A24 made quite the name for itself in the modern horror landscape before the release of MaXXXine. While they’ve served more as a distributor than a producer for their projects, there’s an undeniable style that follows A24 and its genre pictures that even Hollywood is now actively trying to replicate. However, despite its success in the genre, A24 hasn’t had a true franchise yet. At least, they didn’t have one until Ti West arrived with his concept of the X trilogy.
2022 saw not just one Ti West horror film but two in the form of X and Pearl. Both saw West tackling different eras of culture and filmmaking in ways that felt uniquely individual to the stories he was telling. X navigated a sexually free 1970s while Pearl travelled back to the 1920s with a technicolour nightmare disgusted as a beautiful dream. Both films were different but also flowed together in equally creative and authentic ways. Two years later, Ti West and A24 return with the conclusion to their trilogy with MaXXXine, but unfortunately, the result is something far messier than what we deserve.
The Past Isn’t Done With You
MaXXXine follows Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) as she lands a dream role in a sequel to a major horror picture. Fuelled by her passion for being a movie star, Maxine takes on the opportunity with open arms but quickly finds herself caught in a wider conspiracy as a killer begins brutally murdering multiple actresses in Hollywood, and her past begins to catch up with her. From here, Maxine takes on producers, private detectives and fellow movie stars in a drugged-up 80s Hollywood caught in a wave of satanic panic and protests.
Out of all the films in Ti West’s trilogy, MaXXXine feels the most traditional. It’s a direct sequel to X, both narratively and thematically, with the sex-fuelled world of cinema taking centre stage once more. In addition, MaXXXine is heavily inspired by the general landscape horror movies created in the 1980s. Throughout the film, we see protests demanding Hollywood to stop following the ways of Satan and evil in increasingly tense ways. The closer these people reach the major Hollywood studio lots, the closer we reach the end of a specific era of creative violence and graphic content. This angle that Ti West decides to explore is fascinating on a conceptual level, but this only acts as the first sign of trouble that MaXXXine faces as a film.
Video Nasty
Ti West examines Hollywood through multiple lenses that show the brutality of the industry we know so well. Actresses can be torn apart within seconds if a producer feels they aren’t doing the work they should be. Maxine Minx enters the world as yet another young woman aspiring to be famous, but unlike some of the other people she encounters through both X and MaXXXine, her motivation fuels her way further than anyone could imagine.
West makes it clear that Maxine is ambitious, but what we fail to see in MaXXXine is her journey to the stardom she has wanted her whole life. We open with a flashback of Maxine being filmed by her father as a young child. Even when she was younger, she had dreams of stardom that influenced her every decision, which then continued in X. With MaXXXine, we jump forward in time but are left with the same character we saw way back in Ti West’s first instalment in the trilogy.
It all feels very familiar and stagnant in its approach. We reach our character as she is on the cusp of what she wants, and although an attempt is made to place those dreams under threat, Ti West feels too afraid to make Maxine a character in any real danger. We all love a badass horror final girl, but not at the expense of tension and excitement.
Ti West is a filmmaker who has always been defined by the influences he wears on his sleeve. There’s passion behind the camera from an auteur passionate about the genre. The works of Brian De Palma and sleazy 80s cinema are all over MaXXXine, but unlike X and Pearl, it all feels like window dressing to give the overall narrative some semblance of style. It works tremendously in some ways, as West has a keen eye for visually pleasing visuals. Beyond that surface-level style, though, going further into what’s here only leads to more problems.
Less Is More
The first act of MaXXXine sets up a mystery surrounding a character stalking Maxine and blackmailing her with some dark secrets from her past. It’s an enticing set-up for another entry in this trilogy, but Ti West quickly abandons this for a meandering middle half that places multiple pieces of a puzzle down but with no rhyme or reason.
There’s a strong “first draft” energy all over the film that culminates in a third act that feels woefully undercooked and completely lacking in suspense. From private detectives to police officers following Maxine’s trail, a lot of stuff is being thrown at the wall, but it struggles to stick in any real way.
With X, we had a tight cast of characters, and the character Maxine was able to shine bright in an ensemble. In MaXXXine, we have a more extensive cast of characters, but none share any real likeability or exciting ideas. Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito and the duo of Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan are all terrific performers, but they are ultimately stuck with characters that exist purely to serve a perfunctory narrative and a lead character that isn’t given the depth necessary to carry out a sequel.
And therein lies the problem with MaXXXine. Even with a bigger budget, more prominent stars and a much grander setting in Hollywood, it fails to justify its purpose. As a sequel to X, it fails to expand upon its themes in exciting ways. As a culmination of Ti West’s trilogy, it ends on a sour note that betrays what made the previous two films so enjoyable—resulting in a movie that feels less like a confident vision and more like a rushed production and cynical endeavour for A24 to create their first significant horror franchise.
‘MaXXXine’ – Final Thoughts
Ti West’s MaXXXine is a disappointing conclusion to a promising and refreshing trilogy, though Mia Goth gives a strong performance, and it’s hard not to be wowed by some of the Brian De Palma-esque visuals that West can create, but when it’s condemned to be connected to a boring narrative with low stakes, it’s hard to care about what’s happening on screen. All in all, we’re left with a film that spends too much time attempting to justify its existence but, in doing so, forgets what made the previous instalments the modern horror classics that they are.
MaXXXine is now in theaters. Check out the trailer below.
