Directed by:
Ti West
Written by:
Ti West
Starring:
Mia Goth, Moses Sumney, Giancarlo Esposito, Halsey, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Lily Collins, Kevin Bacon
Synopsis (IMDb):
In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.
Julian’s review:
MaXXXine, the final installment of Ti West’s X trilogy released under the A24 banner has hit streaming platforms.
I found it interesting how his 2022 surprise hit, X, kickstarted a series of horror films depicting Hollywood filmmaking across three time periods. It also gave rise to the next scream queen Mia Goth who played both Maxine Minx and Pearl.
I remember bits and pieces of the first film and I recently watched Pearl to catch up on the series. It was a well-made technicolor-inspired prequel with Goth again delivering an incredible performance. I was excited for the next film to be set in the mid-’80s for what seems to be a crazy story about Maxine and one infamous serial killer in American history. Let’s find out.
Image via IMDb/A24
Mia Goth and Ti West deliver again
Set six years directly after the fictitious ‘Texas Porn Star Massacre’ in X, Maxine Minx (Goth) is trying to make it in Hollywood. She gets a starring role in ‘The Puritan II’ directed by upcoming director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki). However, the known serial killer ‘The Night Stalker’ is preying on women in the streets. When a tragedy occurs, she’s forced to resort to her killer instincts to find the deranged killer before the world knows her name.
Image via IMDb/A24
As usual with the X films, Goth delivers a stellar performance as the hardened porn star-turned-actress Minx. She is more akin to Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley from Aliens than to Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode from the Halloween films as to how hardened and borderline ruthless she has become.
The alleyway scene where she turns the tables on her would-be rapist/murderer, forcing him to strip naked and suck her gun, would make stalkers think twice about coming anywhere near a woman like Minx. Even though she’s not fighting hordes of Xenomorphs or being remotely stalked by a serial killer, she has become slightly more of an action hero. Combined with her forward sexuality, she has become a more appealing and stronger female character.
Image via IMDb/A24
The characters are fun, but we could have seen more
The rest of the cast was good too. Kevin Bacon as the sleazy corrupt private investigator John Labat operates similarly to the T-1000 in T2: Judgment Day. Giancarlo Esposito as Minx’s agent Teddy Esquire is decent, but he still feels like Gus Fring from Breaking Bad in certain parts.
Moses Sumney as Maxine’s best friend Leon was good for the screen time he has. He has a criminally short amount of time in the film, so I wish he had more screen time. As for some of the more serious characters, Elizabeth Debicki as film director Elizabeth Bender does well for the screen time that she has for her parts. Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale as both detectives Williams and Torres were fine for their roles. Overall, everyone was good for the roles they played.
Oh, almost forgot about singer Halsey, who played Maxine’s friend and fellow porn actress named Tabby. She was good, but I wished they could have done more with her too.
Image via IMDb/A24
’80s aesthetics galore
The aesthetics of the film is what I admire. Like with X and Pearl, West has done a great job at capturing the mid-’80s. The inspirations for the film include popular underrated ’80s LA sleaze films such as Angel, Dressed To Kill, and Body Double, as well as draft house films like Ms. 45 and Giallo films like Bird with the Crystal Plumage to Scream 3.
This is a labor of love toward the designs, story aspects, and nods to Hollywood and the horror genre. As much as this film is tipping its hat off to the film industry and the start of the VHS era, sometimes the overt focus on ’80s allure can be a bit of a burden. It takes away from the story when we are more concerned with ‘The Night Stalker’ preying on pretty much anybody on the streets of LA.
Image via IMDb/A24
Final thoughts
Overall, MaXXXine is not a perfect conclusion to the X trilogy, but it is a fun, thrilling, sleazy, sexy ’80s throwback that will keep you entertained. Ti West did mention that this film may not be the end of the X series as we’ve previously thought. So now, I’m wondering with that statement, could we possibly see films set in the 90s or early 2000s? Who knows what’s in store for Ti West’s X franchise?
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