X is now available on VOD and already has a sequel on the way

The new horror film from director Ti West X is a wonderful throwback to old-school slashers. Set in a remote cabin, it features mostly doomed teenagers and plenty of gruesome killings. Of course, a truly classic slasher needs a sequel, and XIs already on the road.

In a recent Zoom interview with Polygon, West explained how he filmed X and its continuation pearlBack to back, and like one of X‘s Stars is key to making both films work. If you still have to catch up on the first film before the sequel comes out, X is now available on VOD from services like Apple Movies, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for X.]

The plan for X started with just one movie about a group of young people who rent a cabin in Texas where they plan to shoot some softcore porn. Before they can finish their film, they are chased by the odd old couple who own the property. While most X

Playing out like a traditional slasher, one of its big twists is the double cast of Mia Goth as Maxine, the porn’s leading lady, and Pearl, the old woman who murders every young person in sight.

Mia Goth hides under the floorboards in Ti West's X

“The goal has always been [double cast], but I didn’t know if I could do it,” West told Polygon. “But that’s a full credit to Mia. When I met Mia, I was like, ‘We can pull this off.’ Also WETA [Workshop] for making amazing prostheses. We had a world-class artist and a world-class effects company, so we could do it.”

pearl brings Goth back to play the younger version of Xthe killer. During X contains parts of the character’s backstory, pearl will show us exactly what happened to the character in the mid-20th century to transform her into an octogenarian murderess. While all of this seems to fit together well, creating the sequel was more of a spur of the moment decision for West.

X had to be shot in New Zealand because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the country then had a 14-day quarantine on anyone flying in from abroad. Those two weeks left West with plenty of time and some fresh ideas, so he set to work on the sequel.

“That’s a long time to sit in a room,” West said. “So I had an idea for a prequel. I figured I’d write it in those two weeks, and Mia and I kind of collaborated over FaceTime. We looked at it like, ‘I think that’s a great idea. […] There’s a good chance we can make that film, and at least it serves as a very detailed backstory to Pearl.’”

West then proposed the idea to A24, X‘s production studio, which was on board right away, so West, Goth and the film crew did it X and pearl more or less simultaneously. Of course, making one movie is hard enough, so making two movies back-to-back proved even more of a challenge, but in a slightly unexpected way, West says.

A woman with a bloody hand sobs in Ti West's X

“It really was that the biggest challenge was not doing both films, but editing both,” explained West. “Because as you neared the end Xand you enjoyed this triumph of being almost done, being back to square one pearl was psychologically, you know, quite challenging.”

West was reluctant to reveal many more details pearl, but he let it slip that he would be finishing the film in the near future and hoped it would be released sometime next year. As an added little bonus, he mentioned that “the films are very different.” But we’ll have to wait until our first look at pearl to see what that means exactly.