X

Year:  2022

Director:  Ti West

Screenplay:  Ti West

Starring:  Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, Scott Mescudi

Running Time:  107 minutes

Genre:  Horror

Texas, 1979:  A group of aspiring filmmakers: actors Maxine Minx (Goth), Bobby Lynne (Snow) and Jackson Hole (Mescudi), producer Wayne Gilroy (Henderson), director RJ Nichols (Campbell) and boom operator Lorraine (Ortega), head to a remote farm where they plan to shoot a pornographic film called The Farmer's Daughter.  They rent a house on the property from the elderly couple who own the farm, but when the couple find out what kind of film they are making, the filmmakers find themselves fighting to survive.

Writer, producer and director Ti West made his name with horror films such as House of the Devil (2009), The Innkeepers (2011) and The Sacrament (2014) and this is his first film since 2016's In a Valley of Violence.  X starts slowly, building up it's characters and their various relationships, but when the gruesome horror starts it doesn't let up.  It works as a homage to the old slasher films of the 1970s such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Eaten Alive (1976), as well as Psycho (1960).  The '70s ambience works well. maintained by the soundtrack of classic rock songs.  While the film is pretty much tongue in cheek for the most part, it does have something to say about the miseries of getting older and the idea that "youth is wasted on the young".  It's strongly hinted that the couple's attacks are motivated by jealousy at these good-looking young people doing all the things that they would do, if only they could.  Pearl, one half of the elderly couple fixates on Maxine, telling her "I'm what you will become!" Incidentally Pearl is also played by Mia Goth, under very heavy makeup.  It's very well made, with strong performances.  It's worth noting that the film may be too sleazy and gory for some viewers, although the violence is too over the top to be really disturbing.  For fans of the old school slasher films, however, it is a real treat.  It follows the traditional route of these kinds of movies, but throws out enough modern twists on the formula to make it feel fresh and surprising.  It's almost certain to become a mainstay of late-night horror shows in the future.

Mia Goth in X
   

Scream (2022)

 Year of Release:  2022

Director:    Matt Bettinelli-Oplin and Tyler Gillett

Screenplay:  James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, based on characters created by Kevin Williamson

Starring:    David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown,  Mikey Madison, Sonia Ben Ammar, Marley Shelton

Running Time:  114 minutes

Genre:  Horror

In the small town of Woodsboro teenager Tara (Ortega) is brutally attacked in her home, by a knife-wielding assailant dressed in a Ghostface mask.  The mask and manner of the attack harkens back to a series of murders committed in Woodsboro twenty five years earlier, which were quickly immortalised in the popular Stab horror films.  Tara's sister Sam (Barrera) and her boyfriend Richie (Quaid) return to Woodsboro to help her, but it soon becomes apparent that the attacker hasn't finished yet , and as the body count rises, Sam begins to believe that she is the one the killer is most interested in targeting.

The original Wes Craven directed Scream was released in 1996 to massive critical and popular acclaim.  At a pretty bleak time for horror films Scream managed to work as a horror film while also commenting on and poking fun at them,  the characters were aware of horror films and the "rules" that they work by.  Just as Scream commented on horror films, Scream 2 (1997) dealt with the rules of sequels, Scream 3 (2000) dealt with the rules of trilogies, Scream 4 (2011) examined the rules of franchises and now Scream (2022), or Scream 5 if you prefer, examines what the film terms  "re-quels", which are those films that work partly as sequels and partly as reboots, they acknowledge the existence of previous instalments, and bring back fan favourite characters, while focusing on new characters (think Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) for a textbook example),  Another element that set the Scream franchise apart from other slasher films was that the survivors, rather than the killers, were who would return for each film.  While the killer, or killers, would wear the same Ghostface costume in each film, their identities were different each time around.  However the tormented Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), ambitious tabled TV reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and small-town cop Dewey Riley (David Arquette) would return for every film.  While the new Scream follows many of the same key plot beats as the original, it is different enough to feel fresh.   It is fun and nostalgic to see the familiar faces reprise the same roles again, even if the reminder of the passage of time is a little less welcome, but the new characters are engaging.  While you may be able to guess some of the revelations before the end, there is still enough surprises to keep it intriguing.  The films does target such contemporary issues as reboots and toxic fandom, as well as the so-called "elevated horror", but even if it isn't as funny as the original, it is fun, and there are enough gruesome slayings to satisfy fans.

Ghostface return in Scream