Back when X hit theaters in 2022, no one knew it was going to be anything more than the latest stylish throwback from low-budget horror-meister, Ti West. But when the credits rolled it was revealed that he and his crew had simultaneously shot a prequel to the film in which Mia Goth, who played dual roles of Maxine Minx and Old Lady Pearl (it’s what I’m calling her, deal with it), would be reprising the latter character in a tonally different horror prequel to be released later in the year. What a cool surprise! And it’s one that paid off quite nicely: Pearl was awesome, and it drove home what A Cure For Wellness fans already knew: Mia Goth is the realest of deals.
Shortly after that it was further revealed that there would be a third movie in the series chronicling the post-X life of Maxine, simply titled MaXXXine. Ya know, because porn.
This has proven to be one of the most highly anticipated films of recent memory, and this week it finally arrives (there were rumors that it would play as one of the secret screenings at last year’s Fantastic Fest, but this did not come to fruition — West pointed out at the time that it was still in the editing bay). Does it live up to the hype? Does it live up to the promise of its predecessors?
For the most part, yes.
Of the three films, MaXXXine is undoubtedly the loosest, perhaps by design, but it does feel as if it could’ve used a rewrite or two to get it where it needs to be. That said, I get the sense that with MaXXXine, Ti West has made his masterpiece. Personally, I’d give that nomination to X, but there’s no accounting for taste. This is likely the exact movie that West, and star/producer Mia Goth, set out to make, and ya know what? It rocks.
The story picks up in 1985, just a few years after the events of X, and a few decades after the events of Pearl (you don’t need to see the latter in order to follow this film, but you should revisit the former if you can). Maxine Minx has made her way to Hollywood, hell-bent on getting the life she deserves: that of a superstar. Despite the prudish biases of the time, she fully believes that she’ll be able to make the jump from adult films to legitimate film work (their terms, not mine — adult movies are legitimate film work). And why woudln’t she? After what she survived in X, there are few obstacles that could ever get in her way. Not the shitty attitudes of film producers, not the panic in the streets at the hands of the still-at-large Night Stalker, and not the suspicious private investigator (Kevin Bacon, having a blast as an alt-Jake Gittes) whose mysterious employer is determined to get Maxine’s attention by drumming up elements of her less than savory past.
Even without these concerns, kickstarting a career in Hollywood is no easy feat on its own, as asserted by a deliciously intense Elizabeth Debicki, here playing a an up-and-coming director determined to follow up her breakout hit, The Puritan, with a sequel. She’s hired Maxine as her star, but make no mistake: if our titular heroine isn’t up to the task, shows up to set too fucked up to work, or makes a habit of being late, her career will be over before it starts.
But as we learned in X, Maxine has no problem doing what needs to be done in order to earn herself the life she deserves.
West wears his influences on his sleeve here, but much like in the previous two entries, he is able to synthesize them into a voice and style all his own. X evoked the rural slashers of the ‘70s, Pearl the Technicolor studio pictures of the ‘20s and ‘30s, and MaXXXine continues the cinematic fun by drawing upon the genre films of the ‘80s. West, an obvious film nerd, used equipment and techniques from the era to accurately capture this style and it pays off. Much life Love Lies Bleeding earlier this year, MaXXXine feels less like the neon-soaked nostalgic ‘80s that we’re all happy to misremember, and more like the actual ‘80s. That said, the overall setting allows for the fundamental elements of the nostalgic style to come through.
This reverence for cinema comes through in other areas as well. There are obvious stylistic nods to giallo flicks and classic slashers, as well as more direct references to the thrillers of Brian de Palma, and flicks like Chinatown, The New York Ripper, and even The Driller Killer. Each frame is chock full of fun details (a sign for the pipe layers union is a personal fav), and the soundscape, featuring a wealth of sick needle drops, original melodies from Tyler Bates, and squishy gore noises is to die for. In terms of craft, MaXXXine is beyond exceptional. It’s in the area of the script that the film falls a bit short.
This isn’t to say that it’s bad, or even less than very good, but overall it feels a bit less refined than its predecessors. This is perhaps by design, but the shagginess often leans into unfocused territory. Every scene cooks in a vacuum, yet the whole doesn’t always equal the sum of its parts. There are so many grand ideas here, all in service to both theme and entertainment — who could blame West for wanting to throw it all out there? Kill your darlings and all, but I don’t envy anyone tasked with trimming the fat on this one. And really, I couldn’t tell you what I’d cut, or if I’d cut anything at all, but a rewrite certainly couldn’t hurt. The material is all there. Nothing needs to be added, but there’s a version of this film where the explosive climax (ha!) hits just as hard as the smaller character beats which follow it.
Even so, it’s an easy movie to get wrapped up in. Viewers will find themselves invested in Maxine’s success, and this is due as much to the script as it is to the goodwill purchased by X, as it is to the raw superstar power of Mia Goth (who also produced — and seems to have been creatively involved in the whole trilogy). Like our titular protagonist, we get to watch Goth become a huge star in real time. She’s been killing it in strange genre cinema for some time now, and this excellent trilogy highlights her strengths well-beyond being a scream queen (a term that was considered awesome and then considered reductive and then considered awesome again — I can’t keep up). What I mean is that she excels within genre cinema, and it’s clear she’s capable of anything. Hollywood is not always kind to women (an idea heavily explored in MaXXXine), but Goth proves that she’s in it for the long haul.
Speaking of long careers, how great is it that Kevin Bacon is suddenly a horror standby? He’s done plenty of genre work the past, and he’s no stranger to playing a monster, but recently he really seems to be having fun popping into showy creep-o roles. He’s disgusting here, and often quite scary, representing not just the generally sexist nature of the biz, but also its lack of soul: he has no principles, and he can be bought so long as he sets the price.
Bacon is just one strong supporting performance in a film chock full of them, but his scene-stealing energy inadvertently highlights how underwritten a few other characters are. Most notably the duo of homicide investigators mucking about in Maxine’s day-to-day, played with gusto by Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale. They have a funny rapport (she’s the professional, he’s the actor who never made it and who can’t help himself but to play to a camera that isn’t there), but they also feel more like plot devices than full characters. When the script calls for them to do some heavy narrative lifting they acquit themselves well, but the material the film seems to think they wield just isn’t there.
Yet for all its general looseness, there’s a vision on display here, and it’s one that never stops being entertaining, always utilizing as many genre tools as possible to make the audience laugh, squirm, and even shiver. On its own it’s probably the least of the trilogy, but as a series capper it’s exactly what it needs to be, and clearly what Ti West intended. Time and repeat viewings will be kind to MaXXXine on account of how much love, care, and genuine genre reverence is evident in every frame. It’s a star-making vehicle for just about everyone involved, and it’s the cherry on top of a sundae that none of us even knew we were getting just two years ago. In a world of IP management, the X trilogy is an original and endlessly inventive project that brought some dark, gruesome, and strangely progressive material into the mainstream. God bless West for pulling it off on his own terms.
MaXXXine isn’t quite as tight as X or as immediately iconic as Pearl but I simply cannot wait to see it again. It deserves packed theaters for its entire run.
Directed by Ti West
Written by Ti West
Starring Mia Goth, Kevin Bacon, Moses Sumney, Giancarlo Esposito
Rated R, 104 minutes
