the x movie review

Halfway through Ti West ’s “X,” a ragtag gang of porno filmmakers, including high-minded director RJ ( Owen Campbell ) and his shy girlfriend/sound girl Lorraine ( Jenna Ortega ) face a challenge. Lorraine’s been watching their movie’s stars perform sex acts for the camera all day, and announces, to everyone’s surprise, that she’d like to give it a shot. An annoyed RJ tells Lorraine they’re too far into the story. Adding her in would change their movie’s whole direction.

“What about ‘Psycho’?” Lorraine asks, reminding RJ that Hitchcock’s movie introduces a new set of protagonists halfway through. “Psycho” is horror, RJ says, and they’re not making a horror film. They’re making porn. Of course, our characters are about to learn they are part of a horror picture. They just happen to be living it, not making it.

This scene and its mounting meta-commentary describe “X”‘s reason for being in a nutshell: it’s an icky good time that’s primarily a love letter to the filmmaking process. Structural shifts and tonal sleight-of-hand are part of its self-referential approach. “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.

The grist for this gory, sexy mill comes in the form of would-be adult film empresario Wayne ( Martin Henderson ), his girlfriend Maxine ( Mia Goth ), burlesque dancer Bobby-Lynne ( Brittany Snow ), and Bobby-Lynne’s boyfriend/co-star Jackson (Scott “ Kid Cudi ” Mescudi), in addition to RJ and Lorraine. It’s 1979, and Wayne has booked the crew space on a farm outside Houston to shoot their movie “The Farmer’s Daughters,” which he expects will be a hit on the emerging home video market.

Wayne’s chosen location is a rickety, creepy cabin owned by Howard ( Stephen Ure ), an old coot who disapproves of Wayne and his crew. Howard’s invalid wife Pearl, whose impressive casting I won’t reveal, envies the group’s youth and virility, and is particularly drawn to the determined-but-insecure Maxine. Anyone picking up “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” vibes or making note of RJ and Lorraine’s “Psycho” discussion can see where this is headed. Suffice it to say that as evening descends, the body count rises.

West delights in the atmosphere of his setting and the historical hallmarks of the lurid sandboxes he’s playing in. His knowledge and humor is evident in Maxine’s Linda Lovelace-inspired hair and makeup, the swampy, sweaty heat of the film’s coastal Texas locale, and Jackson’s baby-blue leisure suit and perfect afro.

The film crew’s “let’s-put-on-a-show” ethos highlights the plucky, hard-fought joys of low-budget filmmaking, recalling movies like “ Ed Wood ” or “Dolemite is My Name.” When the focus switches to out-and-out horror, the source of “X’s” enthusiasm and devotion also changes. Instead of the characters being energized by the ad-hoc creative process, it’s West himself who radiates excitement, nearly becoming an off-camera character as “X” gleefully picks off its filmmaker proxies one by one.

But “X” never goes deeper than these visceral pleasures. There are hints at an even weirder potential storyline, or themes about the commodification of youth and beauty. None of this goes beyond suggestion. Howard and Pearl particularly feel like missed opportunities, plopped into genre stereotypes and ignoring the economic and cultural undercurrents which helped make the Sawyer family of “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and Norman Bates of “Psycho” so iconic.

“X” is all about having a good time and relishing the hard work, dedication, and satisfaction of independent filmmaking, regardless of genre. That clear joy is admirable, but West’s ode to technical and artistic ingenuity undervalues the context that played a significant role in the success of the movies he so lovingly references. “X” is plenty of fun; it also feels like a trifle that could easily have been much more.

This review was filed from the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. The film opens on March 18th.

Abby Olcese

Abby Olcese is a film critic and writer based in Kansas City, where she is the film editor for The Pitch Magazine. Abby is a regular contributor to RogerEbert.com, Sojourners Magazine and Think Christian, where she writes about the intersection of popular culture and spirituality.

Mia Goth as Maxine
Jenna Ortega as Lorraine
Brittany Snow as Bobby-Lynne
Kid Cudi as Jackson Hole
Martin Henderson as Wayne
Owen Campbell as RJ
Stephen Ure as Howard
James Gaylyn as Sheriff Dentler
David Kashevaroff

Cinematographer

Eliot Rockett
Tyler Bates

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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

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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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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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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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When assembling this list of the 10 biggest action movie bombs of all time, we left out the sci-fi films because we've already covered those flops, as well as superhero movies like The Flash, which may have lost as much money as the top two films on this list combined. The 2016 remake of Ben-Hur was also left out since it was more of a historical epic than a traditional action film. Thankfully, there's more than enough failure to go around just by focusing on the action flicks. 10. Hudson Hawk (1991)

When it comes to the best British shows on Netflix, the options run the gamut. You can check out a riveting drama one day, a hilarious comedy the next, even mockumentary series, thrillers, and yes, reality TV as well. There's a special added flare with British shows that just feels different than American ones, beyond the obvious English accents, of course.

Some of the best British shows like Black Mirror, The Crown, and Baby Reindeer have earned tons of award nominations and wins. Others, like White Gold and Treason, fly under the radar. You'll find projects from big names like Guy Ritchie and up-and-comers like Richard Gadd, new shows and old. If you're looking to add a little "across the pond" magic to your TV schedule, check out the cream of the crop on Netflix.

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: 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: 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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Ti west’s ‘x’: film review | sxsw 2022.

A troupe of would-be pornographers make a poor location choice in Ti West's '70s-set slasher film starring Jenna Ortega, Mia Goth and Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi.

By John DeFore

John DeFore

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Think twice before flaunting your sexuality, kids: What seems to you like a healthy, happy expression of universal urges will be a painful reminder to others of their long-vanished youth. And some of those people may be made so sad they’ll carve you up into little pieces. That’s the moral of X , the latest feature from genre specialist Ti West : Set in rural Texas at the dawn of the VHS era, it watches as some youngsters set out to conquer the world of low-budget porn and instead find themselves fighting for their lives.

Benefitting from West’s knack for capturing period vibes and from an unusually engaging cast, the pic is meatier than the average slasher film — though Kid Cudi (aka Scott Mescudi) fans who come just because he’s in the ensemble should be aware that they’re in for a very gory ride.

Full credits

Venue: SXSW Film Festival (Midnighters) Distributor: A24 Production company: Little Lamb Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Scott Mescudi, Martin Henderson, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure Director-Screenwriter: Ti West Producers: Ti West, Jacob Jaffke, Kevin Turen, Harrison Kreiss Executive Producers: Sam Levinson, Ashley Levinson, Peter Phok, Scott Mescudi, Dennis Cummings, Karina Manashil Director of photography: Eliot Rockett Production designer: Tom Hammock Costume designer: Malgosia Turzanska Editors: David Kashevaroff, Ti West Composers: Tyler Bates, Chelsea Wolfe Casting directors: Jessica Kelly, Rebecca Dealy

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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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With less than two months of waiting left, Bloody Disgusting has officially debuted the official trailer for Terrifier 3 this morning. Watch the full “Naughty Cut” version below, which catches us back up with Sienna and previews Art the Clown’s bloody takeover of the holiday season!

Get your tickets now and check back for more listings in the coming weeks.

In Terrifier 3 , directed once again by Damien Leone ( Terrifier, Terrifier 2 ), Art the Clown ( David Howard Thornton ) is set to unleash another round of chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Here’s the brand new plot synopsis…

“After surviving Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother are struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they’re safe, Art the Clown returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare.

“The festive season quickly unravels as Art unleashes his twisted brand of terror, proving that no holiday is safe.”

Returning cast includes Lauren LaVera (Sienna), Samantha Scaffidi (Victoria Heyes), Elliot Fullam (Jonathan Shaw) and AEW superstar Chris Jericho (Burke), with Daniel Roebuck set to debut as Santa Claus. Makeup effects legend Tom Savini, Jason Patric, Antonella Rose, Krsy Fox, Clint Howard , and Jon Abrahams also appear.

Terrifier 3 opens exclusively in theaters nationwide on October 11, 2024.

Written and directed by Damien Leone, Terrifier 3 comes courtesy of Dark Age Cinema Productions. Phil Falcone Produces with Lisa Falcone acting as Executive Producer. Co-producers include Michael Leavy, Jason Leavy, George Steuber, and Steve Della Salla. Brad Miska, Brandon Hill, and Erick Opeka Executive Produce for Cineverse. Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor also Executive Produce.

Terrifier 3 was named by USA Today as one of the Top 10 most anticipated Horror films of 2024. Following the theatrical run, Cineverse plans to release the film across all platforms, including its SCREAMBOX horror streaming service. Terrifier is also bleeding into other areas, including t-shirts, Halloween decorations, podcasts and novelizations . Stay tuned for more…

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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.

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Writer-director Ti West’s X is a horror movie that draws on the influences of 1970s slasher flicks while simultaneously exploring sex at different ages and perspectives. The result is a well-paced, slow-burn horror film that is confident in driving forward its momentum before going all out in its finale. There are elements of the narrative that could have been deepened, but X works on so many levels that it’s easy to dismiss them. Smart, well-paced, intentional, and fraught with fascinating themes and character arcs, X is a worthwhile slasher film that is aided by a great cast.

Set in 1979, the film opens with a couple of police officers arriving on the scene of an old farm in Texas. They are disgusted by what they see and it’s clear that viewers are in for quite a ride before the film backtracks to 24 hours earlier to reveal exactly what happened. Burlesque owner Wayne (Martin Henderson) has his sights on making adult films and recruits girlfriend Maxine (Mia Goth), an aspiring actress who wants to make it big in Hollywood, to star in the porn film The Farmer’s Daughter . Joining them on this filmmaking journey are Maxine's co-stars Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), Jackson (Kid Cudi), the director RJ (Owen Campbell) — who doesn’t want to make a porno, but a great film — and Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), RJ’s girlfriend who is quiet and seemingly disapproving. They start filming not long after arriving at a farm home Wayne rented from Howard (Stephen Ure) and his wife Pearl, a creepy couple living in the farm's main home who lurk in the shadows.

Related: 10 Best Horror Movies That Aren't Scary, According To Reddit

Maxine (Mia Goth) looks over her shoulder while sitting at a vanity in her dressing room in X.

X is perhaps most interesting when exploring Pearl, her reactions to porn and sex in general, and the deep yearning she still has for it. Much of her frustration stems from her wanting to be touched and her husband being hesitant to have sex with her because he could have a heart attack and die from the exertion. This creates a distance between them, but something awakens in Pearl at the arrival of the youthful bunch. Her fascination with Maxine, in particular, reawakens her lust; at the same time, Pearl’s judgement of Maxine, despite the fact she reminds her of herself, is steeped in her disdain of the younger’s youth and appearance. This dynamic makes for quite a few juicy interactions that are laden with unbridled desire, a desperate need, and an understanding on the part of the audience for Pearl’s actions, as well as Maxine's.

What makes X stand out is in the way it subverts expectations. The old couple's motives aren't exactly cut and dry, and the film delves into women's sex lives and desires without shaming them for it. Sex is a motivator throughout, as is the curiosity to explore it. In many horror movies , having sex — be it for the first time or in general — leaves one open to becoming a victim of the killer on the prowl. But X flips that on its head in unexpected ways that work for the story being told and winds up being fairly sex-positive in doing so. Besides the unexpected takes on sex, the horror film also thoughtfully touches upon age, as well as who gets to be desired and feel desirable in the eyes of society as a result.

An older Pearl with a pitchfork in the barn in X

The gore itself is plentiful and cinematographer Eliot Rockett films death scenes from different angles that amplify each moment without lingering too long on anything that is deemed unnecessary. A scene that sees one of the characters discovering another’s dead body has the right amount of shock and terror before the camera pans away to focus on the former’s attempted escape. The first kill is accompanied by "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult and it seems especially fitting for the scene, making it all the more creepy and intense.

X isn't afraid to lean into the patient, yet suspenseful energy that makes slasher films so intriguing to watch and it doesn't completely sacrifice its plot to do so. While X could have dug a bit deeper into certain aspects of the story, the film’s twists, layered themes, and intriguing character dynamics blend together to make it one of the best horror films of the year so far.

Next: Deep Water Review: Affleck & De Armas Fail To Liven Passionless Erotic Thriller

X is playing in theaters as of Friday, March 18. The film is 105 minutes long and is rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language.

Director Ti West presents X, a horror slasher film set in 1979 in rural Texas that follows a group of amateur filmmakers attempting to shoot a pornographic film. When the group gets further along in the film, and the elderly homeowners take notice, they slowly realize they've drawn their formerly gracious hosts' ire - and jealously.

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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 - Blu-ray Review

Intelligent horror. Yes, such a thing actually exists. Granted, that’s not always what the hordes of hungry horror fans looking to fulfill their bloodlust want from the genre, but for those who like their spilled blood and severed body parts served with a touch a class, do I have a film for you!

Ti West ’s ( The Innkeepers ) new slasher film from A24 called X is certainly one of the bloodiest, nastiest little slices of horror to come down the pike in quite some time. With a gritty grind house look and rich with gestures toward meaningful subtexts, X feels like something right out of the ‘70s or ‘80s.

And that’s certainly not by mistake. Having toiled in television over the last several years, West calls his return to horror a love letter to indie cinema. In fact, there’s a nice little film-within-a-film meta commentary going on in X about how horror and porn have always been considered the lowest of lowbrow art forms. But he flips that script by using those two elements in heavy doses to both reinforce that point and to shatter it by making a smart horror film about making a smart porno film. Certainly a risky maneuver, but with X he shows us that there is indeed something more to both of those types of entertainment.

The film opens with sheriff’s deputies investigating what appears to be a murder scene in a remote Texas farm house. We see blood-stained wooden floors and bodies covered with sheets strewn about the property.

The action then jumps to the previous 24 hours where we meet a group of young people who are looking to rent a house to film a porno movie titled The Farmer’s Daughter . We learn the year is 1979 and the surroundings remind us of those in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , with wide shots of the wooden house with creaky screen doors barely visible above the waves of grass.

The first half of X is made up of the story’s film crew getting it on with cameras rolling. Things take a harrowing turn, however, when the property’s elderly owners show up. Howard ( Stephen Ure ) and Pearl (I won’t spoil who plays her) are a miserable old couple who factor into the story in more ways than one.

As the generational clash begins to heat up, X goes full slasher. Characters are killed off one by one in some very creative – and unexpected – ways. This is where West really shines. He clearly knows how to create a genuine sense of dread as his focus is more on suspense and anticipation than it is on who will die next, or how they will die. As a result, West ’s themes of growing old and regretting the things we didn’t do in our youth carry a much stronger weight.

Filmed during the pandemic in New Zealand (standing in for Texas), X displays s strong period texture thanks to West ’s meticulous attention to detail and his creative use of ’70s music. One fabulously disturbing scene plays under Blue Oyster Cult ’s Don’t Fear the Reaper . Yes, that sounds a bit too on the nose, but he somehow makes it work. Still gives me shivers. It’s the beautiful but disturbing little touches he shows rather than the in-your-face violence that make his X so effective.

Watch X and believe it. Porn and slasher horror can indeed be classy.

Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD

Home Video Distributor: Lionsgate Available on Blu-ray - May 24, 2022 Screen Formats: 1.89:1 Subtitles : English SDH, Spanish Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set; DVD copy Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.

X is presented in AVC encoded 1.90.1 1080p anamorphic widescreen. As expected, the Image quality is very strong, with plenty of detail to be seen in pretty much every single frame of this goopy slaughter-fest. There is also a good amount of depth to the image as well, which brings to life the story in unexpected ways. Black levels are crisp and deep, and colors are saturated. The color palette is naturally well balanced with warm and rich hues. Contrast is excellent, with solid and deep blacks and revealing shadow delineation. Flesh tones are naturally cast. The special effects and gore are quite rich and, especially when the kills start happening, the effects top notch.

The sound in this haunted spook house is provided via a sparkling English language 24-bit DTS-HD 5.1 track, which supports the dialogue and the soundscape well.

Supplements:

Commentary :

Special Features:

There are a few on this disc and none of them are interesting as you’d hope they’d be. That being said, The X Factor is the most interesting, mixing interviews in with its overview of the movie.

The X Factor
The Farmer’s Daughters
A24 Previews

MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence and gore, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language. Runtime: 105 mins Director : Ti West Writer: Ti West Cast: Mia Goth; Jenna Ortega; Brittany Snow Genre : Horror Tagline: Dying to Show You a Good Time. Memorable Movie Quote: "We're gonna be rich...! Feel how hard my cock is." Theatrical Distributor: A24 Official Site: https://a24films.com/films/x Release Date: March 18, 2022 DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Synopsis : In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.

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‘drive: steelbook edition’ 4k ultra hd movie review.

Long before being the extreme “Fall Guy” earlier this year, Ryan Gosling was a brooding stuntman in Danish film director Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 action drama Drive (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated R, 100 minutes, 2:39:1 aspect ratio, $45.99) that now debuts to American audiences in the 4K disc format and celebrated in a limited SteelBook edition.

Mr. Gosling plays a professional stuntman simply known as “The Driver” who occasionally moonlights as a getaway driver for heists.

After meeting neighbor Irene Gabriel (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio (Kaden Leos), he begins a flirty relationship with her until her husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), gets released from prison.

Standard quickly gets beaten up and forced by a mob boss to rob a pawnshop of $1 million as payback for his protection in prison.

The Driver agrees to help him out, but the job goes horribly wrong, and the stuntman gets pulled into a deadly double cross that also threatens his life and his new friends as he tries to return the money.

The film offers plenty of nail munching and some heart pounding as The Driver, through whatever gruesomely violent means necessary, tries to extricate himself from the dilemma.

Mr. Gosling consumes the role of a daring, calculated and methodical human with a brutal psychotic streak. His performance is richly supplemented by Brian Cranston as his handler and auto shop owner Shannon, and Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman as a team of nasty mobsters.

And, equally impressive as the cast and narrative, the first 10 minutes of the film offer a clinic on shooting a stealthy vehicle chase through the Los Angeles streets at night as The Driver ducks police cars and even a helicopter spotlight.

4K in action: The welcome ultra-high definition presentation, approved by the director, allows for even a crisper look at Mr. Winding’s neon and noirish visual love letter to driving through a nighttime Los Angeles complete with numerous panoramic and overhead shots of the illuminated city skyline.

Viewers will also appreciate exploring the city and its outskirts in detailed and color-balanced day or night scenes with recognizable moments at MacArthur Park, Pacific Coast Highway, Echo Park and a famed concrete bed of the Los Angeles River.

Unwelcomed to the 4K release is the uptick in detail to the occasional bloody violent scenes, including a human head getting stomped, crushed to the point that it will make viewers wince.

Best extras: The 4K disc contains a new, much-appreciated featurette offering 13 minutes of memories with writer Hossein Amini, editor Matthew Newman, actors Christina Hendricks (who played criminal accomplice Blanche) and Mr. Perlman and composer Cliff Martinez.

Move to the include Blu-ray version of the film to find extras mirrored from the 2012 high definition release.

They are led by a 25-minute documentary focused heavily on the director and his thoughts on the origins and creation of the film as well as his discussing of the actors, key crew members and musical score.

An additional four featurettes (roughly 30 minutes in total) cover the director, the development of the characters, the relationship between The Driver and Irene, and a brief breakdown on creating the three main chase sequences.

Also, Sony tempts home entertainment collectors with an eye-popping SteelBook for “Drive.”

The front cover is a colorful illustration of a profile view of The Driver above the Los Angeles skyline surrounded by palm trees, all highlighted in neon pinks and blues with also an upper-body version of him, in the famed scorpion jacket, walking toward a car.

The back cover offers a collage of The Driver looking over his shoulder in a torso profile, again wearing his jacket with the pink scorpion design, and spotlighted above a car driving in the Los Angeles river.

The interior delivers a full-spread color photo of the stuntman leaning against his car looking toward a building on a Los Angeles street.

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

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After graduating from high school without any plans for the future, Isaiah receives a push to start making better life decisions. After graduating from high school without any plans for the future, Isaiah receives a push to start making better life decisions. After graduating from high school without any plans for the future, Isaiah receives a push to start making better life decisions.

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Patrick Ta’s First Liquid Foundation Will Give You That Movie-Star Glow

senior editor jesa marie calaor wearing patrick ta foundation in 15 Olive

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Despite what celebrities and magazines of yore would have us believe, drinking an exorbitant amount of water won’t give you glowy skin. Instead, the small group of people who make up Hollywood’s elite maintain regular, intense skin regimens. Even fewer of them get time with makeup artist Patrick Ta.

Glow-maker to Salma Hayek , Joan Smalls, and more stars, Ta has now bottled his interpretation of the ideal radiance-boosting foundation formula: Major Skin Hydra Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation. “When I'm working with clients, I found myself always making a cocktail mixture of different ones to get what I wanted,” he says. “I wanted to make sure that every aspect of the formula fit the look I love to create for my clients—a ‘lit-from-within’ effect.”

Ta’s 30-shade collection promises buildable coverage and long-lasting wear. “It’s loaded with lightweight, high-shine emollients that provide a radiant finish,” says cosmetic chemist Amanda Lam. The formula omits silicones, she adds, which allows it to play well with other products.

The new base product also boasts hydrating and skin-smoothing ingredients, including humectant hyaluronic acid and emollient squalane . The latter, Lam says, can replenish oil and improve your skin’s barrier .

As someone who strives for that I’ve-been-chugging-water-all-day glow (again, that’s not actually possible, but a girl can dream, right?), I was thrilled to get my hands on this formula in 15 Golden Neutral, a perfect shade match for me. For application guidance, I looked to makeup artist Joseph Carrillo : He suggests sweeping it on with a dense foundation brush in small, circular motions. “This ensures an even application,” he explains. “Then, use a beauty sponge to press the product into the skin, giving it a smooth, airbrushed finish.”

Patrick Ta Major Skin Hydra Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation

Patrick Ta Beauty

Just two pumps (that I dispensed straight onto my face) hid the redness I was having around my cheeks and nose, giving me a more even-looking complexion. I added an extra pump for fuller coverage, creating a complexion that looked like skin but better. Its finish is not wet, glittery, or greasy—it’s more like the delicate shine of a ribbon. (Very demure .)

The thin liquid took little effort to blend across my skin for a seamless finish—but tapping it with a beauty sponge as a last step did give me an even more airbrushed finish. After applying, I stood in front of the window to “find my light.” It took no effort whatsoever.

senior editor jesa marie calaor wearing the patrick ta major skin hydra luxe luminous skin perfecting foundation in...

It lasted for hours, but after a sweaty day walking around the city, I did find myself looking a little too shiny. Nothing a few gentle sweeps of my setting powder (the Supergoop (Glow)setting Powder 100% Mineral SPF 35 ) couldn’t fix.

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annie blay associate beauty editor wearing the patrick ta major skin hydra luxe luminous skin perfecting foundation in...

I rarely feel comfortable applying a foundation with my hands, but this formula blended perfectly using just my fingertips. I love how lightweight and breathable it is—and I really can't overstate how easy it is to blend. The finish is skin-like, not too dewy or too matte. It played well with the rest of my makeup and didn't feel cakey after I finished my full beat. I can definitely see adding this to my rotation of go-to foundations.

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This is among the least foundation-y foundations I’ve used lately, and in my eyes, that’s a really good thing. I love the flexible coverage: I used a light hand when applying it on my cheeks and forehead (with a flat foundation brush ), added a little more under my eyes instead of concealer , and the formula built up beautifully—no creasing.

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I rarely wear foundation, but when I do, I prefer a lightweight, medium-coverage formula that looks like my natural complexion while covering up any redness I might be experiencing. Patrick Ta’s new formula gives me exactly that and more. It blends easily with a dense foundation brush, never piling up or caking around my laugh lines and nose. It also plays well with my skin care and other makeup (such as my contour and blush), never separating or transferring as the day progresses. Of course, during a recent heat wave (coupled with intense humidity), my T-zone got a bit oily, but with a touch of setting powder , the shine was gone. The best part: Shade 17 (Golden Peach) is identical to my olive-toned, slightly tan skin.

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Patrick Ta is pretty much the king of glow, so I was pretty stoked, to say the least, when I learned he was launching a liquid foundation. (I have nothing against creams or powders , I just prefer the former.) Because I deal with redness on/around my nose, and some near my brows (how fun!), I look for a lightweight formula that’s easy to build up as needed (and doesn’t cake with additional layers). I’m happy to report Major Skin is aces on all fronts. My skin still looks like my skin (I’m 10 Neutral), but texture is diffused and my complexion is noticeably more radiant. We love a soft-glow moment.

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"If it doesn't glow, it's a no-go," has been my approach to skin after leaving behind my mattified, twice-baked base routine in 2016. The Patrick Ta Major Skin Hydra-Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation provides the effortless sheen I'm chasing. I apply it using a dense kabuki brush to buff and blend using small circular motions. The finish is a glow that lasts, but—be advised—you may need to powder later on; I needed a substantial blot after six hours of wear, despite giving myself a solid powder after applying.

The Major Skin Hydra Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation is available now for $58 on Sephora's mobile app. It will be available on Sephora and Patrick Ta Beauty on August 27.

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The bad movie reviews quoted in Lionsgate’s Megalopolis trailer were mostly made up

Did lionsgate use ai to generate negative reviews from critics like roger ebert.

By Jay Peters , a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

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A screenshot from the Megalopolis trailer

Hours after it was released, Lionsgate pulled a trailer for Megalopolis that was clearly “ gunning for the haters ” with a selection of negative quotes about director Francis Ford Coppola’s previous works. That’s because reports like this one from Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri showed that critic quotes in the trailer lambasting films like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now were fabricated.

“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis ,” a Lionsgate spokesperson said in a statement to Variety . “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry.”

That all led some people to immediately wonder whether the quotes may have been generated by a tool like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Chatbots, and ChatGPT specifically, will create quotes in responses to queries complete with citations and even fake URLs for content that never existed. A famous example is a case earlier this year where a lawyer cited judicial decisions that did not exist . The lawyer admitted using ChatGPT for his research and said he was “unaware of the possibility that its content could be false.”

We’ve asked Lionsgate if it used a generative AI tool as part of the creation of the trailer but haven’t heard back.

Variety also reports that one of its staffers was falsely quoted in the trailer over their review of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and that a Roger Ebert quote attributed to his Dracula review was actually from a review of the 1989 Batman.

Martin Shkreli must surrender his Wu-Tang album copies

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Beautiful Video Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max Shows its Moviemaking Power

A YouTuber and video creator has shown off the impressive capabilities of the iPhone 15 Pro Max by publishing an inspiring video that was shot entirely with just Apple’s latest smartphone.

Faruk Korkmaz from iPhonedo eschewed any videography aids such as a gimbal, a lens, or a filter and instead shot all the footage using just the stock camera app.

He did take advantage of some features that are exclusively available on the Max — the iPhone 15 with the highest specs. He shot the video in ProRes onto an external drive, a feature that’s unavailable to non-Max iPhone 15 users.

The video was also edited in Final Cut Pro X but that’s all the pro help Korkmaz gave himself. The video is mainly his eye for interesting shots and his skills in the editing suite.

The two-minute 48-second video features clips from all over the world filmed between September 2023 and August 2024. It also has audio of Jim Carrey delivering an inspirational speech at Maharishi International University in 2014.

DPReview notes that Korkmaz’s video doesn’t employ the “usual tricks” of a typical “shot on iPhone” video. Apple has begun shooting its keynote presentations on the iPhone 15 Pro Max but the crew also made use of lighting rigs, gimbals, dollies, and cranes.

But Korkmaz’s video shows that incredible results can be achieved without the equipment and know-how of a professional camera crew. He says he shot “thousands” of video clips for his project underlining just how much thought and effort went into it.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max boasts a bigger sensor than its predecessors, a 120mm optical zoom, and spatial video. It has three cameras for telephoto, wide, and ultrawide shooting. It records 4K/60p ProRes video, up from 4K/30p on the iPhone 14 Pro.

The ProRes video in 4K/60p is thanks to the iPhone 15’s new high-speed USB-C connection, allowing external SSDs to be attached to unlock the high data rate required.

Another upgrade to the 15 is the addition of a log profile that provides the flattest color profiles for the utmost dynamic range. It means the footage is easy to grade and allows iPhone 15 footage to blend well with other cinematic camera footage.

Image credits: iPhonedo

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form .

These XR glasses cured my Apple Vision Pro FOMO - at a fraction of the cost

ZDNET's key takeaways

I'd recommend the Viture One XR glasses to traveling professionals, gamers, and those who want a more private but accessible display experience.
They're priced fairly at a retail cost of $439 and offer myopia adjustment dials for improved clarity.
Still, expect some blurred edges as you look around the virtual 120-inch display.

As I make my way to the back of the commuter bus, I pull out what looks like an ordinary pair of sunglasses (with only slightly thicker frames), connect its MagSafe-like power adapter to my MacBook, sit, and start to click, drag, scroll, and type.

This almost sounds like the Vision Pro dream that many will soon be able to experience, but it's achieved through a $439 wearable, not a front-heavy headset that costs an arm and a leg.

Also: I returned my Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3 for these XR glasses - and they're much cheaper

From a bystander's view, I look like the mightiest of keyboard warriors, churning out bodies of text without ever needing to look down at the QWERTY layout on my laptop. From my view, I'm staring at a 120-inch display projected two feet in front of me thanks to a meticulous arrangement of light and mirrors within the Viture One's XR Glasses .

Instead of transmitting you into a virtual or augmented reality like Apple's Vision Pro , the Viture glasses simply extend from -- and are powered by -- the source they're connected to, serving as an ultraportable, on-your-face monitor. To be clear, comparing the XR Glasses to a $3,500 productivity wearable is an apples-to-oranges affair. Unless you consider yourself an early adopter, the target customers of the two gadgets are notably different.

Viture is pitching its glasses to people who want to game, watch movies, or surf the web without needing to be physically in front of a TV or office desk. The glasses' 120-inch projection is more suited for folks who would rather binge-watch shows while lying in bed or are on a flight and seek privacy when using a phone, tablet, or laptop. But the overlap in use cases is uncanny and not unintentional.

Also: I've tried Vision Pro and other top XR headsets and here's the one most people should buy

My use case slots right in between: I want a larger platform to draft news and reviews and answer secretive emails as I sit in the make-believe comfort of public transit. The glasses are also practical for when your partner wants to watch The Bachelor on the living room TV, but you're more interested in the marriage of basketball and the spirit of competition.

A mock-up of what it looks like to wear the Viture glasses.

Thanks to the single USB-C cable needed to power the device, I can easily pair the Viture glasses to my MacBook or Android phone . Bonus points if the latter is a Samsung Galaxy that supports DeX mode or a Motorola handset that supports Ready For; in those two platforms, you'll be greeted with a desktop interface of your usual mobile apps and services.

Also: I demoed Xreal's AR glasses for spatial computing and they're better than I expected

Here's the killer feature of the Viture glasses: spatial video support, the same 3D playback capability as found on the Vision Pro. While an adapter is necessary for the glasses to pair with an iPhone, the company has developed a new SpaceWalker app on iOS that lets users watch spatial videos recorded by an iPhone 15 Pro or Vision Pro. I played a couple of clips that I had previously reserved for the Apple headset, and reliving those moments with such depth and realism was quite eye-opening.

Of course, there's no standard of spatial video playback quality for me to compare with, but based on what I saw, the essence of the format was there. I could see the separation between the subjects in the videos, and that remained consistent so long as my camera was well-distanced and in focus.

You can also watch 3D videos and movies on the Viture One XR Glasses.

As far as the visual experience of the glasses goes, it's adequate, but nothing groundbreaking. For prescription wearers like myself, there are two Myopia rotary knobs (think focus dials) on the top of the Viture One that can be adjusted to your vision. That means you don't have to, and shouldn't, wear the XR glasses over your existing pair. You also don't need to fork up $150 for tailor-made prescription lenses like you would with the Vision Pro.

Also: The best VR headsets right now (and how Apple Vision Pro stacks up)

I found the best way to calibrate this was to keep the opposite eye closed as I was tuning each side. However, finding the perfect focus will take some trial and error, and even when you think you've struck the right distance, the corners and edges of the 120-inch projection will remain blurry.

That seems to be unavoidable due to how large but close the projections are to your eyes. For example, if you hold an object an inch from your eyes, you'll notice how difficult it is to focus on it.

Still, Viture has integrated some clever mechanisms with the lenses, like a self-dimming electrochromic film that you can toggle on or off depending on how bright your environment is. It's basically a built-in projector shade and helps the most when you're using the glasses outdoors.

My best attempt at capturing what's shown when the glasses are worn.

Viture partnered with Harman to develop and tune the side-firing speakers of the wearable, and I'm impressed. They remind me a lot of bone-conduction headphones where audio beams against the side of your head and into your ears. Since the speakers are lying against you, no one but you can hear the audio output, which adds to the privacy focus that the company is going for.

Perhaps the biggest question with such wearables is whether or not they cause symptoms of dizziness and motion sickness. From my experience, which includes one- to two-hour stints, I never felt discomfort when using the glasses.

Also: Apple Vision Pro review: Fascinating, flawed, and needs to fix 5 things

I credit that to two factors: the lightness of the wearable compared to traditional headsets and the wearer's ability to retain spatial awareness. Remember, the glasses are not a standalone device with its own operating system. They're simply an external monitor reshaped into something more pocketable. And thanks to the transparency of the lenses, you'll never feel like you're drawn into another reality when you have them on.

ZDNET's buying advice

At the time of writing, the Viture One XR Glasses are selling for $439 , and that includes the power adapter, a carrying case, and nose pads at various heights. For the price, I'd recommend these to traveling professionals, gamers, and those who want a more private but accessible display experience. The Viture One XR Glasses won't beat the Meta Quest 3 or Apple Vision Pro, but they bring enough to the table to ease any FOMO you might have as more expensive headsets hit the market.

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These $400 xr glasses gave me a 200-inch screen to game and watch movies on, this $50 meta quest 3 accessory is a game-changer for people with glasses, the best ar glasses: pro-level ar and xr headsets available now.

Where Kamala Harris Stands on the Issues: Abortion, Immigration and More

She wants to protect the right to abortion nationally. Here’s what else to know about her positions.

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By Maggie Astor

Published July 21, 2024 Updated Aug. 24, 2024

With Vice President Kamala Harris having replaced President Biden on the Democratic ticket, her stances on key issues will be scrutinized by both parties and the nation’s voters.

She has a long record in politics: as district attorney of San Francisco, as attorney general of California, as a senator, as a presidential candidate and as vice president.

Here is an overview of where she stands.

Ms. Harris supports legislation that would protect the right to abortion nationally, as Roe v. Wade did before it was overturned in 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

After the Dobbs ruling, she became central to the Biden campaign’s efforts to keep the spotlight on abortion, given that Mr. Biden — with his personal discomfort with abortion and his support for restrictions earlier in his career — was a flawed messenger. In March, she made what was believed to be the first official visit to an abortion clinic by a president or vice president.

She consistently supported abortion rights during her time in the Senate, including cosponsoring legislation that would have banned common state-level restrictions, like requiring doctors to perform specific tests or have hospital admitting privileges in order to provide abortions.

As a presidential candidate in 2019, she argued that states with a history of restricting abortion rights in violation of Roe should be subject to what is known as pre-clearance for new abortion laws — those laws would have to be federally approved before they could take effect. That proposal is not viable now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe.

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IMAGES

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The X
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X Film Review: Director Ti West Delivers A Love Letter To Slasher Cinema
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the x movie poster with an image of a woman floating in water next to a

COMMENTS

X movie review & film summary (2022)
His knowledge and humor is evident in Maxine's Linda Lovelace-inspired hair and makeup, the swampy, sweaty heat of the film's coastal Texas locale, and Jackson's baby-blue leisure suit and perfect afro. The film crew's "let's-put-on-a-show" ethos highlights the plucky, hard-fought joys of low-budget filmmaking, recalling movies ...
X (2022)
In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.
'X' Review: Trash, Art and the Movies
X. NYT Critic's Pick. Directed by Ti West. Horror. R. 1h 45m. Find Tickets. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. "X ...
X (2022 film)
X is a 2022 American slasher film written, directed, produced and edited by Ti West.It stars Mia Goth in dual roles: a young woman named Maxine, and an elderly woman named Pearl.The film also stars Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, and Scott Mescudi.Set in 1979, the film follows a cast and crew who gather to make a pornographic film on an elderly couple ...
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Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets
'X' Review: The Rare 'Chain Saw' Homage That Earns Its Fear
X. 'X' Review: '70s Horror Meets '70s Porn in the Rare 'Chain Saw' Homage That Earns Its Fear. Reviewed at Stateside at the Paramount (SXSW), March 13, 2022. MPAA rating: R. Running ...
X Movie Review
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….
X review: A horror movie about what really horrifies us
X (2022) Score Details. 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 ...
The Slasher Film 'X' Is a Modern Classic
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 ...
X review: Mia Goth, Kid Cudi and Jenna Ortega stumble into expertly
Mia Goth 'X'. Christopher Moss/A24. 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 ...
X Review: A Slick And Stunning Original Slasher [SXSW]
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 ...
'X' Review: Jenna Ortega & Kid Cudi in Ti West Slasher Pic
X. The Bottom Line A gory retro-thriller with an unusually engaging cast. Release date: March 18 (A24) Venue: SXSW Film Festival (Midnighters) Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Scott ...
'X' movie review: Smart, inventive take on gory horror, old-school porn
Rated R (for strong bloody violence and gore, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language). Running time: 105 minutes. Now showing at theaters. It's a new twist on the period ...
"X" movie review: Mia Goth stars in this silly retro slasher film
Review by Michael O'Sullivan. March 16, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. ( 2 stars) The cheesy aesthetic of late-1970s and early-1980s filmmaking — harnessed, to hugely popular appeal, if not great ...
X Movie Review
Meagan Navarro. 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 ...
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X - Metacritic. Summary In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives. Horror. Mystery.
X (2022) Movie Review
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 ...
X Movie Ending Explained (In Detail)
The X movie ending crescendos to a bloody spectacle that throws up several lingering questions. Director Ti West's 2022 slasher X follows a film crew as they arrive at a secluded Texas farm to shoot a pornographic film in the late 1970s, which idealistic fictional adult movie director RJ (Owen Campbell) believes will be "a piece of cinema." Seemingly blinded by their ambitions to capitalize on ...
X Review
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 ...
X Review: Ti West's Gory, Layered Slasher Flick Subverts Expectations
X Review: Ti West's Gory, Layered Slasher Flick Subverts Expectations. Writer-director Ti West's X is a horror movie that draws on the influences of 1970s slasher flicks while simultaneously exploring sex at different ages and perspectives. The result is a well-paced, slow-burn horror film that is confident in driving forward its momentum ...
X Review
X Review. Texas, 1979. Hustler Wayne (Martin Henderson) hires a guest house on an isolated farm for a weekend, intending to shoot a porno directed by movie brat RJ (Owen Campbell), starring his ...
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X is presented in AVC encoded 1.90.1 1080p anamorphic widescreen. As expected, the Image quality is very strong, with plenty of detail to be seen in pretty much every single frame of this goopy slaughter-fest. There is also a good amount of depth to the image as well, which brings to life the story in unexpected ways.
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Shelby Oaks Kickstarter: http://kck.st/3sy4hPDChris Stuckmann reviews X, starring Mia Goth, Kid Cudi, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson, Owen Cam...
'Drive: SteelBook Edition' 4K Ultra HD movie review
Standard quickly gets beaten up and forced by a mob boss to rob a pawnshop of $1 million as payback for his protection in prison. The Driver agrees to help him out, but the job goes horribly wrong ...
The Forge (2024)
The Forge: Directed by Alex Kendrick. With Aspen Kennedy, Cameron Arnett, Karen Abercrombie, Selah Avery. After graduating from high school without any plans for the future, Isaiah receives a push to start making better life decisions.
Allure Editors Try Patrick Ta's First Liquid Foundation—Review With
Patrick Ta's First Liquid Foundation Will Give You That Movie-Star Glow. Allure editors put it to the test on six ... More Allure Reviews. Annie Blay, associate beauty editor, wearing shade 24 ...
The bad movie reviews quoted in Lionsgate's Megalopolis trailer were
Variety also reports that one of its staffers was falsely quoted in the trailer over their review of Bram Stoker's Dracula and that a Roger Ebert quote attributed to his Dracula review was ...
Beautiful Video Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max Shows its ...
The iPhone 15 Pro Max boasts a bigger sensor than its predecessors, a 120mm optical zoom, and spatial video. It has three cameras for telephoto, wide, and ultrawide shooting. It records 4K/60p ...
These XR glasses cured my Apple Vision Pro FOMO
These $400 XR glasses gave me a 200-inch screen to game and watch movies on This $50 Meta Quest 3 accessory is a game-changer for people with glasses The best AR glasses: Pro-level AR and XR ...
Where Kamala Harris Stands on the Issues: Abortion, Immigration and
In 2019, Ms. Harris, then a senator, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, introduced legislation that would have evaluated environmental rules and laws by how they ...