LogFAQs > #876491996

XX
Release: February 17, 2017 (wide release)
Directed by: Sofia Carrillo (Interludes), Jovanka Vuckovic (The Box), Annie Clark (The Birthday Party), Roxanne Benjamin (Don't Fall), Karyn Kusama (Her Only Living Son)
Starring: Natalie Brown, Melanie Lynskey, Breeda Wool, Christina Kirk
Length: 80 mins.
Type: Anthology

Last year, we were treated to the delightful horror anthology Southbound and the horribly uneven and borderline stupid Holidays. XX falls somewhere in between, but definitely falls closer to the Holidays side of things.

It's not for lack of trying. Boasting all-female directors as a huge selling point, XX doesn't lack for visual flair as its women definitely have an eye for the beautifully creepy. Where XX truly falters is its unoriginal storytelling. The film retreads already horribly worn out ground, delivering us yet another "hide the body" murder story and yet another "son of the devil" story and yet another "cursed land" story. There's nothing here that makes any of the shorts really stand out or make them special, except for maybe some solid performances throughout.

XX starts us out with "The Box", based on a short story by Jack Ketchum. It's interesting enough at first, as a family's life gets turned upside down when a boy named Danny looks into a mystery man's box on the train. Subsequently, Danny loses his appetite completely, worrying his parents. There's a great short dream sequence in "The Box" that will definitely make you go "what the hell?" but ultimately I found the ending a little disappointing and left too vague. Still a solid effort and the most original of the shorts in my opinion.

We continue with "The Birthday Party", a truly lacking half-baked story about a really frenetic mother who has to hide the body of her dead husband on the day of her daughter's 7th birthday party. It's nothing you haven't seen before, but Melanie Lynskey is pretty good in it and the ending actually got a solid laugh out of me.

"Don't Fall" is actually my favorite segment of the anthology. Roxanne Benjamin returns from having directed the "Signal" short in Southbound, and I really like this one because it's short, to the point, and has some excellent monster make-up that we get to see all in its horrifying glory! "Don't Fall" feels like some otherwise bloated monster flick boiled down to its essence: stupid, stereotypical young adults out where they shouldn't be fall victim to a curse. It would almost feel cynical if it wasn't played so straight. Just a really enjoyable straight-ahead monster romp that gets to your favorite part without all the fuss and muss.

Finally, "Her Only Living Son" finishes up the anthology. This one is kind of a slog despite a very strong performance by Christina Kirk, that reminded me a lot of Essie Davis' performance in The Babadook. Look, spoilers here, the antichrist trope is just boring to me now. It's just retread after retread of The Omen. It blows its hand way too early and you will have guessed what the short is about by then anyway. Positives for the short are a bittersweet ending and like aforementioned, Kirk's performance.
---

The one who will lead us to paradise with blood-stained hands
http://tinyurl.com/jqx883t - http://tinyurl.com/zqwzc9a