Ti West’s MaXXXine is unequivocally a horror film. Following up the slashing in X and the shocks in Pearl, terror and gore are in no short supply, and it unsubtly tips its hat to classics of the genre – from Alfred Hitchcock to Giallo cinema. But it would also be a disservice to suggest that the scope of the work is that narrow. Scares and bloodletting are a priority, but it’s a skeezy, creepy movie that is also very much a love letter to the grand history of Hollywood.
MaXXXine
Release Date: July 5, 2024
Directed By: Ti West
Written By: Ti West
Starring: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon
Rating: for strong violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, language and drug use
Runtime: 104 minutes
Anachronisms be damned, the film is set in 1985, but West takes inspiration from all across the 20th century, be it its Chinatown-styled private eye character, a Goodfellas-esque one-er in the first act, or the eponymous protagonist wearing makeup straight out of Blade Runner during a club scene. There’s an expressed passion for the medium that enhances every sequence, and it pairs wonderfully with the period production design, costuming, makeup and more that transports the audience back to a time before the industry’s digital revolution. MaXXXine is a movie made with a tremendous and palpable love – which is a boon in that it helps make up for some of the lacking in the storytelling.
The plot reunites audiences with Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) six years after the events of X, which saw her as the lone survivor of a massacre during a porn shoot on a remote farm in Texas. Having moved to Hollywood, she has found success and fame in the adult film industry, but it is her aspiration to become a crossover star, and she gets her big break when director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) makes the call to cast her as the lead of her upcoming horror sequel, The Puritan II.
As Maxine Minx’s star starts to rise, however, she finds herself both haunted by her demons and fearing for her life. A New Orleans-based private detective named John Labat (Kevin Bacon) begins harassing her, sending her messages and teasing that he knows about her dark past, and people in her circle begin turning up dead amid reports of a serial killer who the news has dubbed the Night Stalker. Not willing to let anything get between her and the life that she deserves, Maxine refuses to run from the escalating horror and instead decides to fight back.
Do yourself a favor and definitely watch X and Pearl before diving into MaXXXine.
Thanks in large part to its setting (which does a clever job of blending fiction and reality), MaXXXine has a wholly different vibe and unique perspective on film compared to its predecessors, but it is still very much a sequel, and X and Pearl should both be considered required viewing prior to diving into the third chapter. The protagonist is given a full and original arc, but said arc is very much informed by her experience on that isolated Texas farm, and the plot very much builds on what we learn about her from the first movie.
This is ultimately both for good and for ill. Fans of the X series are already well-familiar with Maxine Minx’s incredible drive to become the world’s biggest star, and the follow-up story effectively pushes that forward with further extreme demonstrations of will and rejection of anything that gets in her way. The demonstrated fortitude is thrilling (for example, movie-goers can particularly look forward to a confrontation Maxine has with a would-be attacker in an alley early in the film), but it also proves to be the lone pillar of greatness in Ti West’s script as it wraps up its third act. Those who found themselves underwhelmed by the revelations at the end of X will feel similar feelings resurface at the end of MaXXXine, even as it’s executed with a lot of exciting style.
As Mia Goth further cements her legacy as a standout Final Girl, MaXXXine surrounds her with an outstanding supporting cast.
It’s not difficult to look past the issues in the plot mostly because Mia Goth is so ridiculously compelling in the lead role that you’ll follow her through anything. The purpose and confidence that Goth projects is spellbinding, and it becomes powerful when blended with aggression, fear, and pain. The actress has some notable horror cred beyond this series thanks to her excellent work in Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria remake and Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, but MaXXXine helps her cement a special place in the genre’s history.
Of course, nothing is hurt by the fact that Ti West surrounds Mia Goth with an outstanding supporting cast. Kevin Bacon’s John Labat is a delightful kind of grotesque, the actor finding a scummy dirt bag middle ground between Jack Nicholson in Chinatown and Orson Welles in Touch Of Evil, and Giancarlo Esposito wonderfully breaks away from his familiar villain-mode as Teddy Knight, Maxine’s agent and entertainment lawyer who takes on a paternal role for the young woman in danger. Also deserving special notice is Elizabeth Debicki, who emanates an awesome gravitas as Elizabeth Bender – who shepherds Maxine as she starts a new era of her career and lays down some stark realities about Hollywood.
As far as being a slasher film, MaXXXine doesn’t go as big as X, but genre fans will still dig the terror and death.
Because it’s trying a bit more stylistically than its 1979-set counterpart, MaXXXine isn’t as gung-ho as a slasher as X, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t deliver a hefty dose of gnarly. The aforementioned alley scene is a disgusting and amazing appetizer for what follows, as the film serves up slashings, body parts in suitcases, an impressive use of a junkyard car crusher, and more. There are some different kinds of horror sensibilities in play than in X and Pearl, but they are equally satisfying.
If MaXXXine end up being the finale of an X trilogy, fans will reflect on the series as being one that got better with each installment, which each one bringing its own flavor and offering its own angle on the entertainment industry. If this isn’t the end, however, more is certainly welcome, and one can hope that the quality trajectory continues.
