XX (R)
Bloody Disgusting; IMDb; Magnet; Modern Horrors; Rotten Tomatoes; TV Tropes; Wikipedia; XYZ Films
streaming sites: Amazon; Google Play; Hulu; iTunes; Vudu; YouTube

Caution: spoilers.

This came out in 2017, but I didn't see it until 2022. I feel like I must have read some good things about it when it was released, but I can't remember for sure. Anyway, I really wanted to like it more than I did, but it was okay. It's by women directors, which is supposed to be a big deal, and is the main reason I wanted to like it, but ultimately that didn't make any difference to me. Regardless of who directed the various portions of the film, I couldn't help but find them all just okay.

The Box
A woman is going home on the subway with her son and daughter not long before Christmas, and the son asks a fellow passenger if he can see what's in his box. We don't see what's in the box, and when the boy is asked about it later, he just says "nothing". Anyway, ever since looking in the box, the boy stops eating. And when he tells his sister about it, she stops eating. And when he tells his father about it, he stops eating. So all three of them die of starvation, and the mother is desperate to find out what it was all about. But no answers are ever revealed, which I just found frustrating.

The Birthday Party
On the day of her daughter's birthday, a woman (Melanie Lynskey) finds her husband dead, of apparent suicide by pills. She tries desperately to hide the body before the birthday party, but I have no idea why she didn't just call the authorities, or whatever. I mean, I understand not wanting to upset her daughter, but it just seems ridiculous. But I did like the alternate title for the segment that appears on screen after it's over.

Don't Fall
Four friends go on a hiking trip in the mountains or whatever. One of them gets attacked one night and turns into a monster who attacks her three friends. It was the most traditionally "horror" of the four segments, I guess.

Her Only Living Son
This is like Rosemary's Baby, 18 years later. I don't know what else to say about it.

Anyway, like I said, all four segments were okay. I don't want to give the impression that I didn't like them, just that I didn't like them much. And I feel bad about that. The stories just didn't really grab me. Oh yeah, also there was a framing device about a sort of living, creepy dollhouse or whatever. I didn't really get it, but at least it looked neat.