X (2022)

Ti West gets all wet and sloppy in a Texan porn bloodbath. I really only watched it to hear Brittany Snow talking dirty and I got what I came for.

I am reminded of many seventies horror slashers here, not least the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre of course. The exploitation industry seems to be alive and well and still covered in blood, even now. This is perhaps more unusual in the form of our antagonist, a bonkers old woman that clearly misses a vicarious youth and is jealous to the point of knife-wielding lunacy about the erotic events going on next door, and her husband, unable to provide for his wife's needs and is bloody annoyed about it. She's obviously in need of a bit, but no-one is offering.

As an homage to what has been and gone many times before, this is as good as you will see really, but it really isn't asking much to begin with. The gore is visceral and bloodletting inventive, even if it remains ridiculous. The performances, for the most part, are better than a seventies version of this would be likely to offer, so for that we should be grateful. Whilst it takes a good hour for this to really start to get going, West has done better than most in this genre setting the scene and character arcs for a somewhat predictable denouement.