X (2022)

X 2022 is a Ti West slasher set in 1979, shot on a Texas farm that hides a killer host couple.

Director	Ti West
Release year	2022
Runtime	104 minutes
Genre	Slasher
Starring	Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi, Martin Henderson

Plot

In 1979 a small crew rents a guest house on a Texas farm to shoot an adult film. Maxine Minx wants to be a star. Wayne runs the shoot. Bobby-Lynne and Jackson are the experienced performers. Lorraine is the sound recordist who decides she wants to be in front of the camera. Howard and Pearl, the elderly couple who own the farm, are not the quiet landlords the booking suggested.

Pearl watches the shoot. What she wants is not only to stop it. The night becomes a slasher in the shape of a Texas Chain Saw setup: a farm, a road, a group that should not have stayed. Maxine is the one who treats survival as a career move. The film is the middle chapter of a trilogy that was shot out of order.

Production

Ti West wrote and directed it. Mia Goth plays both Maxine and Pearl, the latter under heavy makeup. A24 released it on March 18, 2022. The budget was about $1 million. It was shot in New Zealand, standing in for Texas, back to back with the prequel Pearl. Jenna Ortega plays Lorraine. Brittany Snow plays Bobby-Lynne. Scott Mescudi, as Kid Cudi, plays Jackson. Martin Henderson plays Wayne.

West has said the film is about sex and the film industry’s fear of age. The 1979 look is grain, clothes, and a van. Pearl, released the same year, shows the farmer’s wife as a young woman in 1918. MaXXXine (2024) follows Maxine to Los Angeles in 1985. The three films share Goth and West. They do not share a tone.

Cast

Mia Goth as Maxine Minx and Pearl
Jenna Ortega as Lorraine
Brittany Snow as Bobby-Lynne
Scott Mescudi as Jackson
Martin Henderson as Wayne Gilroy
Stephen Ure as Howard

Trivia

Goth plays the final girl and the killer. The makeup, not a second actor, does the age.
Pearl was shot right after this film, in the same location.
The farm is in New Zealand. The story is set in Texas.
West steers into Texas Chain Saw geography without copying the family.
MaXXXine is the third film. It follows Maxine, not Pearl.
The adult film they are shooting is called The Farmer’s Daughters.