Reflections on ... MaXXXine (2024)

Recently watched: MaXXXine (2024). Tagline: “She’s gonna be a star no matter what it takes!” 

MaXXXine, of course, represents the hotly anticipated concluding chapter of the juicy elevated horror trilogy beginning with X (2022) and the prequel Pearl (2022) by director Ti West and leading lady Mia Goth. I’ve been yearning to see this one for what felt like an eternity. Its trailer (soundtracked by the Laura Branigan classic “Self-Control”) was so tantalizing it tormented me! We watched MaXXXine last weekend (its opening weekend) and it was - OK! I felt like I was willing it to be better. Of the three films, MaXXXine is definitely the slightest and flimsiest entry. Maybe my expectations were unrealistically high and the remarkable Pearl (which I consider a modern masterwork) set an impossibly high bar for this follow-up. 

Anyway, there is still much to enjoy. Set in 1985 Los Angeles, MaXXXine unfolds against a backdrop of satanic panic paranoia, the rise of Tipper Gore’s censorious Parents Music Resource Centre, Ronald Reagan’s presidency and the Night Stalker’s reign of terror. Goth returns as driven, burning-with-ambition porn starlet Maxine Minx. Now 33, she knows it’s now or never if she’s ever going to transition from skin flicks into legit cinema (well, a low-budget slasher movie entitled Puritan II in this case). “In this industry, women age like bread not wine” she laments. But just as stardom finally seems within Maxine’s grasp, her friends start getting gruesomely picked-off one by one by a serial killer … 

MaXXXine boasts an authentically scuzzy, grungy discount bin VHS vibe. The soundtrack pumps with 80s tunes (ZZ Top. Frankie Goes to Hollywood. “Obsession” by Animotion. Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes.” John Parr’s theme tune to St Elmo’s Fire. And yes, Laura Branigan). Aficionados of 1980s trash cinema will revel in West’s references to the likes of Savage Streets (1984), Brian De Palma’s Body Double (1984), Vice Academy (1989), Angel (1984) and Avenging Angel (1985). Goth is a riveting, singular presence and one of THE great actresses currently working (The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw aptly called her the Judy Garland of horror). MaXXXine is a pulpy, grisly down-and-dirty summer thriller – just don’t expect another Pearl!

Reflections on ... Pearl (2022)

Recently watched: Pearl (2022). Spare a thought for teenage newlywed Pearl (Mia Goth). It’s 1918, the US is plagued by a Spanish influenza epidemic and her husband Howard is away fighting in Europe in World War I, leaving her toiling on the isolated rural farm of her austere German immigrant parents, disabled father (Matthew Sunderland) and sternly disapproving mother (Tandi Wright). Pearl aspires to be a dancer and her sole consolation is going to the cinema. But she also displays hints of madness and a capacity for violence. On the farm, pitchforks and axes are readily available. How can someone so outwardly cherubic be so frightening? 

Pearl lovingly recreates the lush orchestral score and gorgeous faux retro Technicolour (with - inevitably - a focus on the colour red) synonymous with Old Hollywood. Director Ti West stylishly evokes The Wizard of Oz, Psycho and hagsploitation classics What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and What’s the Matter with Helen? (Pearl is a prequel to West’s excellent earlier film X (2022), but you don’t have to have already watched X to appreciate Pearl. In fact, it might be interesting to watch Pearl before watching X!). 

And boy does Pearl cement angel-faced Mia Goth as a megastar. I venerate her as the Barbara Steele de nos jours. (Or as The Guardian’s savvy critic Peter Bradshaw declares, “Goth is now the Judy Garland of horror”). She also possesses the gawky, pop-eyed charm of Shelley Duvall in films like Thieves Like Us (1974) and The Shining (1980). Her performance here equals Toni Collette’s in Hereditary (2018). (And like Collette's you'll wonder how this didn't get Oscar nominated). Goth has two particularly remarkable moments (these aren’t spoilers!). When Pearl’s well-intentioned sister-in-law Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro) unwisely encourages Pearl to unburden herself and tell her what she’d confide to Howard if she could, it unleashes a torrential soliloquy of pain, self-loathing and alienation – which gradually becomes a serial killer’s lament. Later, in extreme close-up Goth maintains a deranged frozen rictus grin until her eyes well with tears, her lips quiver and a vein in her temple visibly throbs. The concluding macabre feast of suckling pig will haunt you forever. Pearl is a modern horror masterpiece!

/ Mia Goth snapped at the premiere of Pearl at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival /