Didn’t we all grow up wanting to be ‘a star’? Well, if so, Ti West’s horror-thriller trilogy may put you off the concept. In the trilogy’s third instalment, MaXXXine, the Hollywood-tinted lenses come off as the titular character, Maxine Minx, chases a dream of stardom amidst a serial killing rampage in 1980s Hollywood, all while grappling with her traumatic past seen in the first film, X. This film was followed by, Pearl, which was even more shocking, compelling, and vigorously praised. Thus, it was with high hopes that I watched the final instalment, MaXXXine.
Ti West has a passionate fan base, and as a big fan of the X series myself, I watched the trailers in Watershed, praying for Maxine Minx’s final appearance to be as ruthlessly A24 (yes, that is an adjective now) and as gruesomely camp as the previous instalments. I feared that it would suffer from “Cornetto-trilogy syndrome”, I did not want a The World’s End situation, in which the third film, though good, pales in comparison to its predecessors. In MaXXXine, my high hopes weren’t crushed, but they weren’t exceeded either.
Stylishness is always less important to me than performance or screenwriting, but in MaXXXine, the spangly, exaggerated 1980s everything is shoved in our faces in a way that feels appropriate. An overload of the senses makes sense! Mia Goth (the star of the trilogy) strides in luxurious and dominating garments. In one scene, she wears knee-high, leather boots with heels sharp enough to kill, she dons a green bomber jacket over a black dress with an orange eye makeup look - a nod to Blondie, another equally powerful women of the time. My personal favourite is the first double-denim outfit, which recalls Maxine’s sultry dungaree outfit in X, that not only reiterates the change in fashion between the films, but also Maxine’s personal growth. Style also occupies the camera work, as West doesn’t allow her audience to look away. Everything is close-up, personal and colourful. The film is delicious to watch, whilst the previous instalments have slight a campness, MaXXXine is camp in full force. Balancing glamour with gruesomeness, West treats a murder scene with the same speedy, bombastic camera work and glamorous colour palette as the streets of Hollywood seen in prior scenes. It is this balance that demonstrates the trilogy’s recurring theme: Hollywood's shiny artificiality opposed with its dark underbelly.
Mia Goth, yet again, proves she is the heart and soul of the trilogy, flexing her chameleon scream-queen muscles. It is satisfying that this film confirms Goth to be the most important part of the trilogy and the trusted foundation of West’s work. It is even more satisfying that Maxine’s own journey to stardom parallels Goth’s, she has come into her own much-deserved praise in real life Hollywood. I was stunned by the lack of praise for Kevin Bacon’s John Labat, a sleazy guy investigating Maxine’s past. Again, camp is key, Bacon was so bad that he was amazing. With his gaudy, bell-bottom suits and a gold-toothed smile, he added a dirty smudge to the sparkling illusion of Maxine’s Hollywood experience. As a believable threat to her career and story trajectory, he doubled as a convincing conflict to the plot and a subtle yet enticing connection to her past and the earlier films.
However, West takes a few wrong turns in this film, one being prematurely killing Bacon’s character. Another being, Elizabeth Debicki’s clichéd and clunky attempt-at-a-girl-boss Elizabeth Bender. Her inspirational quotes were more TK-Maxx mug than MaXXXine, not what I expected from a script purporting to be wisecracking and self-aware. The script occasionally read as vapid, seen in Halsey’s character, Tabby Martin. Halsey was nowhere near as poor an actress as I, ashamedly, expected – in fact she was good for the few seconds she was on screen. Her minimal dialogue was clear, however, it only centred around displaying her personality (or lack thereof) in order to make us feel for her, and therefore, fear the serial killer threat as she is subsequently murdered. With a film so overstuffed with plot points, people and problems - Maxine’s more convincing Hollywood friendships with Moses Sumney’s Leon deserved more time. Time that was sadly wasted on emptier characters and sudden killings. Now don’t even get me started on Lily Collins’ Yorkshire accent. Let me just say I was disgusted at the state of it and terrified that Americans would now think that northern English people actually sound like that.
As MaXXXine progressed, it became bogged down by an unnecessary detective subplot. The bland buddy cop duo just wasn’t necessary! The cops are tasked with finding night slayer using Maxine’s help, which on paper seems fair enough, until audiences are repeatedly battered by dull performances, costumes, and writing, which is out of place in a vibrant, campy 80s movie. Ti West’s attempts to juggle too much narratively weakens the film, turning what should be a climactic reveal into a spiral of confusion. Our ‘twist’, not that it deserves to be called one, is that Maxine’s extremely religious father, who we are barely encouraged to fear in either X or MaXXXine, is the night slayer. Huh?
It was at this point that the film, much to my disappointment, became worse than its predecessors. Still, I left the cinema riding the high of earlier scenes that blew me away with their wit. Leon’s murder was impeccable, gorgeous, and hilarious, the scene where Maxine’s highlighter scrapes across her script like a tugging blade across skin, is crosscut with a dagger that tugs down the back of Moses’ neck, in a gory and ironic parallel. As Maxine goes up in the acting world, Leon leaves the world. It is fair to say that West purposefully made the film a bit much. And a bit much is fine! Well, until it becomes seriously far too much. One of my favourite parts of a slasher is the ending section, where the killer is revealed and the final girl fights them to the death, one-on-one. Wouldn’t that have worked? Still, throughout the film, audiences who have seen the previous instalments are granted an exciting in-the-know feeling. We have seen Goth’s various positions, playing various different characters, with various different desires. As a result, we have a sense of loyalty and connection to the trilogy, and for a cult-like audience that is pretty sweet. When Maxine is being chased on the film lot by Kevin Bacon, it is exciting because audiences have stuck around to see Goth play both terrifying and terrified.
So, becoming a ‘fucking movie star’ comes with a few costs. Watching them play out through head-popping gore, an unapologetic embrace of the histrionic American 80s, and, well, Mia Goth, makes MaXXXine a good watch. For die-hard fans of the series, I insist you remove your very specific expectations – I’m afraid, there will never be another Pearl. This film’s stand-alone charisma should keep you happy, though, as watching Maxine finally triumph as a star at the very least provides a boisterous conclusion to a dazzling series.
What is your favourite film from the X trilogy?
