In the horror movie X – which was mostly shot around Whanganui – an adult movie shoot goes bad.
X stars Martin Henderson and Mia Goth and is directed by Ti West.
Simon Morris: Director Ti West has cornered a niche in the lucrative horror market with smart, scary and entertaining films like X.
Like his audience, West knows the genre, and this film blends some can't-fail elements - big scary house horror, cheesy soft-core porno, the trials and tribulations of a B-movie shoot.
X is set in 1979 - retro is pretty trendy, too - as Wayne, the man with the plan, summons a number of friends to make an adult film, deep in the heart of Texas.
Wayne's booked a cheap cabin, and he knows it's almost impossible to lose money on a film called The Farmer's Daughter if you keep your costs down.
Let's meet the cast and crew. Lead performers Bobby-Lynn and Jackson have been starring in these films for a while.
Cameraman/editor RJ's dream is to make an actual movie here, full of references to the French nouvelle vague. And his girlfriend Lorraine on sound has her own dreams.
And there's Wayne's own girlfriend Maxine - played by the magnificently-named Mia Goth - who sees this film as her ticket to the big time.
Back in 1979, remember, porn films were almost becoming mainstream.
The crew arrives at a creepy old Texas farmhouse, where they meet the farmer, an old, sinister figure called Howard.
He's surprised that so many people are staying in his spare cabin. They're surprised at how grotesque he looks.
If you think he's homely, implies the film, wait until you see Mrs Howard - her name's Pearl, by the way.
We keep glimpsing her - at a distance, through gauze or behind trees. But rest assured, we'll see her eventually.
The film shoot starts pretty much right away - no wasteful Hollywood practices like rehearsal or blocking are needed on The Farmer's Daughter. And the horror-savvy audience waits for the inevitable.
There are movie in-joke arguments between pretentious auteur RJ and practical porn star Bobby-Lynn.
And as soon as anyone says "the story can't just change midway through", you know that's pretty much what's going to happen.
The main reason X has been greeted so enthusiastically by the horror-film crowd is it's very well done.
It looks good - mostly shot by James Cameron's Kiwi crew, with top of the line post-production at Weta.
The acting's good, too. Without giving too much away, Mia Goth's performance is going to grab serious Hollywood attention.
Martin Henderson is terrific as Wayne - perfectly pitched between sleazy and hilarious.
And there's great support work from other Kiwi-based actors too - Stephen Ure under more prosthetics since his work on Lord of the Rings, Simon Prast as a TV evangelist, James Gaylyn as a cop.
Once the body count starts rising, the appeal for audiences is trying to predict who's next. And also precisely what Pearl wants, and what's she going to look like.
It's smart and knowing - references to another old movie house, the one in Hitchcock's Psycho, abound. But at its heart, X has a sincere desire to win an audience, and then keep them by keeping them guessing.
After a week in cinemas here - to a wildly enthusiastic reception, generally - X will stream on Google Play and iTunes before heading for DVD.
But if you get a chance to watch it at a cinema, that's the place to see it.
