Dir. Ti West | Now Streaming On: Hulu | Rating: 1/5

You all know why you’re here. It’s to see me do what I do best, which is bash yet another A24 film. I constantly find myself surprised at how often their horror films get seemingly unanimous critical acclaim. ⁠
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I wasn’t particularly interested in X when the trailer was released. I actually only streamed this because I was interested in watching the prequel, Pearl, which is currently in theaters. Following in the footsteps of many of its A24 predecessors, X is beautiful to look at but leaves us with little substance. ⁠
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The storyline is intriguing as it plays with the ideas of sex in the slasher genre but the commentary is ultimately lost in a see through twist. There is also an attempt made to speak to the commodification of women and how the archetypes of the female experience are driven by the male gaze. We see the archetypes of the whore, the girl next door, and the granny through Bobby-Lynne/Maxine, Lorraine, and Pearl accordingly. Each one proceeds to break the mold of what is expected of their archetype, much to the dismay of men in the cast. RJ and Wayne’s little scuffle on “good girls” was nauseatingly on the nose at best. ⁠
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X calls itself a dark comedy and I spent most of the time waiting for the punchline. We sit through about an hour of soft porn to get a lackluster and relatively uncreative slasher sequence. This was boring. Beautifully shot and well acted, especially by Brittany Snow and Mia Goth, but ultimately boring.⁠
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I will give Jenna Ortega points for a very impressive customary scream queen scream in the last act but, in my opinion, X isn’t a standout slasher by any means. It does little to rework the genre or to carry out its dark comedy promise. I will probably still watch Pearl, but more for Mia Goth’s performance than the quality of the story. ⁠
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Know Before You Watch: Features blood, death, sex, and nudity. ⁠