X
A24 | Release Date: March 18, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ColliderChase HutchinsonAug 17, 2022
It is a dynamic, deadly work of filmmaking that achieves all its lofty ambitions and then some to become an absolute masterwork. Read full review
100
Little White LiesAnna BogutskayaAug 16, 2022
X has no interest in making sweeping statements about sexual liberation, about pornography or ageing. It brings the slasher back to its fleshy basics, leaning into what made the granddaddies of slasher films so memorable. Read full review
100
We Got This CoveredChase WilkinsonMar 24, 2022
Ti West's latest slasher 'X' defies all odds and sets itself apart from the crowd as a phenomenal piece of filmmaking that reinvents the overplayed clichés and marks a refreshing turning point for modern horror. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 17, 2022
X is a clever and exuberant throwback to a less innocent time, when movies could be naughty, disreputable and idiosyncratic. Read full review
100
Screen DailyNikki BaughanMar 15, 2022
There are some tremendous misdirects, effective jump scares, and literal piles of gore. There just happens to be plenty of brains to go with all that blood. Read full review
94
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonMar 17, 2022
On the whole, X proves that West is a master of craft. In The House of the Devil, he ingeniously drew out suspense through his slow, careful editing, and 13 years later he still hasn’t lost his touch. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyJoshua RothkopfMar 19, 2022
For its whole running time, X has ideas on its mind. Like the doubled-edged title itself, both an evocation of the grungy rating this movie might have received in 1979 and something more suggestive ("You've got that X factor," Wayne says of Maxine's allure), it indicates a film that feels unpinned, ominous, and potentially unforgettable. Read full review
91
ConsequenceBrett ArnoldMar 14, 2022
Ti West’s X is a strange and wonderful return to form for the indie-horror phenom, an ode to the life-altering magic of cheap and dirty horror pictures. 13 years after his breakout hit in the genre, Ti West has added another great horror film to the canon. Read full review
90
Film ThreatBobby LePireMar 31, 2022
The cast is strong, the comedy and the horror work perfectly in tandem, the meta-commentary is the best Scream, and the ending line is sheer perfection. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfMar 23, 2022
The expectations for West’s return to film were high, and luckily X brings this master of horror back with a bang. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 17, 2022
It’s a new twist on the period-piece slasher movie, smart and strange and fantastically depraved. I kinda loved it. Read full review
85
The AtlanticDavid SimsMar 25, 2022
The horror genre has, of late, been hijacked by purportedly “elevated” takes that avoid the simplicity of something like a slasher. X provides a map for how to do the classics right while still taking the formula somewhere original. Read full review
85
SlashfilmMatt DonatoMar 15, 2022
Ti West is back with a violent vengeance, slicing and dicing through likable characters that light up the screen throughout their doomed and debaucherous overnight shoot. West is operating on another level — even the slightest editing cut cranks fear factors another notch higher. Read full review
83
IndieWireRobert DanielsMar 14, 2022
While West isn’t always operating on the same levels as his influences, his signature flair for tension through simmering slow-burn pacing remains unparalleled. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTodd GilchristMar 14, 2022
While you’re languishing in the performances and period detail, West is sneaking up to pull the rug out from beneath you, or to raze some outdated cliché. X is bloody, ballsy fun. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJason BaileyMar 14, 2022
With its shout-outs to horror classics and juicy pay-offs of its own, X feels like the movie West was born to make. Read full review
82
PolygonRafael MotamayorMar 15, 2022
West delivers a crowd-pleasing return to horror that’s a love letter to the genre without becoming a parody. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackMar 20, 2022
West’s direction is exacting and rigorous. From the filmmaker’s more formal experimentations right down to the soundtrack, which is perfect, X feels like the exact movie its maker set out to create. Also on the money is Mia Goth’s performance as Maxine, a starry-eyed ingenue who is equal parts ordinary and glittering in her ambition and sexuality. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 18, 2022
Come to West’s celebration of the movies’ darker underbelly for the adrenaline rush of sex and violence. Exit it having witnessed something that marks the spot where baser impulses meets artistry, in more ways than one. Read full review
80
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaMar 17, 2022
While its gnarly payoffs eventually peter out, X is filled with fun and intense setups that harken back to classic slasher fare. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanMar 15, 2022
West’s frightfilms are playful — a stereotype is inverted as guys wander half-naked to their doom like stereotypical slasher starlets — but run to serious scares. X is a properly satisfying shocker. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanMar 14, 2022
X is a wily and entertaining slow-motion ride of terror that earns its shocks, along with its singular quease factor, which relates to the fact that the demons here are ancient specimens of humanity who actually have a touch of…humanity. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 23, 2022
X doesn’t reinvent one of the most popular, time-tested horror genres so much as breathe a little life into it. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 17, 2022
X is a reminder that, while the slasher genre had some very deep valleys, some of the most effective horror emerged from it (especially in the early days before the films became little more than orgies of inventive eviscerations). With X, West seeks to recapture some of the fun, edginess, and energy of those productions while at the same time delivering a few surprises. Read full review
75
The Associated PressJake CoyleMar 16, 2022
The actors are uniformly good. And by fusing two types of films that have long been bedfellows — slashers and pornography — “X” makes for a gripping shotgun marriage of genres. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comAbby OlceseMar 14, 2022
X is a clever formal experiment, but one that plays like a feature-length joke for horror fans and filmmakers rather than offering a distinct perspective. West conjures nasty fun with a genre enthusiast’s expertise and then doesn't offer much beyond that. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreMar 19, 2022
Like most of West’s films, X is not particularly ambitious in its psychology or storytelling. It’s his technique that makes his work feel like it has one foot in the arthouse, with its elegant compositions and the way the camera moves as though daring us to see something the characters have yet to spot. Read full review
70
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiMar 18, 2022
While X could have dug a bit deeper into certain aspects of the story, the film’s twists, layered themes, and intriguing character dynamics blend together to make it one of the best horror films of the year so far. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMar 17, 2022
It would be a mistake to call X a misfire — in its artisanal, period textures and delight in old-school atmospherics, it’s too well made. But it’s better at teasing than following through. Read full review
63
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenMay 12, 2022
What follows is a slightly unfocused twist on the sex-and-death genre; promiscuity is punished, yes, but out of hypocritical jealousy rather than any sort of moral high ground. If this doesn’t entirely work, it’s because of the movie’s depiction of the elderly couple. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineMark HansonMar 15, 2022
While still intermittently thrilling as a basic retro-outfitted slasher, X ultimately comes off in a way that no porn (or horror) film should: like a tease. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansMar 20, 2022
The latest film from horror director Ti West (The House of the Devil), about a porn movie shoot gone wrong, is ripe with playful winks and nudges. Read full review
60
The GuardianCharles BramescoMar 16, 2022
With its unabashed focus on bodies, luring us in with their nudity before hacking them into tiny pieces, the back-to-basics slasher X arrives as a bold rebuke to all things staid and dignified. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 16, 2022
It has certain je ne sais quoi, if graphic nudity, self-referential humor and serial murder — neck stabbing, eye gouging, alligator munching and shotgun blasting — are your thing. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleZaki HasanMar 16, 2022
While the latest “Texas Chainsaw” installment dropped on Netflix a few weeks ago, “X” owes so much in style and tone to the 1974 slasher classic it feels like more of a legitimate heir than the film bearing its name. Read full review
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