 You're probably wondering, what the hell is Adam doing sitting here talking about a new horror movie? Well, I went to go see X and I thought, what the hell? I might as well talk about it. So let's get suited up and talk about X. Well, I got my duds on, I'm all ready to talk about X. X is directed by Ty West and I honestly had no intention on seeing this movie until I found out he directed it because I was a huge fan of two other movies he did, House of the Devil and The Sacrament. Jenna Ortega is in this and she's no stranger to the genre. She was in Scream 5 or just Scream. She was also in Insidious Chapter 2. So I'm going to breeze by the plot here very quickly in case you haven't seen the trailer. The movie is about a group of filmmakers who pile into a big van, take a road trip out to a remote farmhouse where they've rented a boarding house on the property to make an independent low-budget pornography film. They hope to make a lot of money on the new booming home rental market. The farm is owned by a creepy old couple and the wife doesn't seem like she's quite all there anymore. She wanders off and peeks into the window of this boarding house as they're filming a sex scene for their film and she gets rejuvenated and reinvigorated and decides to go on a killing spree. And that's where I'm going to end the plot because I don't want to wreck anything for you but I do want to talk about how much I did like X. I'm not surprised that I liked it because I really liked House of the Devil and the sacrament and like House of the Devil this is a slow burn. So I'm going to warn you if you don't like slow burns you may not like this movie but the slow burn in this is perfect. It is so good because even though we haven't gone to any crazy killings or anything yet the character building is so goddamn good. And the characters feel real and that's why it works so well because the most horror movies the characters don't feel like they're real people. They either feel like they're stereotypes or they're cliches. Usually the acting isn't great but in this case the acting is fantastic and you really feel that these are real people that you're watching. And even though it's a slow burn and not much is happening you are still entertained and invested because you're learning about these characters and let's face it it is a really fun time watching them make a porn film. Now because of the subject matter because it is a movie about a bunch of kids going out to make a porn you think that it's gonna come off kind of sleazy but actually this movie isn't sleazy at all. It's actually really sleek and sexy not in a bad way. It's sleek sexy and creepy and scary so it has it all. It's actually a perfect combo of all those things and it's way smarter than you'd think it's gonna be because the subject matter is all about sex. This movie is all about sex. It's about one's need to be wanted and to feel desired and to go out and fuck basically. It's about all those human carnal primal instincts and they go about it in a very smart way. There's actually some great dialogue that takes place after they've wrapped filming for the night. They're all sitting around relaxing with a beer talking about the morality of what they're doing the morality of making pornography and the morality of sex and having sex with multiple people and how love is different than sex. All that stuff is addressed and it's way more thought provocative than you thought this movie ever would be. This is also a beautiful looking film. It is shot fantastically. There are some shots that just took my breath away. There's a fantastic aerial shot looking down at the water as one of the girls is skinny dipping and it's not only beautiful but it's also terrifying. The setting for this movie is fantastic too. The farmhouse is creepy. The boarding house is creepy. It reminds you a lot of the evil dead cabin. The lake and the water during the daytime seems very nice and pleasant. At night time almost comes off like a swamp. It reminds you a lot of of course Friday the 13th and I don't think that is by accident. This movie does pay homage to a lot of other horror movies. You'll see Texas Chainsaw Massacre right off the bat. Of course, them all piled into the van going out driving to a farmhouse. There's a shot of the cattle that reminds me a lot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That must be the old slaughterhouse. There's shots in there to remind you of the shining. In fact, somebody did yell behind me. Here's Johnny. Quite sure there's a lot more Easter eggs you'll find in this movie that are nods to other horror movies. I may even be stretching it a little bit. I may be seeing things that I want to see in this movie that are little nods to other horror movies or maybe they're there on purpose but it's subtle enough where it's not completely in your face. I love how this movie takes the old cliche, the boring old cliche that's been overdone so much in horror movies of the kids going out to the woods to have sex. It takes that throwaway cliche and makes it the entire plot of the film. It takes that trope and makes it have meaning. The whole reason they're on this farm is to make this porn movie and have sex. So there was a reason for them going out to the woods to have sex. It is basically to make a product and to make money off that product. The kills in this movie, once you get to them, once you get past that slow burn, are a great payoff and the effects are great. I'm quite sure the practical. I didn't see any CG in this. If there was, it was good or it was very subtle. Not just the gore but also the atmosphere surrounding the kills, the way they light it makes it just look so good. This movie actually really made me feel almost warm and fuzzy inside because it felt familiar and old but at the same time, it felt new and exciting. They did a great job of tipping their hat to the past but also doing something really new and thought provocative in the slasher genre. Felt like a movie I've seen a gazillion times but it also felt like something I've never seen before. I was honestly smiling ear to ear grin throughout this whole movie because not only was it fun, it was entertaining, it was smart, and it made me really feel like I was watching something special and it did a really good job of being creepy and unnerving and scary. There was moments in the movie I howled laughing because they were legitimately funny. They really balanced the horror in the comedy in a great way where it doesn't feel like they're trying too hard to be funny. So even though I really did like this movie, there are a few things about it I didn't like. Or that I thought they could have maybe done a little different. The first one being, I don't really think it needed to take place in 1979. This movie really could have taken place during modern times with the exact same plot and the exact same premise. It taking place in 1979 with the kids piled into the van seemed way more of a tribute to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and those types of movies than it needed to be. So I don't think it needed to be a nod to those movies because this movie does do something new and does stand on its own. Another thing I didn't like about this movie was actually the way that they pulled off the ending. There's a moment in the movie where you realize that this ride is over and there's nothing really in the back of your mind thinking that oh there might be something else that might happen. Another jump scare, another twist. You pretty much realize we're at the end of this journey. And I thought that that was way too much of a dead end. I thought they could have made it a little bit more open-ended for a bit more suspense. I still wanted to be on the edge of my seat and I wasn't because I knew everything was over. There's also a moment at the ending which I think came off a little too silly. I don't think they were trying to be funny but with me with my sixth sense of humor I found it a little silly. But other than that I thought that X was a fantastic movie. I'd recommend it to any horror movie fan and especially slasher fans who are looking for something new but still feels familiar. I'm not sure this movie has tons of rewatchability because of the fact that it's such a slow burn but I definitely recommend you get off your ass, head to the movie theater and check out X. Until next time, keep drinking.