Review: X

While horror is a genre that I find not as much success in, I am always up for one.

Horror's usually have interesting concepts and end up never being fully committed and end up resorting to cheap scares. But when fully utilised, I would happily champion one.

When seeing the trailer for this one, I got a similar feeling. With it's old school look mixing with modern camerawork, I was not afraid to giving this a chance. Plus, it had Mia Goth as the lead and ever since I saw her in 'Emma', I could see a star in the making.

This was certainly rewarding viewing. I was already seeing a nice mix of the dirty horror's of the 1970's with a modern edge in terms of its style. It covers topics and industries that I was nervous that wouldn't quite work. But the longer it went on, the more surprised I was at how invested I was with the story and especially its characters.

It's an 18 rating, and it certainly confirms that in the second half with some brutal moments. The themes of obsession and youth all transfer well to screen by the end and almost play out like a fairytale.

Director Ti West and his team could have gone down the satire route. But I'm glad it played out more like a love letter to the dirty 70's horror's and was never self-referential. It particularly felt close to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

The cast do a really good job. Mia Goth is a great lead and shows she can carry any film. There is something about her screen presence that feels really satisfying and Goth has an underestimated power in her acting to really draw you in. I am pretty confident she will be an Oscar contender soon and also be part of major studio releases.

Marti Henderson was surprisingly good. He was given a lot to do and showed real confidence in his performance and was a treat whenever he was on screen. I can say the same for Brittany Snow. Jenna Ortega is becoming a regular in modern horror's and is showing real progress in her acting. I'm not sure if she is on a lead level. But for an ensemble, Ortega is ideal.

What I liked about it the most is that it has a lot of nice surprises. It kept me guessing and never felt cliched. You think it's going down a simple path. But it takes quite the twisted turn that works well and never felt out of place. There are also some great style choices that makes it look like it was filmed in the 70's whilst also having some modern camera styles that made for some effective sequences.

I cannot quite give it a great rating purely on personal preference. But I will certainly be recommending this one.

On paper, it's your typical slasher thriller. But there is much more to this than that. There's plenty of style to enjoy and well developed characters that I was surprised how invested I was with them. The level of blood and guts shows great commitment to its premise and plenty of disturbing imagery that makes it a memorable and refreshing watch.

This looked like a tough film to sell to a mass audience. Especially when it has been distributed by A24, which is a studio that specify in strange but effective indie's. But if you like your horror, I think this will be a lot of fun watch for you. It reminds you of horrors gone by and why they still work with audiences today.

There is also a cool post-credits scene that I cannot tell is a hint of a potential sequel or just a nice extension to the main story. Either way, it's worth waiting for.

Rating: 7/10