be gleefully sliced and left on the side of the road.
X centers on a group of young filmmakers -- the "church-mouse" Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), the ranger-hat wearing Wayne (Martin Henderson), and the pretentious and nervy RJ (Owen Campbell) -- and adult entertainment workers -- the fame-determined Maxine (Mia Goth), the savvy and savage Bobby-Lynne, and the ex-marine turned porn star Jackson Hole (Kid Cudi) -- hoping to make a porno film with arthouse sensibilities in a farmhouse in rural Texas. Of course, things go haywire when the elder owners of the farmhouse find out what kind of film The Farmer's Daughter is, inviting a bloody and sensual gorefest into their beds.
Stacking the shelves of X with period-appropriate props, production designer Tom Hammock makes X palpably feel like it's 1979 with its discontinued cigarette brands and all. Similarly, costume designer Malgosia Turzanska (The Green Knight) makes each scene feel worn in the best possible of ways. You can almost smell the Farrah Fawcett hair products and sweaty denim jean overalls. X's pop-culture references give texture to the film without ever feeling like sign-posts to its era. West's worldbuilding follows this same path, namedropping characters like Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor but doing so without ever feeling shoehorned into its dialogue. It's easy to slip into this world without anyone ever saying "boogie down."
Although there is nudity in X, as one can expect from a film about filming a porno, the shots are handled with a softcore lens that never objectifies its cast. While it's hard to pull off, these shots feel more wondrous and alluring without ever making the audience feel leering.
Of the cast, Snow easily steals the show. While Goth delivers a raw vulnerability with a stiff upper lip, Snow's Bobby-Lynne swaggers onto the stage like a foxy car-wreck that has no time to suffer fools. These two characters, especially, show how much fun West is having with introducing the idea of who someone is expected to be on-screen and swerving into a new direction. While Bobby-Lynne may appear to embody the insecure blonde-bombshell aesthetic of the 70s, she gives insightful notes to the camera crew about framing shots and feels completely at home with herself. Snow also delivers a heartfelt rendition of Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" that'll make viewers fall in love with this crew and dread the gore to come.
Goth pulls double duty in this film, portraying Maxine and the elderly woman Pearl. Most of the film is spent watching the compelling interplay between Maxine and Pearl. X captures how America's obsession with vitality -- especially for women -- has disastrous results for all involved. The desire to be desired at any age is a powerful plot device that West wields in an inventive way. While many horror films of the 70s punished women for embracing their sexuality, X asks, "How does our obsession with beauty play out as we age?"
On that note, however, it's interesting that Pearl's casting didn't go to an older actor. Having a film that depicts our existential fear of aging choose to cast a younger actor as Pearl feels strange. While Goth soars as Pearl, it'd be refreshing to see an older woman actor gain a leading role in a horror film. Additionally, the way West chooses to show aging is a bit over-the-top. While the raw-hide-like faces of Pearl and Howard (Stephen Ure) were likely created to illustrate the younger characters' fear of aging, it adds a heavy-handed grotesqueness to their otherwise deftly handled story. Leaning more on the physicality of these characters in lieu of heavy SFX makeup would have faired better and rendered a more moving approach.
However, X's playful and sexual dance between Peal and the entire cast is still a joy to behold. Its gore, as well, is outstanding. Strap in for plenty of head-rolling squeamish scenes. While the subject matter of X is technically about a porno, its heart is about our denial of mortality. Yet, even with that heavy idea, it's a ball of romping fun that'll make gorehounds squeal.
Catch Ti West's X in theaters on Friday, March 18.