In the changing economics of filmmaking, there are no sure bets, but some bets seem better than others. Anthologies of horror shorts have been around for a while, but the past few years, particularly since the 2012 release of V/H/S, have seen the form take on a new life. It’s not hard to see why: They can be made for a relatively low budget, they provide a great point of entry for up-and-coming filmmakers, and they have a built-in audience of horror fans who want to see where the genre will go next and who will be taking it there. Then there’s this: Even if one installment is terrible, there’s a chance the next one will be amazing.
It’s an inviting format, but it has its limitations when it comes to gender equity, limitations that reflect those of the industry at large. The talent behind the 26 films in 2012’s The ABCs of Death, to choose one example with a lot of entries, is overwhelmingly male. The new anthology XX seeks to correct that, gathering together four new horror shorts directed by women.
Like most horror anthologies, it’s a mix of highs and lows, but the highs make it worth a look. The best segments bookend the film (though the mood owes a lot to the stop-motion animation from Sofia Carrillo that introduces each segment and closes out the movie). Jovanka Vuckovic’s “The Box,” an adaptation of a Jack Ketchum story, opens the film on an appropriately disquieting note. The Strain’s Natalie Brown stars as a suburban mom who meets a man with a beautifully wrapped box while returning from the city on a Christmas shopping trip with her son and daughter. Curious about its contents, the son asks for a peek inside. After getting his wish, he can’t, or won’t, talk about what he’s seen. Instead he cheerfully starts refusing to eat, declining meal after meal and snack after snack until his parents grow alarmed. Then, after some some exchanged whispers few days later, his sister starts to do the same.
Vuckovic keeps the direction understated and her film’s all the better for it. The story doesn’t offer any clear reason for the boy’s behavior or why it spreads or why the mother remains unaffected. It’s as if her free-floating fear that something might separate her from her family has taken form she could never have seen coming. It’s horror that hits home.
The same can be said of XX’s other standout sequence, the film-closing “Her Only Living Son,” directed by Karyn Kusama. Kusama broke through with the Sundance hit Girlfight in 2000 then, after a couple of rocky experiences in Hollywood, started to mount a comeback last year with the well-liked thriller The Invitation.
This short, which serves as an unofficial (and no doubt unauthorized) sequel to an extremely famous horror film, should help cement that. To reveal which movie would spoil part of the fun, so let’s just say it involves a woman who’s assumed the name Cora (Christina Kirk from Powerless) living alone with her troubled son Andy (Kyle Allen) in a remote small town after fleeing the city, and her actor husband, for a life of anonymity. But as Andy’s 18th birthday looms, Cora starts to see some troubling signs that he’ll slip out of her control. The film is more than a clever continuation of its famous inspiration, however. It’s informed by the anxieties of any parent, and ultimately focuses on the power of a mother’s influence on even the most seemingly irredeemable child.
Those are the best XX has to offer. As for the rest, “The Birthday Party” marks the directorial debut of Annie Clark, better known as the musician St. Vincent. And though it features a fun lead performance from Melanie Lynskey as a harried mother and some strong visual instincts, its absurdist black humor never really gels. Roxanne Benjamin’s “Don’t Fall” is a technically proficient but execution of a premise from the Big Book Of Reliable Horror Plots involving some hikers who trespass where they don’t belong and pay the price for it.
But as horror anthologies go, a .500 batting average isn’t bad and it would be nice to see XX, like similar projects, inspire sequels that shine a spotlight on even more female directors. If nothing else, XX proves they’re out there, and just as able and willing to poke around in the dark.
XX opens in limited release and debuts will be available on demand this Friday, February 17th.
