X (5 Stars)

It all starts as a simple idea. An aspiring film director travels with five friends to make a pornographic film on a farm in a remote Texas village. It's 1979, the early days of home video. The cameraman thinks he can create a work of art. "It's possible to make a good dirty movie". The director just wants to make a film that will sexually excite the viewers. That's not a contradiction. Both of them want to make money.

The problem is that the director doesn't tell the farmer what he's doing. He could hardly tell a God-fearing farmer, "We want to film a porno in your barn". The reaction isn't quite what we would expect. The farmer thinks that the film crew are evil and should be destroyed, but his wife Pearl is jealous of the women's beauty and wants to be in the film with them.

What might not be immediately obvious is that the farmer's wife and the director's girlfriend Maxine are both played by the same actress, Mia Goth. In "X" it seems like a random casting choice, but when we watch the prequel "Pearl" it becomes obvious why. The two women are destined to walk the same path. In "Pearl" the title character speaks the same words that Maxine speaks in "X". They both want to be big stars, they both want their names to be known throughout the world. And yet Maxine yells at Pearl, "I'm nothing like you".

"X" is a terrifying horror film. It made me shiver while I watched it. It's ugly but fascinating at the same time, carried by the performance of Mia Goth. A sequel called "Maxine" should be released later this year. I can hardly wait.

Success Rate:  + 13.1

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