Mothers and sisters

Boxes, birthdays, and demons

Families askew

The cleverest thing about this 2017 anthology is its title - XX - a nod to it being the work of four female directors: Roxanne Benjamin (“Don’t Fall), Karyn Kusama (“Her Only Living Son” segment and The Man in the High Castle), Annie Clark (“The Birthday Cake”), and Jovanka Vuckovic (“The Box”).

The Good.

The concept is pretty cool: give four youngish women an opportunity to weave tales of terror implicitly from a female perspective.

The camera work throughout is solid. While filmed on a shoestring budget, production value is consistent with a much more expensive film.

And some of the acting is respectable, particularly Natalie Brown (The Strain) and Jonathan Watton (The Handmaid’s Tale) in “The Box” chapter. Christiana Kirk is also pretty good, if a little whiney, in “Her Only Living Son.”

The Bad.

XX over promises and under delivers. While it hints at some interesting allegories (“The Box” as a subtle story about children leaving their parents and “The Birthday Cake” as blunt force commentary about control), pretty much everything is derivative of earlier - better done - treatments of horror clichés.

“The Box” is a shorter and (oddly) less creepy The Killing of a Sacred Deer. “The Birthday Cake” could have been any below average Black Mirror episode. “Don’t Fall” is a music video version of The Evil Dead. And “Her Only Living Son” is a low-budget mash-up of The Omen and Rosemary’s Baby. Homage is good. Inspiration is fine. But near direct lifts that don’t add to the original are like week-old leftovers. You may be able to eat it…but don’t expect it to be very good.

Is it worth watching this movie?

It depends.

While there is one disturbing scene in “The Box,” and “Don’t Fall” is full of conventional startle moments, XX is fairly tame. If you have early teenish kids who like scary movies, they may enjoy a few of the segments. If you have older kids who haven’t seen the movies much of this has been lifted from, they might enjoy some of the more subtle themes. But if you are an older moviegoer who grew up on Evil Dead and Damien…you will probably find this an unsatisfying meal.

Still want to check it out? You can watch XX HERE.

Two out of Five Empty Boxes.

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