X (2022)
Producers: Ti West and Jacob Jaffke and Kevin Turen & Harrison Kreiss
Director/Screenwriter: Ti West
In 1979, a small group of people rent a cabin on a farm to shoot a porn film. Conflict arises and then people start dying one by one.
This film is beautifully produced in the tradition of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. But it’s pretty slow-moving and is usually more heartbreaking than horrific. It features some of the best gore I’ve ever seen. So it isn’t really the film you may think it is, which is fine — but be aware.
Starring Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Scott Mescudi, Martin Henderson (The Ring), Owen Campbell, and Stephen Ure.
X is under copyright. It is available on DVD and Blu-ray both with minor extras.
3 February 2024
The X from Outer Space (1967)
Director: Kazui Nihonmatsu
Screenwriters: Eibi Motomochi, Moriyoshi Ishida, and Kazui Nihonmatsu
A trip to Mars brings back spores that grow into a giant chicken-lizard monster that destroys much of Tokyo before it is defeated and sent back into space.
History shows again and again how Japan created some of the most fun films of the 1960s. But you build a tolerance. One day, a giant turtle is enough, the next day, you need a chicken. Regardless, this one holds up really well.
Strangely, Toshiyuki Watanabe gets top billing in this film. I assume he played the monster. It’s the only film he was ever in. Starting about a decade later, he would go on to be a notable film composer. Sharing credit is Mississippi native Peggy Neal as the blond scientist (her part is dubbed). Shin’ichi Yanagisawa provides comic relief. Eiji Okada (Hiroshima Mon Amour) plays Dr Kato.
The X From Outer Space is in the public domain and available via Archive.org in English. It is also available in the Criterion Collection’s Eclipse Series 37: When Horror Came to Shochiku along with Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell, The Living Skeleton, and Genocide.
Xtro II: The Second Encounter (1990)
Producesr: Lloyd A Simandl and John A Curtis
Director: Harry Bromley Davenport
Screenwriters: John A Curtis, Stephen Lister, Robert Smith, and Edward Kovach
The government is working on a project to send people into another dimension. When they do, the people disappear and they have only 12 hours to get them out. Then they get one of them out. And then it’s Alien (1979).
A lot of people really like this film. It isn’t at all like the first film. But it has good sets, acting, editing. Sure, it’s derivative. But what isn’t?
Starring Jan-Michael Vincent (Deliver Us from Evil) and Tara Buckman (Blue Angel Cafe). With Paul Koslo (The Omega Man), Jano Frandsen, Nicholas Lea (The X-Files), and Rachel Hayward.
Xtro II: The Second Encounter is under copyright. And currently, it is not widely available. All the versions I’ve found are well over $100. It is available on its own disc. You can also get it with the first Xtro. You can get it at a reasonable price on VHS.