Review of XX (2017) by Aquamantor — 25 Jun 2020

Perhaps the most surprising thing about XX is how radical it isn't. Billing itself as a horror anthology with all female directors telling stories from female perspectives, I at least expected something interesting or different from the horror it created. This, largely, was not the case.

The Box: 4/10 - This short sets up pretty unfair expectations for the other ones, namely in that it is actually creative. It has absolutely nothing else going for it at all (not scary, inconclusive storytelling, falling back on gore for its only creepy scene), but it is creative. The real problem is that this is a story that works on the higher levels (deep-seated parental fears about being unable to help your children/family), but fails ultimately to be scary on the base level.

The Birthday Party: 5/10 - Not horror. A black comedy with horror-esque musical crescendos for scenes that aren't scary. It says a lot that this is one of the most decent shorts in the whole anthology. There isn't any point where it actually manages to be funny, but it does tell a DECENT story that reflects an anxious woman's desire to make everything "okay" for her daughter's birthday. It should be noted that we're halfway through the anthology now and half of the stories have been revealed to be about wealthy white women. Radical.

Don't Fall: 1/10: I don't give a 1 easily. I was tempted to give it a 2 just to be fair to it, but this is the absolute worst kind of horror, rendered here without a shred of creativity. A group of dumb, fairly unlikable young adults are introduced then systematically murdered by (yes) a "Native American curse" monster, rendered with garbage-tier special effects. Two of them are lesbians, I guess? All are white. Wow, we're getting progressive up in here.

Her Only Living Son: 5/10 - I'm honestly disappointed in the talented Karyn Kusama. Maybe she just doesn't do shorts well. The big problem is that this is a Rosemary's Baby/The Omen wannabe that shoots for camp for most of its length, then suddenly decides to take itself very seriously at the end. I will be fair and admit that that ending IS impactful, but I wish that the whole story had built up to it. For the FIRST TIME, in the LAST SHORT, we have a protagonist who visibly lives in a lower-middle-class home. But she's still white.

The Framing Sequence: 7/10 - The creepy stop-motion animation between the actual short films is the best reason to watch this movie. It has all the originality and artistry that this actual anthology SHOULD HAVE had. I can't rate the movie as a whole higher for it, honestly, because it takes up too little of the length. But if you're going to watch this for any reason, it should be this.

One last thing to note: Telling stories from a woman's perspective is not radical at all in horror. Even a cursory glance of the modern genre reveals that at least 50% of horror films have woman protagonists, if not more. Many of these movies, even the ones that don't directly star women, are reflections of the consequences of sexism or violence against women. This movie is less "woke" than the average 2000s horror film, and its lipstick-logo symbolically represents the face it puts on, daring critics to commend its empty white feminism, lest they be labeled sexists. Looking at this and the rottentomatoes score, it seems to have worked.