It's not a Texas chainsaw massacre, but the spirit of Tobe Hooper's original scuzz-slasher classic looms large over "X," writer-director Ti West's tribute to '70s cinema, porn, horror and godlessness on the Texas plains.
It's 1979 and a group of youngsters heads out to a rented cabin to shoot an adult film when they run afoul with the landowners and start getting picked off one by one.
Th premise isn't going to set the world on fire. But West ("The House of the Devil") is a student of the genre, and he crafts a loving ode to both the soul and sensibilities of his '70s heroes, and elevates the material by creating a genuine mood and giving his redneck killers a motivation beyond mere bad guy clock-punching. "X' is a movie where the axe plunges more than skin deep.
Wayne (Martin Henderson, looking more than a little like a middle-age Kurt Russell) is leading a young crew out of Houston and into the boonies where they'll shoot a porn film called "The Farmer's Daughters." The crew consists of stars Maxine ("Suspiria's" Mia Goth, who is excellent), Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson Hole (Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi), along with writer-director RJ (Owen Campbell) and sound engineer Lorraine (Jenna Ortega).
When they arrive at their destination, a guest cabin set on a sprawling property that includes a pond and several acres of land, it's clear things are off when Wayne is greeted by owner Howard (Stephen Ure) who puts a shotgun to his chest. It's a misunderstanding, Howard explains, and tells him the gun isn't loaded anyway.
The gang makes their way to their quarters and goes about their business, and Howard warns them to look out for his wife Pearl (Mia Goth again, under heavy old person makeup), who has a tendency to wander off. It turns out they have a lot more than Pearl going missing to worry about.
West is a loving craftsman who takes his time composing clean, beautifully framed shots; there's a sequence here with an alligator that is shot from above that is tense, chilling and wickedly funny all at once. He doesn't lay off on the skin or the gore, both of which are doled out in abundance, but he also manages to deepen the narrative with a story about aging and intimacy that brings a touch of complexity to the bloodletting. Too many horror movies set things up and knock them down with a streamlined efficiency that trades out any sense of humanity for its characters. "X" pays off by showing what happens when characters are more than just meat for the grinder — or, for that matter, those doing the grinding.
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'X'
Grade: B+
MPAA rating: R (for strong bloody violence and gore, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language)
Running time: 1:35
Where to watch: Now playing in theaters
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