Directed By Ti West

Starring – Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney

The Plot – In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx (Goth) 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.

Rated R for strong violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, adult language and drug use.

MaXXXine | Official Trailer (Universal Pictures) – HD (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Accomplishing one untouched vision of a film is a remarkable feat on its own, but to do it three times in a franchise, with three uniquely appealing visions, is downright astonishing, cementing not only one of the greatest trilogies of all time to horror, but also the realization that Ti West is one of the most meticulous directors of our time. In doing such with ‘Maxxxine’, West has certainly given us an entertainingly riveting and rewarding third chapter to the six year journey, with a stripped down, gritty and grimy grandeur into the seedy underbelly of Hollywood, but also a defining connective tissue between his three films that outlines meaningful merit in a bigger picture towards each of them, with one of the most thorough character studies across three films that the genre can properly muster. In now seeing the complete picture, it’s obvious that ‘Pearl’ pertains to ones hope to escape a life of ordinary monotony, where ‘Maxxxine’ is about the obsession of holding onto that dream, and ‘X’ pertaining to when it all washes up, with that fifteen minutes of fame coming to an abrupt halt. Knowing how this arc for the character will eventually end up doesn’t hinder its compelling ability towards telling a compelling story, with real life aspects and, in and out of cinema, bringing a grounded reality to the movie’s proceedings, but also the versatility among this trilogy’s style, with each meaning something deeper to the subgenres that West grew up adoring. Similar to ‘X’ being a passionate homage of 70’s and 2000’s road trip horror, or ‘Pearl’ being a vibrant nightmare of 50’s technicolor dreamscapes, so too is ‘Maxxxine’ as a faithful homage to all things 80’s B-movie slashers, with everything from overly-anxious line deliveries, to sharp motions of the lens, to even exaggerated violence, maintaining a consistency in the film, with me grinning like a Cheshire cat, as I endured all of the intricate details that brought back my upbringing to the subgenre. Like all slashers, there’s a mystery element to this one, with a masked assailant from Maxine’s past coming back to threaten her eventual dreams of stardom, all while challenging everything that we’ve come to interpret about the character, with a sharp shift towards inspiring, as her cocaine addiction and fearlessness has her exerting an unforgiving vengeance against her oppressors, resulting in brutal blows of devastation that will have you squirming from the tangibility of their unshakeable impact. As to where the violence is hilariously over-the-top, but also unforgiving, it certainly isn’t the entire film, as West tests the patience of his audience almost to the point of breaking, with lived-in perception to this unique world, but ultimately rewards them every time with brutal gashes and deaths that inscribe a tangibility to the way they’re both documented and echoed. By saving them sporadically, the violence means more when it eventually does materialize, and as a result West has continued to churn out carnage candy for the horror hounds in the audience like me, who love a good pay-off, especially with the fate of one particular antagonistic character, who finds themself in the wrong place at the wrong time with an accelerating car compactor. In addition, the Hollywood captured in the film is anything but that of both the world that Pearl-turned-Maxine has dreamed of, nor is it the Hollywood with the glitz and glamour of radiant lights, instead stripping down the canvas with this intoxicating allure of neon’s and nightscapes that show a more desperately depraved side of Sunset Boulevard, almost with a post-apocalyptic glow of urban decay that legitimately does feel like the kind of place where Richard Ramirez, A.K.A The Nightstalker, would garner a home field advantage during his 80’s slayings. West’s artistic direction is immaculate, earning rewatches from the audience in the many Easter eggs and site gags that flourish across the movie’s impressive set decoration, as well as a transfixingly hypnotic quality to the interpretation of the movie’s imagery, shot breathtakingly once more by Eliot Rockett, who constantly basks in the glow of exotic street signs from various storefronts, with each promising their own opportunity to those who seek them. Lastly, I have to talk about the cast because Goth, while incredible once more in the main role, doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting alone, as the dream team assembled give her many colorful characters and dynamics to flourish from, with Debicki and Kevin Bacon serving as her closest equals. Bacon is a living, breathing riot as this messenger of sorts to our mysterious antagonist, with razor sharp wit and remorselessness that, while occasionally charming in the way it’s exuberated, is ultimately untrustworthy, an element to his character that we learn very quick. Debicki is unfortunately tasked with no physicality and a lot of dialogue, but she brings her most compelling radiance in exuding such, with a quiet storm of gravitas underlining the speak-soft sentiment of her sternness, making the most of what little opportunity she’s presented. As for Goth, problems with her thinly written characterization outline does minimize her appeal to the audience, but it means little for what she brings to the portrayal, with an uncanny ability to elicit pity, fear and distaste to those she comes across, all without ever sacrificing her likeability as a leading lady. As to where ‘Pearl’ was definitely Goth’s most psychologically expansive turn of the series, her work here feels like the full-fledged manifestation of the woman she was born to become, and as a result she fits alongside this dangerous world, instead of falls prey to it.

NEGATIVES

West’s overwhelming ambition for ‘Maxxxine’, in trying to be so many things at once, does find it on the side of diminishing returns with particular subplots, with the execution of certain arcs being underwritten and overblown. This is especially the case with the movie’s mystery and its climactic reveal, which never attains the impactful blow that was expected from this connection, and instead flounders throughout a confrontation that definitely overstayed its welcome. If the script remained more focused on this mysterious figure waiting in the wing, primarily during its second act, then it probably would’ve wielded a far greater significance to what is eventually shaped from it, but a reveal that should be ground-shaking, instead comes across as emphatically underwhelming, made worse by the sequencing of its resolution that convolutes the much-desired pay-off in deviating from current day and past-tense. My other problem with the script pertained to Maxine’s character arc, which after the three-dimensional layer-shedding of ‘Pearl’, came across as one-dimensional and honestly a bit unengaging at times. Despite some unforeseen odds against her, Maxine never feels internally conflicted or growing from the film’s initial moments spent alongside her, which not only force Goth to work overtime towards making the character even half as compelling as either of her previous two turns in the series, but also unfortunately remains faithful to the idea that the script is more concerned about what she will do, rather than who she becomes, leaving the gaps between films a bit unexplored and even disconnected in making this feel like the very same person.

OVERALL
‘Maxxxine’ feels a bit bare in corresponding character study from its predecessors, but it is another visually stimulating and exceptionally performed installment to a trilogy without a weak link among the bunch. Ti West surmises a passionate pastiche to sleazy 80’s slashers that is made hypnotic by his unshakeable grip on the seedy underbelly of Hollywood’s dangerously evocative night life, and with Goth exerting another unflinching firestorm of a performance that serves as the film’s beating heart, valuing spellbinding style and stimulating substance, even if this time it so evidently values one far more than the other.

My Grade: 8/10 or B