Directed by:
Ti WestScreenplay:
Ti WestCinematography:
Eliot RockettComposer:
Tyler BatesCast:
Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, Halsey, Moses Sumney, Uli Latukefu, Ned Vaughn (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
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. (A24)
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Reviews (8)
The worst of the loose trilogy and three levels lower than the previous and excellent Pearl. It's as if Ti West ran out of ideas and Mia Goth in the producer's chair didn't help. It has no pizzazz, not a single memorable scene, no visual ideas. The insane 80s atmosphere is minimally exploited, and if it was at least as dull as the typical slashers of the era, I'd say to myself "good, West pays homage skillfully". Except the gore and murders are almost absent, the whole thing is devoid of wit and suspense, and the director does try to make a point, but it's pulled out of his ass with the whole "cult" thing, and I just shook my head during the shootout by the pool. Kevin Bacon makes a couple of unnecessary appearances, and his role is fades out in a few minutes, and Goth, whose performance in Pearl had me in a trance, bored me here. If only West had at least included the Night Stalker, who is mentioned throughout the film, but no way. It almost feels like West and the crew just wanted to fool around with the camera and conceived the whole thing in a lazily, half-assed and half-throttled manner.
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The conclusion of the X / Pearl / MaXXXine trilogy starts out promisingly and delights the viewer with its insidiously sinister tone, horror distastefulness, 1980s-style audiovisual aspect and setting in Hollywood movie studios, but the depiction of a Satanic cult and the impression made by the point drags the film down into the realm of lazy and cheap bullshit that fans of the series don’t want. Furthermore, the film does not in any way utilize the presence of the infamous "Night Stalker" (see the excellent Netflix documentary), who is mentioned only in news reports. [Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]
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MaXXXine Minx is an adult film star, but she wants to take the next step in her career and is aiming for the lead role in an upcoming horror film. But succeeding in a Hollywood filled with madmen, serial killers and violence won't be easy. Especially when her past comes to mind. Ti West has conceived the final installment of his trilogy as a great homage to the 80s and the brainy thrillers and horror films of that era, and has uncompromisingly subordinated everything to it. Anyone expecting a traditional thriller with light genre games is in for a bummer. MaXXXine isn't afraid to be a wild, ridiculous and bizarre B-movie. And it certainly doesn't try to be cute. But it's undoubtedly interesting not just to fans of what West is paying homage to here.
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"In this business, until you're known as a monster, you're not a star." From the very first scene, with the gate to the studio hell and the thrown cigarette butt on the star Theda Bara’s spot on the Walk of Fame, it’s clear what kind of cult Ti West worships here. I don’t begrudge him the trashiness of the content, but rather the deviation from his usual storytelling pace, which might have worked better with Mulholland Drive vibes in terms of atmosphere, and also the sloppy finale with the cultists, where the pastiche dangerously started to verge on parody. But it’s pointless to lament over it when we’ve ended up in Pleasuredome and she’s got Bette Davis eyes. Would you like a slice of bacon?
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Ti West completed his trilogy of horror movies starring Mia Goth with a spectacular ultra-pastiche that in a certain respect not only tops off the series and the director’s filmography to date, but also the entire filmmaking tradition of decadent genres. Since time immemorial, all trash filmmakers have longed for acceptance and recognition, which means studio facilities and shooting in Hollywood. West’s trilogy about the alluring nature of filmmaking and promises of fame ends there. The director absolutely delights in the eclectic composition of allusions and references. His film radiates enthusiasm for the high and the low, thus setting side by side allusions ranging from porn to Chinatown, from American trash to giallo, and from Psycho to The Long Goodbye. Taking full advantage of the fulfilled dream of making his film under the wing of the celebrated Universal Studios, he stages a fannish tour of not only iconic locations in L.A., but mainly Universal’s outdoor sets. In so doing, he recalls the VHS era, highlights genre movies made by ambitious female directors and settles accounts with the religionists and moralists who protested against trash filmmakers and their works in the 1980s. However MaXXXine still primarily remains a hedonistic genre fantasy that doesn’t aim for historical accuracy (e.g. female directors were given room to work by Corman, not by the major studios). The main denominator here is the filmmaker’s own joy and, ideally, that of viewers having the same mindset. We could reach for the word Tarantino-esque, but that would be inadequate and limiting in any case. Because whereas Tarantino makes ultimate paraphrases of his favourite genres by ingeniously twisting iconic moments with his screenwriting, West outright composes an enthusiastic tribute that makes do with a fetishistic reconstruction that isn’t much more sophisticated than its inspirations in terms of screenwriting, but is joyfully informed by those films and enthusiastically revels in the possibilities that present themselves (which is perfectly confirmed by the closing vanity shot).
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Gallery (51)
Photo © A24
![MaXXXine - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/169/202/169202742_rgj3bv.jpg)
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