Why is "X" the best horror film of 2022?

Recently, Rolling Stone magazine selects the top ten horror films of the year. The number one film is "X" directed by Ti West. After watching the film carefully, it is a remarkable film.

First of all, from the play's structure, the film set several wonderful back-and-forth designs.

1. Blonde Bobby Lynne appears in the background, foreshadowing her final fate, being bitten to death by crocodiles.

2. Director RJ and his girlfriend Lorraine complete a symmetrical status swap. Before the shooting of the porn film, Lorraine expresses her dissatisfaction with RJ, who accuses Lorraine of being so conservative. After the porn film is completed, Lorraine understands the meaning behind porn and puts forward her request to act in it as well, and when facing RJ's refusal, Lorraine in turn accuses RJ of being so conservative.

3. When Maxine act in the porn film and Pearl is secretly watching. The movie put their close up of faces together, both to express Pearl's strong desire for sex, but also to suggest that Maxine and Pearl are similar.

4. Porn film actor Jackson says in the first half of the film that he does not want to die by the farmer's gun. He finally escapes the crocodile attack, but defenselessly dies by the old farmer Howard's gun.

5. Howard repeatedly refuses to have sex with elderly Pearl, citing fear for his heart. When they finally have sex, Howard's heart is not in trouble. Instead, it ends up with an unexpected heart attack while carrying the dead Lorraine’s body. Very ironic.

In addition to the intent of the script, the theme behind the film is also thought-provoking.

Many people overlook the role of horror films as an expression of history and culture. That is the portrayal of marginalized characters and the repressed social needs of these films. Horror films on the big screen show viewers one sympathetic and disgusting monster after another.

Through the duel of life and death, the viewers seem to dissolve the conflict with the monster in these horror films. However, the film's alien, unsettling, gruesome, unaccepted identity attacks the viewers' conventional perceptions through the surface of the subconscious.

For example, the sexual needs of the elderly. For many younger viewers, as well as their conservative parents, references to sex with older adults are often uncomfortable, disgusting, shameful, and even horrifying. "X" keenly captures this need for "horror" and uses it as an entry point to tell a story about the sexuality of older people. Through Pearl's horrible need for "sex", we extend our thoughts on youth, beauty, and sex.

We see aging as an unacceptable, horrific process, and a self-denial of natural human development. Understanding the degeneration of sexual function as the asexualization of the elderly is even more of an interpretation that violates human nature. How will we ever grow old? At that time, we may understand what Pearl said to Maxine. “You will eventually become like me.”

Rating: B+