X – 2022 – yes, there’s an X-rated theme

X is one of the most hyped movies as of late in my social media flow. So, I figured I just had to see it to see what all the fuss was about. My knowledge about the movie was about zero beforehand. I knew that it would deal with adult themes in one way or another and that it would be a horror film. That’s about it. So, I started to watch it and it’s apparently set in the late ’70s. I think the atmosphere is pretty cool. It actually feels like X was made in the ’70s, not only set in that time period. That outta count for something at least, so there’s good craftsmanship in the conception of X.

Shooting an art-porno?

Basically, it’s about this group of youngsters going out to a remote location to shoot a porno. Not just any porno for that matter, this is going to be a real film, not just a regular porno if you listen to the director of the film within the film. Great ambitions no doubt. If I’m not mistaken, the title they are filming is called the Farmers Daughter (isn’t there already an adult film by that title?). Anyway, the plot seems very shallow and is about this man coming to a farm because his car broke down or something and getting invited into the house to shelter from the rain or whatever. And guess what, dad is not home and hit daughter – ‘the farmer’s daughter is horny. You know where this is going – right?

Not very sexy

There is some skin shown in a couple of scenes but I can’t call this sexy in my wildest fantasy. It’s just dumb and a straight forward extremely shallow porno shoot. But apart from eh movie within the movie, there is something going on of course. Immediately when they arrive at this farm where they plan to shoot the “epic” film, you notice that something is off. There is someone looking at them from a window och the second store semi-hidden behind a curtain. I wonder how many times I have seen that cliche before? And there is this hostile farm-owner that really doesn’t want them on his property but has given in to get some easy bucks by renting them a cabin. I don’t think that he’s aware of what their plans are.

As a background, we have this moral panic about what is true to God or whatever, that we should live in sin, and so forth. Which is a pretty obvious nod to the bible belt and, from my perspective, religious fanatism. Soon we are introduced to the farmer’s wife who is a kinda scary character. It’s hard to get a real grip on her and I think she is the sole reason the film even works to some extent. We really need that mystery amount of the other cliches.

Of course, a single mysterious character in a horror movie set in an eerie location is kinda cliche in itself but it somewhat works. It’s hard to get a grip of her. She’s an old lady who seems both very prude and extremely horny. I guess her self-esteem is at rock bottom as she demands to be complimented on numerous occasions. She needs to be desired and not turned away.

Feministic values and double standards

There are definitely feministic values in the story, double standards are brought to light when the director’s girlfriend doesn’t understand how the relationship between the producer and one of the female cast members can work. He is the producer of the movie and she has one of the parts, which means that she has sex with another man on camera. The director waves it off by saying that it’s only a movie and no big deal. But when his girlfriend a day later says that she wants to be in the movie and not just in charge of the boomstick he more or less loses his mind showing that there are different rules depending on the circumstances.

But as a whole X is a very boring and very slow-paced movie in my opinion. I was actually waiting for it to end so that I could be “free”. The kills are predictable and the characters are mostly boring. It’s an amazingly un-exciting movie in almost every sense. I really tried to get the hype, but I just couldn’t. But apparently, there’s a sequel in the works that might explain some things left unanswered in this one. Funny thing is that I didn’t realize there were any unanswered things until I saw the information about a sequel. So maybe there’s more to this story than I even noticed? Well, had it been more exciting, maybe I would have cared more. let’s hope for the sequel!