Featured Image Credit: A24
Topics: TV and Film
Daisy Phillipson
Horror fans, listen up - there’s a brand new slasher on the scene and it’s already earned a sizable 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Watch the trailer below:
Despite the SEO-unfriendly title, X by Ti West has been praised by critics and audiences alike with its homage to 70s grindhouse style cinema.
It’s been likened to the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a comparison you’ll likely agree with after watching the trailer.
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The same goes for the plot, which follows a group of porn actors who head to rural Texas to make an adult film under the noses of their reclusive hosts.
But things take a turn for the terrifying when the elderly couple unveil their guests’ true intentions - let the horrors begin.
Fans have been taking to social media to praise the film, with one writing on Twitter: “X is absolutely bonkers. Loved it. The whole cast is great but Mia Goth really shines. Ti West is a genius.”
A film blog writer added: “I’ll be writing about it later this week, but holy s**t does Ti West’s X deliver the goods.
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“See it in the theater with people. And then never look those people in the eye again.”
People have also commended the performances from the cast, which includes Brittany Snow (Pitch Perfect) and Mia Goth (Suspiria) as the porn stars.
Alongside Snow and Goth is none other than rapper Kid Cudi, as well as Martin Henderson (Grey’s Anatomy) and Owen Campbell (The Americans), among others.
Speaking to Variety about his inspiration for the flick, West - the filmmaker behind such other horror delights as The House of the Devil and V/H/S - said: “Slasher movies have always been sort of seen as this lowbrow sex and violence kind of sub-genre.
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“And so I was thinking that in the ‘70s, adult filmmaking and horror filmmaking were not that different. They have kind of a symbiotic relationship.
“They were made outside of the system, and they could go direct to consumers via drive-ins or grindhouse theaters or adult theaters, and eventually VHS.
“So I thought making a movie about people making an adult movie would satisfy what I was trying to get after, bringing an audience into the filmmaking process.”
He continued: “Texas Chainsaw obviously looms over this movie, that is a slasher movie set in Texas in the ‘70s.
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“But there were also movies like Two Lane Blacktop and Smokey and the Bandit, sort of this era of movies that has a very particular Americana vibe to them that I think in a modern corporate society doesn’t exist anymore.
“And that just became an interesting milieu for the movie to take place.”
The great news is you don’t have to wait to watch X, as it dropped in cinemas today (18 March).