{"id":24468,"date":"2022-03-17T10:01:17","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T17:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=24468"},"modified":"2022-03-17T10:01:17","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T17:01:17","slug":"x-leaves-a-distinctive-mark-on-viewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=24468","title":{"rendered":"X Leaves Its Mark on Viewers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/24_0009_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14439\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This film from A24 opens exclusively at theaters on March\n28<sup>th<\/sup>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Independent filmmaker Ti West has built up a notable series\nof cult titles over the years, including <em>The House of the Devil<\/em>, <em>The Innkeepers<\/em>\nand <em>Sacrament<\/em>. His features are notable for emphasizing mood and\natmosphere, with the camera often holding stationary on subjects for extended\nperiods of time (which have resulted in some pacing criticisms from genre\ncritics). <em>X<\/em> is the latest from the writer\/producer\/director<em>,<\/em>\nwhich is his first horror picture in nearly a decade. This reviewer can report\nthat it was worth the wait. Creepy movie enthusiasts who can get on West\u2019s\nwavelength will find that this effort is as effective and as memorable as his\nmost popular titles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/X-05-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24469\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set in 1979, the story follows a youthful, independent Texan\nfilm crew setting out to shoot a pornographic film. The group includes producer\nWayne (Martin Henderson), starlet Bobby-Lynn (Brittany Snow), aspiring adult\nfilm actress Maxine (Mia Goth), male performer Jackson (Kid Cudi), director RJ\n(Owen Camptell) and his girlfriend\/boom operator Lorraine (Jenna Ortega). They\narrive at a secluded ranch house and quickly discover that Wayne has not\ninformed elderly property owners Howard (Stephen Ure) and Pearl (who is played\nby one of the previously mentioned cast members under extensive make-up) about\ntheir plans. They all decide to make the film quickly without being caught, but\nfind the oddly behaved owners becoming a more and more threatening presence by\nthe minute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/X-07-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24470\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visually, it\u2019s very clear from the outset that this feature\nis a homage to Tobe Hooper titles like <em>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em> and <em>Eaten\nAlive<\/em>. The production design, costuming and cinematography do an excellent\njob of recreating the era. At times, it all certainly feels like a lost feature\nfrom the 1970s. The only giveaways are some impressive overhead shots that\nwouldn\u2019t have been possible to capture during the earlier era. Once again, the\nfilmmaker\u2019s camera lingers on environments and effectively creates a tense mood\nas Howard, Pearl and the local wildlife slowly approach many of the leads from\nbehind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/X-03-fixed-1024x588.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24471\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since this is a feature about making a movie, a great deal\nof dark humor is derived from some of the absurdities involved in creating an\nadult film, including the casual attitudes of the performers about their work. One\namusing moment involves the director attempting to convince himself and others\nthat he is creating a highbrow, quality X-rated feature. And Jackson makes an\nentertaining impression as the male lead of the adult production, a man who has\nno problems casually wandering around buck naked. Early on, much of it is\nplayed for laughs in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but there is some interesting tension\nand jealousy that arises within the group as shooting progresses. Even Howard\nand Pearl get an unusual backstory to build some empathy and help viewers\nunderstand their behavior and frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Enough is done in the first half of the story to make all of\nthe characters distinctive and the cast are uniformly solid. So, when things do\ngo haywire, viewers are invested in the disturbing goods. Despite it being a\nhomage of sorts to some very familiar modern horror classics, there are plenty\nof unique, memorable and extremely up-close-and-personal interactions towards\nthe finale that are tense, horrific and grimly amusing (sometimes all at the\nsame time). In fact, there is a distinct possibility that some of the big and\nelaborate confrontations featured in the flick have been handled in an entirely\nnew and distinctive way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/X-09-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24472\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>X<\/em> isn\u2019t an overly deep or intellectual horror\npicture, but it is a very effective one that aims to thrill, chill and provide\nknowingly humorous winks to the audience. It generally hits the mark on all\ncounts. At the press screening I attended, there was a consistent combination\nof laughs, guffaws and shrieks as all of the strangeness unfolded. In the end,\nthis slasher will leave a distinctive mark on viewers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This film from A24 opens exclusively at theaters on March 28th. Independent filmmaker Ti West has built up a notable series of cult titles over the years, including The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers and Sacrament. His features are notable for emphasizing mood and atmosphere, with the camera often holding stationary on subjects for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,3572,5213,9319,11661,13309,13741,18515,22850,24539,24540,24541,24542],"class_list":["post-24468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-brittany-snow","tag-dark-comedy","tag-horror","tag-kid-cudi","tag-martin-henderson","tag-mia-goth","tag-slasher","tag-ti-west","tag-x","tag-x-film-review","tag-x-movie-review","tag-x-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}