Ti West, a seasoned director of horror and genre, tries his hand at a modern reference-filled slasher. In the Texas countryside of the 1970s, a film crew sets up at a farm to shoot a porn movie. After a skillfully executed and spicy first act, the massacre begins. Produced by A24, the new paragon of independent filmmaking, X pays tribute to a cult classic: the unrivaled Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

But Ti West’s version is an intriguing variation: true to the slasher’s arcane codes, though with less goo and gore, and seen through a fresh contemporary lens. The slasher lives on.