The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
X
Horror · 2022
In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.
Movie details
X
“Dying to show you a good time.”
2022 Horror 1h 46m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over X?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Horror · 2003
After picking up a traumatized young hitchhiker, five friends find themselves stalked and hunted by a chainsaw-wielding killer and his family of equally psychopathic killers.
Play Dead
Horror · 2025
A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.
Censor
Horror · 2021
A screener at the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), who has earned an unsavory reputation for being the strictest censor of violent films, begins to spiral out of control after viewing a low-budget horror with similarities to the disappearance of her sister.
Bone Lake
Horror · 2025
A couple’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. In this darkly hilarious and seductive horror story, a dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, bringing terrifying secrets to light and triggering a bloody battle for survival.
Night of the Hunted
Horror · 2023
When an unsuspecting woman stops at a remote gas station in the dead of night, she's made the plaything of a sociopath sniper with a secret vendetta. To survive, she must not only dodge his bullets and fight for her life, but also figure out who wants her dead and why.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Horror · 1974
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way, they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Influencers
Horror · 2025
In the picturesque landscapes of Southern France, a young woman's chilling fascination with murder and identity theft sends her life into a whirlwind of chaos.
GirlHouse
Horror · 2014
In an attempt to make some extra cash while away at College, Kylie moves into a house that streams content to an X-rated website. After a deranged fan hacks in to determine the house's location, she finds herself in a terrifying fight for her life.
V/H/S/94
Horror · 2021
After the discovery of a mysterious VHS tape, a brutish police SWAT team launches a high-intensity raid on a remote warehouse, only to discover a sinister cult compound whose collection of pre-recorded material uncovers a nightmarish conspiracy.
V/H/S/2
Horror · 2013
Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Ti West
Written by
Ti West
Mia Goth
Maxine / Pearl
Jenna Ortega
Lorraine
Brittany Snow
Bobby-Lynne
Kid Cudi
Jackson
Martin Henderson
Wayne
Owen Campbell
RJ
Stephen Ure
Howard
Court is in session
Put X on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Sentimental Softie
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.