X Review

X review.

As we talked about in our review of Ti West’s prequel to X, Pearl, X is a horror movie about aging. We wouldn’t know the full nature of its primary antagonist until Pearl hit months later…and it does inform a slightly different interpretation of X. But it only deepens what was already on the surface…it doesn’t redefine the emotions attached to the now elderly Pearl character.

Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.

Directed by Ti West

Written by Ti West

Starring Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson, Owen Campbell and Scott Mescudi

X Review

X came out months before its prequel Pearl but we’re reviewing it second. This makes it difficult to separate the two stories that occupy the same setting. That’s good news for X since its prequel story deepens appreciation for the original movie. Both films benefit from the knowledge gained in the other. Which is to say, 2022 was a great year for director Ti West.

A group of adult filmmakers want to shoot their latest film at a Texas farmhouse. They rent space from an elderly couple. When the old woman gets a little too interested in what they’re up to…the group finds themselves trying to just survive the night.

X is set in 1979. It’s shot to evoke that era which is one of the reasons that people immediately pointed to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as an influence on it. A group of young people arriving at a Texas farmhouse who run afoul of the people who reside there? Ok…so they aren’t the most difficult dots to connect.

X presents a very different kind of antagonist than the 1974 classic it evokes, however. We learn more about Pearl in her prequel story…but we know enough about her here to let us understand a shade of her character. Presented in X, the now ancient looking Pearl (Mia Goth) is a woman filled with regret. Not the regret that comes from committing horrible acts…she has no problem with that. The regret that accompanies having lived an unfulfilled life.

When Pearl sees the beautiful cast of sexually forward visitors…her passions are reignited. Her husband’s heart is too weak to make love to her. She is, as we saw in her prequel story, again stuck in a world where she can find no satisfaction. The state of her character is made profoundly sadder after you see Pearl but the hints of her pain here work well enough alone.

Unfortunately for our young group of likable porn actors and crew…you wouldn’t like Pearl when she’s unsatisfied. Her first kill is a shocking one. Not because we don’t suspect that she’s capable of it…this is a horror movie, someone has to do the killing. It’s because of how unmoved she is by the whole experience. She doesn’t bat an eye as she stabs a man in the throat for his unforgivable crime of youth.

The kills in X are a highlight. We get death by pitchfork to the eye, shotgun blasts from close range, being fed to an alligator… There’s good stuff here. Pearl doesn’t get to have all the fun as her husband has become just as murder happy as she. He suffers a heart attack before he can see his wife’s fate beneath a moving vehicle.

Our sole survivor is Maxine (also Mia Goth) who drives off into the night to star in her own upcoming sequel. The ending is where having seen Pearl can change some of your perspective. Yes, Pearl is a crazy murderous woman whose violent end is long overdue. When you watch X the first time through, however, you don’t really know her well enough to connect with her on a deeper level. Seeing her end after watching a movie devoted to her beginning…it changes the stakes. This isn’t just the antagonist getting her comeuppance at the end. This is a woman who never caught a break…never got out. Never had the chance to live the life she wanted.

The movie Pearl has an extra pang of sadness to it because we know that the character who so desperately wants out of her trap will never get out. This retroactively makes the ending of X, and Pearl’s justified demise, sadder too. It’s a hell of a trick Ti West and Mia Goth pulled off in the first two chapters of their story. Goth imbues Pearl with so much soulless humanity that you don’t want to root for or against her…but you have to follow her. Even though you know she’ll never be happy. Even though you know what she’s capable of. And even though you know how it ends.

If X and Pearl were one epic piece…I have no doubt it would be our 2022 movie of the year. As it stands, we got two great movies instead.

Scare Value

With or without the prequel story Pearl, X was always about the regrets of getting old. Pearl deepens its titular character immensely…but it isn’t necessary to enjoy what X is doing on its own. It evokes the feel of the 70’s movies that arrived during the film’s setting. A likable group of doomed characters arrive in the wrong place. It’s familiar yet surprising. X is the easier watch between the two movies that arrived in 2022. Pearl is the deeper movie. They’re both great.

4/5