First, we got director Ti West’s love letter to seventies slashers X. Next, he and leading lady Mia Goth teamed up again for the classic Hollywood tribute bloodbath Pearl. Now, the two complete their trilogy with MaXXXine.
MaXXXine sees X final girl Maxine Minx (Goth) making her splash in the Los Angeles adult film industry. However, never wanting to “accept a life that (she) doesn’t deserve,” Maxine goes after and lands a role in a legitimate film, albeit a B-grade horror sequel. When the people around her start turning up dead, Maxine fears that the life and tragedy she left behind in Texas may have caught up with her in Hollywood.
Ti West has created the perfect conclusion to the Maxine Minx story with MaXXXine. Like the way in which the movie Pearl defined the character of Pearl in X, X defines the character of Maxine in MaXXXine. Maxine is both driven and haunted by the events of her past, and her ambition is admirable. She’s also a very strong character, not the typical horror Final Girl, but a take-no-prisoners type.
This character strength feeds the narrative structure of MaXXXine. The story is part Giallo slasher, part vigilante thriller, part crime drama, and part occult mystery. Although that may sound schizophrenic, it really isn’t. Despite this subgenre mashup, MaXXXine is a very coherent and singular movie. Maxine is at the center of it all, and while she does find herself vulnerable at times, she’s also more than capable of dealing with whatever comes her way. Sometimes in a very brutal and unflinching fashion.
Like X and Pearl before it, MaXXXine is an homage to its time period. It’s set in 1985 amidst the Satanic Panic scare that had parents worried about music, movies, and games. The Night Stalker/Richard Ramirez serial killer case also hangs over every minute of the movie’s plot, seemingly running in tandem with the events of the film. Between West’s snapshot of the social turmoil and the note-perfect soundtrack (which includes bangers by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ZZ Top, Animotion, and Kim Carnes), MaXXXine is a cool time capsule of the mid-eighties that still manages to feel modern.
Visually, West captures the flamboyant suspense of Italian horror and the neon-soaked style of the Hollywood action thriller, all wrapped up in a slick nod to filmmaking itself. Much of the movie takes place on the Universal movie lot, with Goth being chased down fake streets and through false buildings. She even winds up at the Psycho house up the hill from the Bates Motel at one point. West also throws little winks to everything from Chinatown to The Brain that Wouldn’t Die into the mix, showing that he is, above all, both a fan and a student of classic film.
While Mia Goth is undoubtedly and deservedly the lead, the supporting cast in MaXXXine is one for the ages. Kevin Bacon is a private detective. Giancarlo Esposito is Maxine’s agent. Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale are police detectives. Elizabeth Debicki is a big-time Hollywood director. Halsey and Lily Collins are fellow actresses. Sophie Thatcher is a makeup FX artist. Everywhere you look in MaXXXine there’s a familiar face.
Just as one might expect from a Ti West movie, MaXXXine is full of brutal, gruesome violence. There’s one scene in particular that will have the entire male audience cringing (and, quite possibly, the entire female audience applauding loudly). The violence is spirited and amusing, almost joyful in its presentation, a fact that is especially poignant with the subtext of censorship in the eighties flowing underneath the surface of the entire movie. MaXXXine is one of the video nasties that would have been banned if it had existed when it was set.
Horror sequels get a bad rap, and honestly, most of them deserve it. But the X/Pearl/MaXXXine trilogy is all quality. And Ti West really sticks the landing with MaXXXine.
GRADE: A
MPAA Rating: R for strong Violence|Graphic Nudity|Gore|Drug Use|Language|Sexual Content)
Running Time: 1 hour 41 minutes
Release Date: July 5, 2024
Studio: A24
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