XX - Donne da morire

Four short horror films, no linking narrative, although there is some decent Svankmajeresque stop-motion animation serving as transition:

A boy loses his appetite after getting a glimpse of something mysterious; a woman discovers her husband's corpse on the day of her daughter's birthday; four attractive young people discover an Ancient Evil (TM) in the wilderness; and a mother deals with the discovery that her nearly adult son is disturbingly violent and yet everybody worships the ground he walks on.

Production values tend to adequate-high, and effects are acceptable, but there are small issues with each section that leave the overall film feeling amateurish. They're generally small issues, and I expect the filmmakers to work them out for their next projects.

Narratives are disappointing, generally from the lack of resolution-- although inconsistent characterization and unimaginable motives plague the second, making it the weakest. I can enjoy unresolved horror shorts in general, but it doesn't work here, not with the way these films are implemented; there's too much dragging along at each end, suggesting a reveal that never materializes.

The first was my favorite, and I found it generally creepy, although, again, the resolution was handled poorly; there were also some instances of poor acting, and too much voice-over exposition.

The "theme" of XX is apparently that all four films were directed by women, but there's not really any significance to that. If the title wasn't so eager to let me know, I wouldn't have realized it, and it kind of feels like painting a handgun pink for marketing purposes, a little dubious. Still, it's not a big deal to me, just a title. But after knowing, a few things stand out: the inversion of stereotypes for the parents in the first film; the unwillingness to commit to any crazy-lady characterization in the second, even though that's the only thing that would give the story even a lick of sense; the self-important and overly long soliloquy in the final film. (The only thing that maybe stands out in the third is that none of the attractive young people decide to disrobe, as they do so often in similar films.)

I'd say that the first film is probably worth watching, but I wouldn't bother watching past that. Not worth paying money for. Still, there's no reason not to expect good things from the filmmakers in the future, as they find some better scripts and improve their techniques.

I'm sorry to report that this year's "XX" doesn't quite live up to the great horror anthology that its trailer promises. This quarter of female-directed horror shorts is actually quite average, when considered together, and I'd give it a 6 out of 10.

Only the first segment is truly memorable — "The Box," adapted from a short story by Jack Ketchum. The directing and scoring is superb. (Seriously, the music is quite good.) The acting is also good throughout this segment, most especially by "The Strain's" Natalie Brown. She's a good actress and she's starting to grow on me. (And her memorable last lines here, which I assume come from the text of Ketchum's story, are weird and haunting.) This quarter of "XX" gets under your skin.

Despite "The Box" being capably developed and unnerving, however, there were no conventional scares at all. It hardly felt like a horror short; it was more like a particularly macabre and ambiguous parable. Nor is the story's mystery solved — it's left open-ended.

The second segment is largely a waste of time, despite being stylishly shot and scored. (Hint: it's got the same story device as "Weekend at Bernie's.")

The remaining two tales are more standard horror stories. I'd suggest they are somewhat fair at best.

I think I would recommend this only to the most well rounded horror fans who are in the mood for something different. And, even then, it might only be for the peculiar elements of "The Box."

Well that was quite a waste of time. To be honest I wished they had focused on a full length feature of The Box and just forgotten about the other 3 stories. The Box was so mysterious and intriguing, I really didn't want it to end. The other 3 were tedious, and badly acted.

I really, really wanted to like this. It features Melanie Linskey, after all! I love everything she's in! And I was excited to see an anthology of horror tales told by women. After all, no one knows the horrors of life more than women.

But this was just... not it.

Each segment was meh, in my honest opinion. Just. Meh. I think they all had the potential to be great, but it didn't seem like they had the right direction. Perhaps if they had had better cinematography, a better score. Or if they had been the kind of stories that reward the viewer for paying attention by setting up clues that lead up to some grand reveal...

Instead, it all felt unseasoned. Very disappointed.

When the very poster draws heavy focus to the fact that the shorts are directed by women, one assumes that you will finally be able to see film through a female lens. Those in the film industry are frequently excited by the prospect of having the stories and viewpoints of women shown as it opens up stories that previously have been masked. Female characters frequently are left underdeveloped and masked in the backgrounds of features. You can imagine my disappointment to read that tag line on the poster, just to find that 3 of the 4 shorts are as generic and soulless as the dregs of the horror industry.

The first 3 shorts are as uninspired, uninteresting and cliché as imaginable. 3 of the 4 stories feature white, middle-aged stay-at-home mothers, of which are the manifestation of what most people complain about when a female character is given minimal attention and effort from a male director.

The 1st and 3rd short offer absolutely nothing we haven't seen before, and the 2nd short isn't even remotely within the horror genre. The director of the 2nd short has somehow managed to convince herself that adding loud, eerie music to a regular scene creates a horror short.

The 2nd of the 4 shorts is vastly the worst, followed by the 3rd and then the 1st. The 4th short however is an interesting, if not still un-creative piece of horror. Whilst the 4th short feels reminiscent of films like The Babadook, it still manages to differentiate itself enough to warrant at least a 7/10.

Ultimately generic, uninspired and frustrating. The intermission, stop motion segments are the pinnacle of this feature. 3/10