X is out now on VOD and already has a sequel on the way

Director Ti West’s new horror film X It’s a great throwback to classic slashers. It’s set in a remote cabin, features teens who are mostly doomed, and includes plenty of gruesome kills. A classic slasher needs to be remade. X’s is already on the way.

West shared his story of filming with Polygon in a Zoom interview. X And its sequel PearlHow one can do it back-toback X’s stars is the key to making both movies work. You can catch up with the first film before you see the second. X VOD now available through services like YouTube, Apple Movies and Amazon Prime Video.

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for X.]

Plan for X It started out with one film about young people renting a Texas cabin where they intend to make a hardcore porno. The strange couple who lives on the property makes it impossible for them to finish the movie. Most of the time, however, they are able to make a good movie. X plays out like a traditional slasher, one of its big twists is the double casting of Mia Goth as both Maxine, the porno’s lead, and Pearl, the old woman murdering every young person in sight.

Photo: A24

“The goal was always to [double cast], but I didn’t know if I’d be able to pull that off,” West told Polygon. “But that’s a complete credit to Mia. Once I met Mia, I was like, ‘We can pull this off.’ Also WETA [Workshop]For creating amazing prosthetics. We had a world class performer and a world class effects company so we were able to do it.”

Pearl Goth will be able to return as a younger Goth X’s murderer. Although X includes bits and pieces of the character’s backstory, Pearl The sequel will reveal exactly what took place to this character during the middle of the twentieth century, making her an octogenarian serial killer. All of these seem to work well together, but West made the decision not to make a sequel.

XDue to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, the film had to be shot there. However, the quarantine period for foreigners flying into New Zealand at that time was 14 days. This two-week time period gave West a lot to do and left him with some new ideas. He began work on the sequel.

“That’s a long time to sit in a room,” West said. “So I had an idea for a prequel. Mia and my idea was to complete it in two weeks. We also collaborated via FaceTime. We looked at it like ‘I think this is a great idea. […] There’s a good chance we can make this movie and at the very least it serves as a very detailed backstory to Pearl.’”

West pitched his idea to A24. X’s production studio, which was immediately onboard, so West, Goth, and the movies’ crew made X And Pearl More or less simultaneously. It is difficult enough to produce one movie, so to do two was a challenge. However, West said it wasn’t surprising that West had to face a different kind of challenge.

Christopher Moss/A24. Photo by Christopher Moss

“It was really like, not making both movies but editing both of them that was the biggest challenge,” West explained. “Because as you got near the end of XYou were enjoying the triumph of nearly being finished, but you wanted to get back to zero. Pearl was like psychologically, you know, quite challenging.”

West was reluctant to reveal many details. PearlHe did however let it slip that he was working on the film and would like to release the movie within the year. As an extra little bonus he mentioned that, “the movies are very different.” But we’ll have to wait until our first look at PearlSee the definition.