‘X’: Voyeuristic Suspense

X, promoted as a “Hitchcockian Erotic Thriller,” is scheduled to debut online tomorrow, February 9 via such providers as Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, and iTunes/Apple TV (where it’s already available for a $9.99 pre-order).

Two points of caution, though:

1. Despite its title, X never gets more erotic than its trailer (below), which…pardon the pun…is a real“tease-r.”

2. X is only “Hitchcockian” if you consider anything about voyeurism to be worthy of the master of suspense. Instead, ‘X’ evokes memories of Stanley Kubrick’s final film, 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut, and even more of Steven Soderbergh’s directorial debut, 1989’s Sex, Lies and Videotape.

That’s not a bad place to be, though, since Sex, Lies and Videotape captured the Palme D’or at the Cannes Film Festival and ignited the independent film movement of the 1990s.

In the case of X, first-time writer/director Scott J. Ramsey delivers an excellently crafted indie work of psychological suspense and mystery, in which newcomer Hope Raymond (above) pulls off a masterful portrayal of the title character – a manipulative, volatile, jealous, scared…and very troubled… thrower of “anything goes” masked parties. But she can only get turned on herself by secretly recording guests in the bathroom.

Another newcomer to films, Valerie Façhman (below), excels as an older woman with dementia…and the only person who brings out X’s true humanity.