Just a few weeks after the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre left audiences disappointed, Ti West’s X hit theaters. The release of X was perfectly timed to satisfy underwhelmed viewers who were looking for a refreshing return to slasher filmmaking. However, in many ways, X is not only a tribute but a farewell to this classic horror genre.
Set in 1979, the movie follows a group of young filmmakers who travel to an isolated property in rural Texas to shoot an adult film. They are met by the owners of the property, an elderly couple who seem increasingly discontented with the movie crew’s presence in the area. The film is full of 70s nostalgia, from the iconic soundtrack to the stylized cinematography, and contains heavy-handed references to horror classics of time (notably The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Shining).
X opens with some rocky exposition scenes and dialogue, but finds its footing around the halfway mark. From then on, the movie is swiftly paced with a satisfying but noticeably contrived conclusion. Though laying out the moral groundwork of typical slasher film, West uses the second half of the movie as an opportunity to deconstruct the fundamentally religious framing of the genre. While the commentary isn’t particularly subtle, it’s fairly thoughtful and thoroughly captivating.
I do think X holds a significant role in modern horror, and will continue to do so as it provides a succinct farewell to the slasher genre. Since the era of Scream, this subset of horror has been dominated by cheap and widely-hated remakes or sequels which most fans have identified as low-effort cash grabs. X employs all of the tropes associated with the genre, but breaks down the religious ethos of these films in a way that can clearly be read as a bittersweet farewell to its genre. A main theme of the film is a conflicted longing to grasp on to past versions of oneself, an ultimately unsuccessful goal which serves as a meta-commentary on profit-driven nostalgia rather than originality that dominates horror filmmaking.
Perhaps I’m wrong, and X will instead usher in a new era of more metatextual slasher films, but it seems far more likely that Ti West has designed his movie as a formal goodbye to the genre. Horror as a whole is still far from dead, but audiences seem more interested in a variety of emerging subgenres. Ari Aster is pioneering a physiological and shocking new area of the genre with traumatic underpinnings, fans love the abstract mythological spectacle of Robert Eggers, and Jordan Peele is spearheading the largely unexplored realm of social horror. David Cronenberg’s controversial return has additionally generated buzz around the body horror genre, which has been regaining momentum with the popularity of emerging directors like Julia Ducournau. She has additionally added steam to the New French Extremity movement, the cerebrally disturbing nature of which has been held up by director Gaspar Noe since its inception.
A24, the production company behind X, has been a major contributor to this widely popular innovation in the horror genre, and it’s on brand that they are the studio to release this nostalgic farewell to the slasher subgenre. All in all, X is a wholly satisfying film that pays a well-earned tribute to a trend in filmmaking that is rapidly on the decline, and though not perfect, it wonderfully encapsulates both the rich past and hopeful future of horror filmmaking.
X was released in US theaters on March 14 and is currently streaming on demand.
it begs the question, "wood or wire?"