[Review] Ti West’s X - A Dang Dirty DREAM
There’s a small indie theater called The Loft in my old town. Back when I still lived in Tucson, I practically lived at the place. I’d take my friends or go alone, buy Reese’s Pieces and a soda, and melt into indie films that were often otherwise difficult to find. This is where I first discovered Ti West.
In 2009, when I was 17 years old, West’s The House of the Devil (2009) was released and it completely blew my mind. I went in fairly blind, got my usual snacks, nestled into the theater’s cozy seats, and watched one of the most incredible modern throwbacks I’d ever seen. West’s House of the Devil was gritty but stylized, highly cinematic, and deliciously retro and, at that juncture in my life, I’d never seen anything like it. In fact, I fell so deep in love with the film that I’ve followed West’s projects ever since. From The Innkeepers (2011) to The Sacrament (2013), West just has this way of injecting impossibly vintage atmospheres into his films and X is no different.
One of the first things I noticed while watching X was West’s tributes to ‘74’s Texas Chain Saw. I think most horror fans will seriously love this. Not only does X take place in the same setting as Chain Saw (rural 1970s Texas), it also features a group of fashionable young people driving a van, stopping at a roadside mart, getting into seemingly meaningless arguments, then proceeding to meet a very, very unkind family. The story follows Maxine (Mia Goth), Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), Jackson (Kid Cudi, credited as Scott Mescudi), Wayne (Martin Henderson), and RJ (Owen Campbell) as they head out to shoot a “smut” film. Once at their destination—a desolate rental owned by the creepiest couple I’ve ever seen in my life—they find their plans soured in a way they never would have expected.
Without spoiling too much, here’s what I’ll say about X. While it intentionally follows a very formulaic and well-worn plotline, it is in NO WAY predictable. Whatever you think you reaped from the trailers, you didn’t. I assure you, you sure as hell didn’t. I won’t deny that this film is a gore fest—which I LOVE, by the way—but it’s a gore fest with a fair amount of substance. Being a self-proclaimed trash bag myself, I would never bash a horror film for being hollow, but X’s surprisingly touching plotline took it over the edge for me. Additionally, the level of detail West put into both the protagonists and the villains’ character development had me entranced. You won’t get any silent bad guys in this one and gosh do I love that.
Admittedly, I went into the film just knowing I’d love it. With Ti West, as I said, I’m always a fan. X’s cast was also a dream come true for me. Ortega, Goth, Snow, and Cudi? Did I win the movie lottery or something? It almost makes me laugh how perfect it is. All things considered though, I’ll leave you with this: if you don’t want a heart-wrenching commentary on youth and aging juxtaposed with a Brittany Snow rendition of Landslide, then we probably have very different movie tastes, but to be honest, I went into X with the highest possible expectations, yet somehow, they were still exceeded. I highly, highly, highly recommend this picture.