XX (2017) - Some of it almost works
'XX' is an odd film - it's an anthology of four unrelated horror stories which have been written and directed by female film-makers. It only runs for an hour and twenty minutes therefore all four parts speed by pretty quickly. Therefore, overall it's hard to give it a rating, as you really need to rate each part individually.
According to what I read online the second was directed by a woman who didn't like horror films - which makes her a strange choice for her inclusion in a horror anthology. Anyway, she decided to make her portion more of a 'black comedy' than a horror. And she succeeds. It's all a bit of a farce which, although is quirky and has a nice 'weird' sense of atmosphere, just seems a little over the top to work - definitely the weakest part.
Story three is more of a 'monster/slasher' film, only condensed down into the shortest segment. And that's it. It's every monster/slasher film you've ever seen, only squashed down. The monster is good and nasty - as you'd want, but it just ends and leaves you thinking, 'Oh, well - that's that.'
The last story was my favourite. I confess I did read online what the 'gimmick' was and I won't say it here as I don't want to spoil it for you. It's well acted and quite oppressive in its horror.
Then you have some nicely animated shorts featuring everything from household objects to toys coming to life and merging together like a scene from the neighbour's house in 'Toy Story.' These are very well done and could be a story on their own.
Overall, you have some nice little tales, most of which could probably benefit from actually being expanded into full length stories. It's not a bad little watch if you can find it on a streaming service, but could probably have been better.
6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights
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