XX - Donne da morire

The dolls and walking boxes inbetween the stories were much more unsettling than any of the four bland stories. I would rate the doll segments as a 6 and the stories as a 2 so overall a 4.

I don't judge people based on their gender so I really didn't care if this movie was directed by women or not. But I do care about cinematography and storytelling aspects and for that reason I have to cast a somewhat harsh judgment.

So, the movie consists of 4 equally long parts, each explores a different type of horror. There is no coherency between the stories, all of them are fully independent.

The first story was obviously the best one. I really liked it and would have liked a full feature movie about it. There was a lot of untapped potential there. Considering how the first scene ("The Box") established some sort of norm on which I started forming expectations. It suffices to say that what followed didn't quite live up to these expectations. The second story ("Birthday Party") was in fact the exact opposite. It wasn't scary, it was just weird. Since I don't want to spoil anything I'll just leave it at that. It was by far the weakest link in this anthology. "Don't Fall" was also pretty scary but a little too one-dimensional for my personal taste. There was virtually no character development in that story. And last but not least there was "Her Only Living Son". This story was clearly an homage to Rosemary's baby. And while Rosemary's Baby is in my opinion one of the greatest Horror movies ever made this story was rather comical in nature. The reason why this story didn't quite manage to instill fear and true horror can probably be attributed to the fact that the protagonists physical transformation/metamorphosis was just too stereotypical to be considered horrifying/scary.

I don't know where to begin with my thoughts on this anthology. I would more or less refer to them as proof of concept ideas that filmmakers give to production companies.

The first concept 'The Box' started creatively enough with the mystery of a boy seeing "something" in a box and then it went no where. This wasn't horror, it wasn't scary, and it came across like it was alluding to a message that I couldn't decipher. It does remain true to the Jack Ketchum short story of the same name, but it failed to capture the narrative style the book delivers. If they retold the story from the mother's POV I would add another star to my review, but she's a background character until the very end. Disappointing.

'The Birthday Party' would be better listed as a dark-comedy. I didn't like it at all. Don't know what else to say about it, but it was a waste of time. I wanted to find hidden meanings behind what was happening and I kept expecting something to relate with. It delivers nothing. This isn't even something to share over a campfire.

'Don't Fall' was a straight forward horror genre without any real content. It seemed to be making fun of such stories rather than trying to be plot or character driven. It was as derivative as most"monster chasing a girl" movies can be and just as lifeless. Terrible acting, no pacing and not even a claustrophobic element with the small camper. It's like the director didn't want the job or didn't bother trying.

'Her Only Living Son' was actually the closest to being watchable. It was this short that helped keep it above 1 star for me. The plot was ... conventional ... is a kind word. The acting was sub-par, but I did like Kyle Allen as Andy. I thought this could have been broader and more illusive about the surprise mystery. It's a clichéd tale (probably should say a throwback) from 1970's flicks based on devil-worship. I never liked those things. It's just people acting creepy or weird and I'm certain today's audiences are fully desensitized by their nightly news to give 2 cents about this garbage.

All in all; I wish I had paid attention to the warnings of other reviewers. Because the focus was on women directors, I didn't want any negative influence from misogyny or patriarchal leanings. I watched with all the hope in the world and it was very disappointing.

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."

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.