Female Masters of Horror Unite in New ‘XX’ Trailer

Andrew Hawkins
Movies
Movies

Anthology films are a dime a dozen. Sometimes the format connects and we get movies featuring great stories that all fit well together, but more often than not the final product falls flat. Some of the best films featuring multiple segments are horror flicks. These are the cult classics that inspire and entertain us while also appealing to those of us who love short stories as a whole. While not every anthology can hope to be as great as Creepshow, every now and again we wind up getting something exciting like XX.

XX features horror stories from four distinct directors. Filmmaker Karyn Kusama who released last year’s excellent thriller The Invitation directs the short Her Only Living Son. Musician and performer St. Vincent (credited as Annie Clark) brings us The Birthday Party. Producer of Southbound and the V/H/S anthology series Roxanne Benjamin writes and directs her segment Don’t Fall. And finally, Fantasia Film Festival award winner Jovanka Vuckovic adapts The Box from an original story by author Jack Ketchum.

Should We Be Excited?

This trailer looks great. Each of the tales featured in XX look dread-filled and suspenseful, and the wrap-around animations directed by Sofia Carrillo are creepy and unsettling. Natalie Brown, who plays Kelly Goodweather on The Strain, headlines the disturbing short feature The Box, which from this preview looks to be the standout story in the film. Actress Melanie Lynskey from Heavenly Creatures and Over the Garden Wall also leads her segment in The Birthday Party which looks to be very bizarre.

Four female filmmakers making a movie like this together is almost unheard of these days. This is an exciting looking production that just goes to show how a group of talented women can come together to terrify and entertain us. I can’t wait to see how this movie plays in front of a crowd and hopefully it will land a spot among some of the great horror anthologies like Tales from the Darkside: The Movie and Trilogy of Terror. Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing will be bringing XX to theaters and VOD this February. Get ready.

Andrew Hawkins
Andrew Hawkins is a producer and publicist known for Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary, Jan Svankmajer’s INSECT, and Athanor: The Alchemical Furnace. Follow him on Twitter @mrandrewhawkins