X
***
Director: Ti West
Screenwriter: Ti West
Principal cast:
Mia Goth
Jenna Ortega
Brittany Snow
Martin Henderson
Owen Campbell
Stephen Ure
Country: USA
Classification: R18+
Runtime: 105 mins.
Australian release date: 24 March 2022.
You won’t spot it but there’s quite a strong Antipodean component to Ti West’s latest slasher pic, X. For starters, although it’s set in Texas in 1979, much of the film was shot around Whanganui on the North Island of New Zealand; then there’s the presence of Martin Henderson, a Kiwi actor who many people will recognise from performances in series like Grey’s Anatomy and, currently, Netflix’s Virgin River; and to cap it off, Aussie actor Stephen Ure plays a key role in the drama. None of these things are evident at first glance because the production designers have done an excellent job of making NZ look like Texas and all the actors speak with authentic-sounding US accents. I guess if Aotearoa can substitute for Montana, as it did in Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, then passing for Texas is a walk in the park.
In 1979, things were very different to today - petrol only cost 65 cents a gallon in the States and lots of people bonked on screen. Porno movies had been exhibited freely in cinemas since the success of Deep Throat in 1972, the VHS versus Beta wars were almost over and nearly every house had home video, so there was a massive market for porn in suburban homes. Thus, Wayne (Henderson) and his girlfriend, wannabe porn star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), decide to make an adult movie, The Farmer’s Daughters, that will make their fortunes and launch Maxine into superstardom. They employ two more experienced actors, Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson Hole (Scott Mescudi aka rapper ‘Kid Cudi’), to fill out the cast and RJ (Owen Campbell) and his girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega) to film it and record sound. The troupe drive to a rural location outside of Houston, an old farm where Wayne has rented a cabin and a barn to shoot The Farmer’s Daughters, only the property is still the residence of the elderly, somewhat doddery couple who own it, Howard (Stephen Ure) and his wife Pearl. Things start to go pear-shaped when the old woman spies the carnal action going on in the house and decides to do something about it and Howard comes looking for her.
West, who also wrote the screenplay, has so far specialised in genre pics of the slasher kind, but this time he’s added a more knowing element – he’s observing the whole moviemaking process in a kind of meta commentary on film production. In a running gag, RJ is constantly talking about how he’s going to make an auteur movie, one that will show the world that porn can be elevated to art. Accordingly, you can play spot the allusion as you watch X, seeing how many other films are referenced. This is a cute idea although it doesn’t really lead anywhere, even though West and his cinematographer, Eliot Rockett, have successfully achieved a genuine Seventies look to their film. The performances are solidly good and the actors all seem happy to take part in the gag that they are making a low-budget porn movie set in the 1970s in the middle of a horror film made in 2021. Mia Goth and Jenna Ortega are particularly effective in their roles. By the way, keen-eyed readers will have noted that I haven’t said who’s played the role of Pearl. See if you can figure it out as you watch this tongue-in-cheek horror movie.
Screenwriter: Ti West
Principal cast:
Mia Goth
Jenna Ortega
Brittany Snow
Martin Henderson
Owen Campbell
Stephen Ure
Country: USA
Classification: R18+
Runtime: 105 mins.
Australian release date: 24 March 2022.
You won’t spot it but there’s quite a strong Antipodean component to Ti West’s latest slasher pic, X. For starters, although it’s set in Texas in 1979, much of the film was shot around Whanganui on the North Island of New Zealand; then there’s the presence of Martin Henderson, a Kiwi actor who many people will recognise from performances in series like Grey’s Anatomy and, currently, Netflix’s Virgin River; and to cap it off, Aussie actor Stephen Ure plays a key role in the drama. None of these things are evident at first glance because the production designers have done an excellent job of making NZ look like Texas and all the actors speak with authentic-sounding US accents. I guess if Aotearoa can substitute for Montana, as it did in Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, then passing for Texas is a walk in the park.
In 1979, things were very different to today - petrol only cost 65 cents a gallon in the States and lots of people bonked on screen. Porno movies had been exhibited freely in cinemas since the success of Deep Throat in 1972, the VHS versus Beta wars were almost over and nearly every house had home video, so there was a massive market for porn in suburban homes. Thus, Wayne (Henderson) and his girlfriend, wannabe porn star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), decide to make an adult movie, The Farmer’s Daughters, that will make their fortunes and launch Maxine into superstardom. They employ two more experienced actors, Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson Hole (Scott Mescudi aka rapper ‘Kid Cudi’), to fill out the cast and RJ (Owen Campbell) and his girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega) to film it and record sound. The troupe drive to a rural location outside of Houston, an old farm where Wayne has rented a cabin and a barn to shoot The Farmer’s Daughters, only the property is still the residence of the elderly, somewhat doddery couple who own it, Howard (Stephen Ure) and his wife Pearl. Things start to go pear-shaped when the old woman spies the carnal action going on in the house and decides to do something about it and Howard comes looking for her.
West, who also wrote the screenplay, has so far specialised in genre pics of the slasher kind, but this time he’s added a more knowing element – he’s observing the whole moviemaking process in a kind of meta commentary on film production. In a running gag, RJ is constantly talking about how he’s going to make an auteur movie, one that will show the world that porn can be elevated to art. Accordingly, you can play spot the allusion as you watch X, seeing how many other films are referenced. This is a cute idea although it doesn’t really lead anywhere, even though West and his cinematographer, Eliot Rockett, have successfully achieved a genuine Seventies look to their film. The performances are solidly good and the actors all seem happy to take part in the gag that they are making a low-budget porn movie set in the 1970s in the middle of a horror film made in 2021. Mia Goth and Jenna Ortega are particularly effective in their roles. By the way, keen-eyed readers will have noted that I haven’t said who’s played the role of Pearl. See if you can figure it out as you watch this tongue-in-cheek horror movie.