X (2022) KILL COUNT

[Music] welcome to the kill count where we tally up the victims at all our favorite horror movies i'm james tna janiece and today we're looking at x released in 2022. x is the eighth film by ty west whose previous horror films like the house of the devil are cult classics in their own right but x his first slasher is definitely west breaking out to a larger horror audience x follows a group of people trying to make an adult film in 1970s texas with a premise like that you might expect a lot of blood and boobs and you'll get them but the sex and violence is surrounded by genuinely compelling characters i'm not treating it like pornography but a cinema the victims in this movie are a far cry from the shallow blood bags we often see in slasher fair yeah they work in the sex industry but unlike in moralistic 80s horror films they're not condemned to die because of that x doesn't judge their line of work since west as an independent filmmaker can relate to their entrepreneurial spirit what porn and away did was sort of level the playing field for people to get into the movie business in fact the character's progressive attitude towards sex makes them open-minded and accepting queer straight black it's white disco the movie's killers a pair of elderly farm owners are also complex and sympathetic driven by their jealousy of these youths and their sexual freedom these themes the fear of getting older and the loss of being sexually desired as you age are embedded in nearly every shot and line of dialogue x is so full of callbacks and foreshadowing that a kill count can't do it proper justice to fully appreciate its thematic strengths it requires a long-form discussion which is why i recommend our podcast episode after you watch the movie of course hell you can make a night of it draw a bubble bath light some candles throw on the podcast and really treat yourself with some thco or delta 8 goodies from today's sponsor vance global are you listening to us it soothes me like i said vance global sells thco and delta a products that are all completely legal and shipped right to your door in discrete packaging finally some discretion from my packaging chucky fans sent me a bunch of products to test out and i've been loving them the thco gummies have been fantastic for kicking back while watching a movie and the delta 8 gummies are perfect for dealing with life's most stressful situations try vance global for yourself by going to the link in the description and use discount code deadmeat for 20 off your order or deadmeat 30 for 30 off subscription orders now let's see how many characters get shown the exit and get to the kills [Music] the movie begins with a 4x3 fake out before dollying out of a barn into a full 16x9 frame this is a cold open showing we've got plenty of blood ahead enough to make sheriff dentler blasphemize in the basement my god but to find out how all this happened we're gonna have to jump back 24 hours as though this script were written by a catman in the lighthouse we meet our main characters in a very texas chainsaw massacre like shot x is heavily inspired by toby hooper's classic and the movie wears that influence on its sleeve we're in houston texas in a star-spangled 1979 a huge part of this movie is the pursuit of the american dream my american dream is not unreasonable i just want a paper house with a big old pool so i can float around with my knees in the breeze and tan these titties these folk are hoping to find success by shooting an independent porno film x takes place during the so-called golden age of porn a period from 1969 to 1984 when erotic films like deep throat and andy warhol's blue movie were achieving mainstream theatrical success that meant even low budget smut could earn big box office returns more importantly for maxine minks it means a chance to become famous she loves living the high life and thinks of herself as a star in waiting i need to be famous wayne i'm ready for the highlight i'm sick and tired of never getting what i want i mean it i want the whole world on my name helping her is her fiance wayne a budding adult film producer matthew mckinda hey encourages her like a boomer parent talking to their millennial kid you're special there ain't nobody else out there like you that's exactly what my mom always told me growing up wayne's using his money from running a strip club to finance a porno called the farmer's daughter if it hits like deep throat dead he'll be able to achieve his american dream i don't want to have to wear a hard hat to make a living do you he's got faith in the movie because of maxine you got that x factor yeah she's got that title factor maxine's played by english actress mia goth who recently co-starred in 2018's suspiria remake wayne is played by martin henderson who was in the ring and who was last seen on the kill count as the hotty hot husband and the stranger sequel maxine's co-stars are the kinda sorta dating pair of bobby lin and the aptly named jackson hole jackson is played by rapper kid cudi built under his birth name scott muscuti while bobby lin is played by britney snow just seen on the kill count and would you rather snow was excited to play a character against type one who was super sexual but also highly intelligent i really liked that this was a character and a chance to play a woman who had autonomy over her own body and her sexuality for inspiration she watched dolly parton movies and interviews since she too wields sexuality and smarts in equal measure filming this fuck fest will be a fresh-faced 23 year old named rj he approaches it with all the gusto of a recent film school grad i actually intend on experimenting a lot with the film's editing giving it a certain sense of the awful card like they're doing in france cool cool uh i'm i'm gonna go get another beer no you can just stay there rj's brought along his girlfriend lorraine played by already established scream queen jenna ortega she was last seen on the kill count in the babysitter killer queen but she'll be back on the channel soon enough the quiet lorraine is skeptical of the porn production being more a fan of deliverance and rob reiner films she's upset to be helping on it she didn't realize she'd be the miri to rj zack i'll just start somewhere lorraine rj it's smud when did you become such a prude maybe when her alba taught her virginity is like a flower you can't uncrush rj is a clear stand-in for ty west himself even resembling him physically he also reminds me of tariq the filmmaker character west played and you're next rj's lines are basically wes talking to the audience it is possible to make a good dirty movie that's exactly what he was setting out to do with axe well what would be the ultimate like sort of low brow exploitation thing of like sex and violence and then how would you do something maybe a little more highbrow with it he also wanted x to be edgy and taboo feeling that modern horror movies were too soft they have a quick road trip with experimental editing like in france hey i'm the next scene mind if i okay okay i'm just coming in this staggered editing will happen throughout the movie but there's only one transition that can rightly be described as a cock wipe they arrive at their destination a remote farmhouse wayne's found to save on budget he meets with the farm's owner howard and after a rocky first impression the old man eventually leads the group to their guest house on the edge of the property this location was a farm in 4del new zealand despite taking place in texas x was shot in the land of the long white cloud primarily around wellington and wanganui wonder if martin henderson enjoyed being in his home country howard is less than pleased that wayne's violating his airbnb's guest policy i don't recall you mentioning you'd be bringing all these others wayne's attempt at gratuity doesn't smooth things over i don't think i like you wayne in fact i don't much like the looks of none of y'all howard's played by the then 62 year old stephen er wearing nine pieces of prosthetics to make him seem at least a decade older it wasn't his first time undergoing such a makeup process though having played several orcs in the lord of the rings and hobbit films er was briefly seen on this channel as ricky daggers in the deathgasm kill cow before that film's director took the video down and gave us a copyright strike thanks for that by the way you made zorin cry despite howard's hostility wayne excuses him as an old man jealous of their youth it's harmless he's just old his peck ain't probably been harassed before you were born i'd hate people like us then too and another instance of this movie tapping on the fourth wall wayne says it's time for this porn focused horror film to get to the sex scenes i reckon it's about high time we cut to the chase and we give people what they want to see of course it is not what youtube wants to see if there's anything the sight hates more than gore it's sex and nudity meaning editor josh has got a whole lot of censoring ahead sorry bud but those gyrating hips will get this video restricted faster than a sinner in a sawtrap sex scenes and nudity are a staple of slashers but what's important to me is that the actors feel comfortable and safe thankfully that was the case here i think because if it was anyone less of a gentleman you know that no really it could have been a different experience and and thai as well i mean i think we were we were all such a family of like making sure that we all felt comfortable helping to that end was tandy wright the film's intimacy coordinator i'm glad productions have those nowadays while jackson and bobby lin get down and demonetized maxine sees howard's elderly wife pearl waving at her from the farmhouse hello our little harriet seems attracted to wood houses so one texas chainsaw shot later she's acting just like the kids in that movie and entering a house without permission oshkosh gosh darn that's a lot of side boobs instead of a hammer to the head maxine gets offered lemonade by pearl must be pretty good for maxine to want to chug chug chug chug maxine tries to cut the visit short but pearl would rather take her for a trip down memory lane i was young once too pearl used to be a dancer but life got in the way now she and her longtime husband howard are old yearning for the youth and beauty their houseguests have pearl's envy is mixed with admiration of maxine's special face and special sideboob what are you doing uh looking respectfully pearl's actually been peeping whenever she can like when maxine made like a crystal lake counselor and went skinny dipping these two characters are mirror images of each other reflected in their casting which elevates x to another level pearl is played by maxine's actress mia goth doing double duty by taking on both roles goth worked with a choreographer to figure out pearl's physicality and wore prosthetics that took 8 to 10 hours to apply since they consisted of 20 to 30 individual pieces this makeup and most of the movie's effects were done by new zealand's weta workshop which i incorrectly called weka when discussing their work in the prometheus kill count my bad goth would have to start the process at 3am and when it was done endure another 12 hours of filming during which makeup artist sarah rubano would apply touch-ups as needed it was a grueling schedule one that goth used for character inspiration that's really one of the main obstacles that paul is dealing with is just the sense of entrapment that there is no future for her and so whenever i started to feel overwhelmed in the makeup i tried to harness those feelings and and breed a sense of authenticity into her the dual casting embodies the movie's themes of aging and lost youth which is also reflected by the way maxine and pearl first see each other they're each framed through their own window like windows into each other's past and future pearls is closed like her life paths at this point while maxine's is open representing the opportunity she still has to leave the life she wants to i love how much goth disappears into pearl chelsea and i didn't realize it was her the first time we watched this the duel casting is so much more than just a gimmick it's essential to x's entire point again i recommend our podcast episode to hear us fully explore this movie's rich thematic layers when howard gets home maxine escapes the awkwardness and gets back to the guest house she takes a bump of bateman's best and promises herself she won't end up like pearl i will not accept life i do not deserve she starts to film her scenes beginning with dialogue that might as well be talking about pearl she's always been jealous i'm younger get all the attention maxine's presence seems to have made pearl wake up she grabs a brush and puts on a little makeup but i don't think i trust in the arthritis homicide she's probably going to commit maxine maxes out the movie sex scenes and more stuff that i can't show rest assured she shows off that x factor her action with jackson has a profound effect on everyone watching ooh especially lorraine she likey and who's that watching through the window why it's pearl who wishes she were young with a man entering her pearly gates she returns home all horned up and attempts to get it on mill's lane style with howard but her swaying can't persuade her husband because he's worried about his heart health you know arcane my heart that night the crew has a discussion prompted by lorraine who asks how these couples can be in love while watching their partners have sex with other people wayne proclaims it's just business while bobby lin defends their decisions with a thematic declaration one day we're gonna be too old to fuck and that's too short if you ask me this is a turning point of the movie in more ways than one and is perfectly situated falling right at the midpoint and scored by a beautiful cover of fleetwood max landslide while britney snow sings lyrics about getting older and weathering the seasons of life we see a heartbroken rejected pearl sadly strip away the makeup that failed to seduce her husband it's a surprisingly poignant sequence in this sexy soon to be gory slasher and it honestly makes me tear up every time i watch it this is how you motivate a villain and make the audience feel sympathy towards them and at the conclusion of the song we get one more turning point for the characters i wanna do a scene in the movie what rj is understandably not okay with this it's different than with the other couples where everyone is consenting but his response is poorly articulated instead of just saying it would hurt him he falls back on hollow arguments about the integrity of his film it doesn't work on a newly determined lorraine when did you become such a brood rj further sticks his foot in his mouth when he disparages maxine and bobby lynn to wayne lorraine's not like the others in there she is a nice girl thank you pardon it's an unfortunate situation all around and the fallout is a traumatic experience for rj who has to film his girlfriend having sex with another man judging by that cross and even more so by that underwear this is not where lorraine was expecting to wind up when she got ready this morning huh sunday i thought she wasn't wednesday the unwanted hot wifing sends a weeping rj to the shower that night as everyone else sleeps soundly damn super dark times for this guy i really feel for him i know he's a pretentious film student but i repeat myself but he seemed mostly nice until he was put on the spot upset he decides to take off and leave the others behind only to be stopped by a grand in the headlights pearl's quick to get handsy with the young director but rj's not looking to put her on any casting couches i can show you what i'm capable of stop i i don't want to see it maybe we should just go find your husband sick of being blue beaned pearl stabs into rj's neck as a way to take out her sexual frustrations she mounts him and continues stabbing away while the van's radio blares don't fear the reaper by blue oyster cult in fact she stabs his neck so thoroughly that it ends up decapitating him against the ground good god for the final shot of rj's body a twitching stunt performer laid with his upper body underground while a fake torso and head were placed on top the brutal kill is shocking and unexpected and kicks off the slasher half of the movie in an eerie yet oddly beautiful scene pearl uses the skills she learned at marcos and dances over rj's body echoing a photo she showed maxine earlier the music switches to a cover of wee-wee marie a 1918 song sung by singer-songwriter chelsea wolf for this film x's score was composed by wolf and frequent rob zombie collaborator tyler bates it features eerie vocals funky music for the porno and sometimes moaning sampled from the movie sex scenes lorraine notices that rj is gone and worries that she drove him away ha why might you think that lorraine of course you fucking did she enlists wayne in his banana hammock to help her find him and i like that wayne isn't creepy towards this young woman he's more exasperated at having to help her at this time of night i ain't getting in the middle of no more of this shit god damn i only pray that i look half as good as martin henderson when i'm 46. they split up with wayne heading into a barn there he steps onto an upright nail that gives him a nasty wound birdie sparty he notices movement near some holes in the back wall and takes a peep and an homage to psycho unfortunately wayne doesn't pull back in time to avoid a pitchfork to the face out go his eyes even more sporty sporty wayne's been stabbed in the face by pearl though frail she had the element of surprise and she doesn't need seven days to kill him she does it with a feeble double tap right away there you go pearl yeah covered up with hay i'm sure no one will notice while many of this movie's effects were done by wedda wayne's death was handled by the netherlands-based mimic fx studio a fake upper body and head were built for close-ups of the pitchfork going in and the eyeball coming out i love this kill but i'm not sure what those holes in the barn are for does pearls stab a lot of people like this or do howard and some pals enjoy side by side glory holding lorraine goes to the farmhouse and runs into howard who asks her to go into the cellar to get a flashlight once she's down there he locks the door behind her trapped and hoping to find another way out lorraine looks around until she discovers the same thing sheriff dentler will find the next morning a naked body strung up in a corner almost certainly someone who's been used as a sex slave this american carnage is enough to turn jenna ortega into a screaming poster girl you can actually see this victim's missing photo on the milk carton jackson's pounding back at the guest house i guess sexy ladies ain't the only thing he pounds his need for speed drinking abated he spots howard out front putting a pause to the late night lactose hanging full magnificent dong in the doorway jackson asks howard what he's up to my wife she's going missing listen she gets confused it happens sometimes after dark jackson's a nice guy and has expressed solidarity with howard since both of them served in the military howard in both world wars jackson more recently in vietnam he agrees to help look for pearl and puts away that anteater of his so they can head down to the lake this is part of the reason i love axe the victims aren't assholes or bland meat bags just waiting to be killed they're nice intelligent people who offer to help the elderly people trying to kill them if she's out here i'll find her this was an imperative from ty west he was very adamant that he wanted these characters to be lovable and he really wanted to develop these characters which was uh important to me that we that by the time the the story takes a turn that you don't want these characters to die then you're really invested in them using his tracking skills from vietnam jackson unearths another psycho homage a sunken car possibly belonging to the man lorraine found in the basement or maybe herbie finally had enough you know he returns to howard who just like pearl is envious towards youth and vigor you don't understand what it's like you can still do as you please howard says that jackson's been enticing his wife and i love how kid cuddy delivers his response yeah okay well he's unable to say too much more before howard shoots him point blank with his boomstick well that's a bummer back at the guesthouse the grim reaping granny strips down to her birthday suit and gets her cuddle on with a sleeping maxine and she don't want anybody else when she thinks about it she touches herself oh is she into the elizabeth bathory skincare routine gotta say pearl not doing you too much good when maxine finally wakes up her scream wakes up bobby lynn who sees pearl running out of the house bobbyland follows pearl down towards the lake where she finds her standing naked on the dock assuming she's having some kind of confused episode she rushes over to help the elderly woman just like jackson she's going out of her way to be nice although pearl takes her tone as condescending my nana gets confused sometimes as well believe it or not i even thought about becoming a nurse one day so okay why don't you come with me i don't need a nurse pearl calls bobby lynn a whore and we get another absolutely hilarious reaction okay you know what though namine is used to dealing with the heartless she bites back and insults pearl right in the sore spot it ain't my fault you didn't live the life you wanted that gets her shoved into the lake where an alligator attacks her and kills her in a terrifying death role the sequence was achieved using three different mechanical alligators with a stunt double performing the more intense parts of the death roll snow views her death with hometown pride i'm originally from florida so death by alligator i feel like i represented where i'm from accurately this eaten alive homage didn't come out of nowhere either the low-key gator was seen when maxine was taking her jennifer's body-like skinny dip it nearly got her even it was a close crawl lorraine finds a hatchet next to some swamy slippy slappy oh samson paints i was way off she uses it to jack torns her way through the door but howard dashes her ambitions and thingy bones with the butt of his shotgun he regroups with pearl and the sin keepers leave for the guest house where maxine has figured out that something's wrong she hides as the curmudgeonly killer search for her even though howard has lorraine in the cellar for pearl she wants maxine and maxine only this one's different she had something special that gel didn't expect this movie to be about old people killing youths and kidnapping them for sex slaves huh the geriatric jack and jill the rippers share a tender moment together tell me i'm special of course you are again for as evil as their actions are tai west makes you feel sympathy for pearl and howard they're ravaged by old age something that none of us can escape so you're almost happy for them when they finally decide to bang like they lived in the villages what if my heart can't take it okay unbeknownst to either of them maxine is hiding underneath the bed it's a scenario that's every grandchild's worst nightmare i know that some audiences reacted to this scene with disgust but honestly that just proves the movie's point the earlier scenes with young sexy people banging were titillating and enjoyable don't old people deserve to get freak nasty too sometimes having heard their plotting and prodding maxine makes her escape and runs outside only to find both the van and rj in the same sorry state she grabs a glovebox pistol and makes her way to the main house where lorraine jump scares her like a haunted mansion prop despite maxine's pleas to be quiet lorraine loudly blames her and the others for causing all of this she figures the best thing she can do is run but that doesn't work out very well for her now does it now she's got sunday bloody sundays i love how sudden this kill is considering lorraine would be the final girl in most other slashers howard intends on taking advantage of texas stand your ground laws help me drag the body inside if she's in a house that's self-defense that's the law but a death rattle from lorraine's body startles him so bad he kills over on the spot like unhealthy doug at the slash dance guess he was right about his heart's delicate condition to be fair though that thing's been working overtime tonight as pearl tends to her husband maxine tries to find the keys to their truck when it becomes clear maxine isn't calling up lifeline pearl lets the youngster know exactly what she thinks of her deviant little whore linda just loves me maxine joins a televangelist in denying this charge repeating her life-affirming mantra she goes to shoot pearl but realizes the gun isn't loaded something wayne mentioned when they first arrived pearl quickly re-arms herself but the shots kick back since her flying out the front door now that's what i call divine intervention maxine having dodged the shop goes outside to find pearl lying there with a broken hip something foreshadowed earlier by howard it's very dark and i'm worried she could fall and break her hip in fact all of the characters fates are cleverly foreshadowed throughout the movie rj's post shower stabbing that changes up the film occurs about halfway through story can't just suddenly change midway through what about in psycho you love that movie the deaths of wayne jackson and howard are all hinted at in lines of dialogue people's eyes are gonna pop out of their damn skulls when they see this two tours in south vietnam had enough farmers trying to shoot me for one lifetime i wouldn't want to give the old card your heart attack would you lorraine spends most of the movie holding a shotgun mic and her fatal character development sees her go from quiet church mouse to screaming victim i don't like his girlfriend she already says a word and at the very beginning of the movie bobby lin walks through a foreboding mural with an alligator on it x is chock full of details that really reward multiple viewings the survivalist strolls past the fallen senior citizen as she shouts defiant words from the ground you're not special paying her no mind maxine reverses the truck over pearl's head putting a splattery end to her night of murder and sexual frustration goodbye pearl maxine drives away down the road in a much more optimistic inverse of texas chainsaw's ending back in the present the pastor in that church broadcast is revealed to be maxine's father we pray one day she'll find her way home to us it's implied that pressure from her father seen on tvs throughout the film is what caused her to rebel and wind up in this lifestyle and healthy keeping those feelings locked away inside sheriff detler takes a break from voicing power rangers characters and tries to piece together the crime scene he may have some help in the form of rj's camera when asked what he thinks they'll find on it he ends the movie with a wink to the audience i see one goddamn fucked up horror picture how many x factor having x-rated extras were x terminated let's find out and get to the numbers we'll get to your numbers in a second but first you've got a porno to shoot and action uh excuse me i'm just a lonely youtuber whose algorithm broke down on the side of the road do you think you could help me and my youtube get its views up yeah nice really natural great work now take off your clothes huh sorry bud that's only for sponsor segments what a weird guy eight people died in acts with the victims consisting of five men and three ladies what a stimulating porno pie chart this same count and breakdown could also be seen in five previous kill count episodes including last week's child's play 2 with a run time of 106 minutes that left us with a kill on average every 13 and a quarter minutes golden chainsaw for coolest kill has a lot of options but i'll give it to rj it kicks off the movie's bloody second half and is such a severe stabbing that it ends in a decapitation brutal don't machete for lemur's kill will go to jackson since it's mostly off screen and i really like that guy and that's it x came out earlier this year in 2022 and theater goers were treated to a post-credits trailer for a prequel called pearl this entire ass other movie was shot secretly by ty west at the same time he made x it shows us pearl's origins and comes out in just two weeks on september 16th i'll cover it after it's out on blu-ray but until then i'm james agenese this has been the kill cow on the next kill count here comes the bride bleached with peroxide barbie eat your heart out after 10 years of killing and ade doing the dambola it's time our bachelor blood buddy settled down will you be my bride and what better barbie for the killer ken than the hilarious sexy jennifer tilly well hello dolly pride of chucky ditches the child's play title and takes the series in a new comedic direction with genre self-awareness why does that look so familiar pop culture references what would martha stewart say fuck martha stewart and doll sex you're never gonna fucking believe this yep doll sex that is sick calm down you broods they're merry kiss me okay so relax this weekend and watch chucky even if he doesn't want you watching him rude fucking doll and on sunday make sure to rsvp for the kill count recount only on dead meat if you know what's good for you you are going to love honor and obey pride of chucky you can currently be watched on the pictured streaming platforms damn you always recommend you watch the movie for yourself before it's kill count it's the only way to have your own properly informed opinion kill counts are never meant to replace the experience of watching a film hey thanks a lot for watching this kill cow and thank you zorin for coming in and shooting a porno with me yeah it's so good that i got over coveted like two days ago very fortunate yeah i've been getting a lot of comments about the scripts since i came back to host and i gotta say a lot of those references that people call out are because of you man lie your jokes and references people really like them i pore over imdb pages and try and shove as many as humanly possible in there and then james just go no no no one knows what this is i take about 40 of your jokes but you give me so many that it's it's great to work with you're getting married i am i'm getting married uh october 1st hell yeah yeah i'm very very excited and also super stressed about getting a wedding i think i'm going to take six months off what do you think like that sounds completely unreasonable all right get the fuck out of here okay bye i want to thank some patrons like casey amdahl claire lusher dj graham djw3 drew nishki flumsy genevieve mercy and graham sheer thanks everyone be good people

Channel: Dead Meat

Views: 5,432,568

Keywords: horror, dead meat, movies, scary, film, kill, kill count, body count, james a. janisse, jaj, pine commander boogie, DMKC, dead meat kill count, x 2022, x 2022 movie, x movie, x 2022 movie review, x 2022 movie reaction, jenna ortega, x 2022 review, x movie review, brittany snow, a24, mia goth, x movie reaction, movie review, x movie 2022, x 2022 film, a24 reaction, x movie review spoilers, x movie review 2022, x movie ending explained, jenna ortega x, horror movie, scary movie

Id: XH8vjU_LWEY

Length: 29min 50sec (1790 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 02 2022