If you ever fantasized what Boogie Nights would be like if it suddenly turned into a slasher movie, your prayers have been answered with X, the fiendish, fabulous new horror film by Ti West, which opened in theaters Friday, March 18th.
Before Ari Aster (Hereditary) or Robert Eggers (The Witch) cornered the market on moody, atmospheric horror, director Ti West made a name for himself with deliciously diabolical The House of the Devil (2009), about a pretty college student (Jocelin Donahue) who accepts a babysitting job at a house deep in the country. West subverted the usual horror tropes but insidiously setting the mood of menace and letting it play out slowly before slamming home with a frightening finale. It harkened back to the golden age of Val Lewton-produced chillers at RKO in the 1940s.
West followed that critically acclaimed film with The Innkeepers (2011), a sneakily scary ghost story set at a supposedly haunted Connecticut hotel. What was so great about that film was how flaky and funny it was before it turned quite creepy.
The Sacrament (2013) had West using a found-footage style of filmmaking to tell the story about a messianic religious cult leader (a folksy, frightening Gene Jones) with his insanely devoted flock on a tropical island setting. Anyone familiar with Reverend Jim Jones and the Guyana mass suicide knows that this will not end well. West worked on many TV series doing episodic work after that, but he is back with a vengeance with this wickedly funny and ferocious new feature film.
X is set in 1979 Texas, where a van filled with a porn movie crew is headed to a place they have rented to film “The Farmer’s Daughters.” It’s a bunkhouse set back from the main farmhouse where a doddering old man and his ancient wife live. Martin Henderson, blustery in a big cowboy hat plays the producer. His girlfriend, the coke-snorting Maxine (Mia Goth) is playing one of the daughters and fiercely dreams of superstardom. Along is the male stud performer Jackson (Kid Cudi), X-rated sexpot Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), long-haired, movie-obsessed, cinematographer RJ (Owen Campbell), who has brought along his shy, quiet mouse of a girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Oretega) to run the boom mike. They have carefully kept their real purpose from the farmer and his wife and sneak scenes out in the barn for dirty authenticity. But the old couple have their own secrets and the frizzy, white-haired old woman can be seen spying on the young crew from windows and behind trees. At first you assume the elderly woman is suffering from some form of dementia. Trust me, it’s a whole different kind of dementia, and things turn bloody and nightmarish fast. What’s so great about the film is the mix of sardonic humor with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre-like shocks. What also is striking is the perverse subtext exploring age, sexuality and frustrated desire.
When I used to work for Paper magazine I was kindly invited to spend time on the set of Ti West’s The Innkeepers, shooting in Torrington, Connecticut. The crew had the run of the Yankee Pedlar Hotel which was said to really be haunted. I hung back out of the way most of the time, having a small exchange with lead Sara Paxton, who was a delight. And co-star Pat Healy, who was funny, smart and just terrific. Kelly McGillis was usually found sitting on the front porch smoking and she had a great, wry, sardonic air about her that totally won me over. And I was pleased she was working with these young, interesting directors like Ti West and Stake Land’s Jim Mickle. The article never did happen but what impressed me was the young, talented, energetic film crew that Ti West surrounded himself with. And how completely in synch they were with him and how smooth and relaxed the filming was.
Having him return to theaters with a movie this perversely original and genuinely unsettling is truly a reason to celebrate. Don’t miss it. (And whatever you do- sit through all the final credits for an extra preview of mayhem to come).
