XX (2017)
2017
80 Minutes
This all-female horror anthology features four dark tales from four fiercely talented women.
User Review
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XX showcases upcoming female talent through uninspired short films. Anthologies. Damn, they are always terrible. Especially within the horror genre. A collection of conceptual pieces strung together to form an incoherent feature that becomes more confused that the title of the anthology (XX? Kiss Kiss? I mean...). My fingers were tightly crossed that the touch of femininity would offer a new direction for horror, considering how male dominated it is. Oh, how wrong I was.
Four short films of varying tones are embedded within an ominous stop-motion animation that resembled a recreation of any gothic Burton feature. Did it make sense? Absolutely not. Was it scary? No. Two answers that can be applied to every short film this anthology features. ‘The Box’ opens up the anthology with a mundane mystery featuring a family progressively refusing to eat, all because the son rudely peeped into an old man’s box. Take that as you will. ‘The Birthday Party’, which sees a mother randomly move her recently deceased husband throughout the house (no idea why...), tangled with strands of comedy, with the multi-talented St. Vincent obliterating any reflection of horror through choppy editing and needless quirks. The worst of the bunch, by far. ‘Don’t Fall’ was legitimately good, harnessing a ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ aesthetic to convey a story involving four friends camping in a canyon and overcome by a demonic monster. Excellent practical effects and characterisation resulted in a short I personally would view as a whole feature film. Kusama’s ‘Her Only Living Son’ was the most technically proficient, until all originality was thrown out the kitchen window when you realise it’s a blatant rehash of Polanski’s ‘Rosemary’s Baby’.
The horror genre allows creativity to flow. To blend reality with the supernatural. These shorts unfortunately fail to exercise that creativity. Equipped with no common theme or tone, XX is one (or four...) female trick that left no frightening lipstick stain on my cheek. Atleast Kusama progressed onto greater projects! St. Vincent on the other hand, stick to music...0 member like this review.
