You know the feeling… you finish a movie you either hated or loved and then check the reviews and get a sucker punch. What movie was I watching? Hell, what movie were you all watching? Because I didn’t like X very much but clearly everyone else was shipped the better version. Oh my.

So X is set in 1979 and is about a bunch of young folk setting out to make an artistic adult film. They settle on a small farm as a shooting location somewhere in Texas with a weird old husband and wife letting them use their land and out-buildings. Things go south and the blood starts flying.

One of my biggest problems with this flick is that I think it thinks it’s the smarted, coolest, most twisted yet artistic film out there. I think they think the meta commentary about making an artistic porn film gets associated with this movie via the transitive property. And, by extension, my problem is that the movie just isn’t good enough… so their cock-of-the-walk preening comes across as self-delusion.

But, then again, maybe the movie wants to be nothing more than a grisly little slasher… and the last line and smash cut to title suggests they think it’s the best, most grisliest, most messed up movie ever. And… it just isn’t. I mean, I guess if you go “oooh” and “ugh” when OLD PEOPLE act creepy, then sure, go for it, hoss. Creepiest movie ever.

I guess there’s bloody, grisly scenes but I didn’t think they were done with a particular sense of gory fun or legitimate scares. A number of them were pretty perfunctory and abrupt… shotgun based you might say.

And here’s my acceptance of a possible harsh truth. I thought the movie was dark and murky to the point it was hard to tell what was going on sometimes. And that COULD have been my theater’s projection… I’ve had problems with it in the past but I can usually see more symptoms than I did this time. So… maybe I’d have enjoyed it more if the image wasn’t so obscure.

So take that for what it’s worth. Might be a “me” problem. Certainly there’s a lot of positive reviews for this flick. But, for me, it was half an ok movie about people wanting to make a porno and half a murky, generic slasher film that got the giggles over old people. Teehee.

Score: 68