Ti West’s X is the kind of horror movie that reminds you the ‘70s were not just disco and platform shoes—they were sweaty, horny, dangerous, and soaked in the smell of cheap beer, Vaseline, and poor decisions. And bless him, West dives headfirst into that aesthetic with all the elegance of a stripper doing cannonballs into a kiddie pool.
This is a film that looks like it should come with a tetanus shot. And that’s a compliment.
🎞️ The Premise: Porn, Pitchforks, and the Pursuit of Fame
It’s 1979, and a ragtag crew of amateur adult filmmakers rent a barn in rural Texas to shoot a porno called The Farmer’s Daughters. The plan is simple: keep it low budget, keep it hot, and maybe, just maybe, capitalize on this brave new world of “home viewing” that’ll make them rich and famous.
They don’t count on the creepy elderly couple renting them the land. Or the fact that the woman, Pearl, is a lonely hornball with the libido of a Vegas bachelorette party and the body of a haunted raisin. Or that her husband, Howard, is one coronary away from dropping dead during a nap but still somehow manages to tote a shotgun and a grudge.
Naturally, what begins as a sweaty homage to Debbie Does Dallas turns into The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s arthouse cousin. Limbs are lost. Bodies are defiled. And the American Dream—like so many things in horror—is soaked in blood and regret.
🍑 Cast of Characters: A Motley Crew of Meat
Let’s meet the talent. Mia Goth plays Maxine, the coke-snorting, stardom-hungry lead actress of the porno-within-the-movie. She oozes ambition, confidence, and enough hairspray to punch a hole in the ozone. She also plays Pearl, under several pounds of latex and existential dread, because what’s a slasher without duality and a little Freudian spice?
Jenna Ortega is Lorraine, the boom mic operator who starts the film as a shy Christian mouse and ends up starring in a scene with more thrusts than a fencing tournament. Brittany Snow plays Bobby-Lynne, a blonde bombshell with the soul of Dolly Parton and the survival instincts of a squirrel on Adderall.
Martin Henderson is Wayne, the sleazy but charming director-producer-boyfriend hybrid, channeling Matthew McConaughey if he sold stag films from the trunk of a Ford Pinto. Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi) shows up as Jackson Hole, the well-endowed Vietnam vet with charisma and, let’s just say, a generous… “role.” He’s the only man in the movie with both a moral compass and an actual six-pack.
Together, this crew has the chaotic energy of a dirty Scooby-Doo gang with a Super 8 camera and absolutely no self-preservation instincts.
🧟♀️ Pearl: Horror’s Most Unsettling Cougar
Let’s not beat around the rocking chair—Pearl is terrifying. Not because she’s supernatural. Not because she has powers. But because she’s real. Painfully, grotesquely real.
She’s a woman who used to be something. Beautiful, desired. Now she’s trapped in a body that betrays her, a husband who can’t (or won’t) touch her, and a world that tells her her time is up. And when she sees Maxine, she doesn’t just see youth. She sees a mirror that laughs.
Pearl doesn’t kill for sport. She kills because it hurts to be forgotten. And that makes her one of the most tragic, horrifying villains in recent horror memory. Also, she stabs a guy with a pitchfork while naked, which is a sentence I never thought I’d write sober.
🎬 Style & Direction: Ti West, You Magnificent Bastard
X is soaked in style like a white T-shirt contest in a thunderstorm. The cinematography is pure ‘70s grindhouse—zoom lenses, warm grain, slow pans—but with the precision and framing of a director who actually knows how to build suspense without yelling “boo” every ten minutes.
Ti West directs like he’s whispering in your ear the whole time: “You know something bad is coming. But not yet. Wait. Just wait.” He lets scenes breathe, tension build, and violence erupt like a hammer to the teeth.
And when the violence does come? It’s ugly. It’s loud. It’s earned. People are dispatched with guns, blades, and alligator jaws. It’s not gory for the sake of gore—it’s gory because death should hurt. And in X, it absolutely does.
🎶 Soundtrack: The Soft Rock Before the Storm
If you’ve ever wanted to hear Fleetwood Mac right before someone gets impaled, this movie’s for you. The soundtrack is filled with ‘70s soft rock hits—soothing, nostalgic, almost lulling you into safety.
Then, suddenly, silence. Or worse: the sound of Pearl breathing, or a distant creak. West knows that silence is scarier than screams. Because in X, silence means someone’s about to get turned into meat confetti.
🧠 Themes: Youth, Decay, and the Price of Wanting More
Underneath the sleaze, X is about the brutal transience of youth. The desperation to be seen, to be remembered, to leave a mark before everything sags, rots, or gets devoured by Florida swamp reptiles.
Maxine wants to be a star. Pearl wanted to be one. They’re two sides of the same cracked mirror, separated by years, latex, and one very bloody body count. West isn’t just making a slasher—he’s meditating on fame, sex, and what happens when the camera stops rolling and the lights go out.
He’s also giving us boobs, blood, and banjo music. Because, you know, balance.
🍷 Final Thoughts: A Filthy, Beautiful Horror Show
X is the rare horror film that understands what made the old ones great—raw tension, unpolished characters, and violence that means something—while still having the self-awareness to wink at the audience.
It’s funny, gross, smart, mean, and unexpectedly moving. It’s a love letter to low-budget smut and high-budget horror. It’s sleaze with soul.
Ti West doesn’t just resurrect grindhouse—he embalms it, revives it, and gives it a shotgun to the face. This is what happens when someone makes a movie with blood, guts, and actual thought. A slasher with substance. A porno with a pulse.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 boiled corpses in the basement
If you like your horror nasty, nostalgic, and weirdly philosophical—X is your dirty little masterpiece. Just don’t drink the lemonade. Or trust anyone over 80 with a knife.
