X and Pearl resurrected Ti West’s career in more ways than one as brilliantly subversive riffs on 1970s low-budget slashers and an almost classic 1950s melodrama (that turned into pure horror near the end of the second picture). After the successes of both films, which were shot back-to-back and fully revealed Mia Goth’s lead star prowess, West announced the conclusion of the trilogy with MaXXXine, a slasher steeped into the heat of the 1980s, celebrating both the culture of the time and the movies that influenced it.
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Of course, West peppers the film with subtle callbacks from many titles that inspired him to root his story in 1985 Los Angeles. However, we also get a wider perspective of how his horror tastes operate. Not only do we get direct references from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho – the slasher movie to end all slasher movies – through the figure of the Bates Motel set, but filmmaker/actor Larry Fessenden also appears as a security guard, a clear inspiration for West’s sensibilities.
He even (and predictably, but who would blame him) plays with the VHS sheen in several sequences, drenching the film in the necessary aesthetic to convince us it’s deeply steeped in the 1980s. However, West seems far too busy referencing pop culture and his favorite movies to tell a compelling story and virtually nothing of interest occurs throughout its 104-minute runtime.
MaXXXine Contains Many Storylines That Lead to Nowhere
Instead of building upon the events of X and Pearl, MaXXXine only discusses the first film when it’s the most convenient, as porn star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) desires to move away from the adult film industry and work within the Hollywood system. She gets her first big shot by landing a role in The Puritan II, a horror film directed by Elisabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki).
This could’ve been a great opportunity to put this as the front and center storyline of the film’s plot, but it quickly diverges into uninteresting platitudes, with Maxine being stalked by a serial killer named “The Nightstalker” (not a very original name, but that’s fine) and private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon), who threatens to reveal what occurred during X to the film’s director.
Oh yeah, there’s also a game of cat-and-mouse between Maxine and two police officers, played by Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale, while more bodies pile up in Los Angeles as the Nightstalker closes in on Maxine. None of these storylines lead up anywhere. They are as quickly dropped as they are introduced, with most of the supporting cast having absolutely nothing to do except Kevin Bacon, who seems to have the most fun as sleazy Labat, a great companion to the douchey police captain he portrays in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which was also released on the same weekend.
But even his storyline doesn’t add much to the film’s overall presentation – it instead acts as a minor annoyance for Maxine so she can clear it up with her entertainment lawyer Teddy Knight (Giancarlo Esposito, also wasted, and is never seen again after this). The movie then jumbles to the Nightstalker storyline, having completely forgotten about it as West doesn’t know if he should stick to Maxine becoming a serious actress, John Labat’s quest to expose her after gathering enough police evidence to end her career before it begins, or the Nightstalker preying on individuals who are close to Maxine, as her ultimate victim.
MaXXXine Attempts (and Fails) the Giallo Red Herring
In pure giallo fashion, it turns out that the Nightstalker arc was a red herring and completely unrelated to what’s been occurring in the movie. There’s a real killer that’s been specifically targeting Maxine for reasons that should’ve been obvious as soon as the movie opens, but the audience is then quickly distracted by the looming presence of the Nightstalker.
The kills are also a massive step down from the first two movies. Instead of being shocking in their blunt violence, they feel less impactful than they should be, even if West smartly edits one specific sequence by cutting from the pages of a screenplay riddled with violence to actual murder occurring right underneath Maxine’s doorstep.
It’s an effective scene only due to this editorial choice, not because it has any emotional impact on the story at hand, whilst Pearl’s rampage at the end of the last film felt doubly cathartic (not only for the audience but for the protagonist, who has taken manners into her own sick and twisted hands). And who can forget the final sequence in X, where Maxine crushes Pearl’s head? West calls it back to during her final confrontation with the real (and incredibly underwhelming) antagonist, but it has none of the effect of that scene in the first film.
The thing is, the red herring twist could’ve worked had West developed one focal story point that would feed the rest of the movie instead of filling the runtime with unnecessary drivel that dilutes Maxine’s main arc and renders most of the story useless when the final reveal is supposed to shock – but instead confounds – the audience.
MaXXXine then takes another sharp turn into another story point that could’ve been interesting but feels like it belongs in a completely different film altogether and falls completely flat on its face when West abandons his raw & violent slasher for a police procedural, wrapping up the story in a dull and poorly executed shootout that plucks its most impressive kill from Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.
The movie then ellipses to a month later, attempting to give closure to Maxine once all plot threads were haphazardly resolved. Instead of being a proper sendoff to the trilogy and a character that Mia Goth brilliantly portrayed in all its facets (including Pearl) throughout the franchise, it forgets to conclude properly and abruptly ends, leaving her story unfulfilled.
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One then wonders what the point of all of this was, and it’s fairly clear West had no story in mind for MaXXXine. He (and A24, most likely) simply wanted to capitalize on X and Pearl‘s successes, which were terrific films in their own right.
MaXXXine has no reason to exist beyond making West’s duology a trilogy and instead lessens the impact that both films had when they (surprisingly) were released in the same year. As far as I’m concerned, the X franchise ended with the greatest end credits scene in history, one that will be remembered as Mia Goth’s greatest-ever performance, not with whatever Ti West is doing in MaXXXine.
Rating: 1.5/5
About MaXXXine
Release Date: July 5, 2024
Director: Ti West
Screenplay: Ti West
Music: Tyler Bates
Producers: Jacob Jaffke, Ti West, Kevin Turen, Harrison Kreiss, Mia Goth
Production: Motel Mojave, Access Entertainment
Distribution: A24
Cast: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Sophie Thatcher, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon
Synopsis: 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…
MaXXXine releases in cinemas on July 5. What did you think of the movie? What was your favorite installment of the X trilogy? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow us on social media!
KEEP READING: X Review: TI West’s Seductive Slasher Sings A Superbly Salacious Song Sonically Charged With Sinful Screams
