- Mia Goth, Giancarlo Esposito, Kevin Bacon
- July 5th 2024
- Ti West
Mia Goth plays a budding actress who ends up involved in a serial killer case in 1980s Hollywood.
After X and Pearl, Mia Goth has reunited with writer-director Ti West for MaXXXine, the final instalment in their horror trilogy.
Set six years after the events of X, MaXXXine follows adult film star Maxine Minx (Goth) after she lands her first acting role in Elizabeth Bender’s (Elizabeth Debicki) new horror movie The Puritan II.
This should be a moment for celebration for Maxine as she is finally achieving her dream but her life is going catastrophically wrong elsewhere. Her friends and work colleagues are being murdered and it is believed to be the work of the Night Stalker, a serial killer looming large over Hollywood in 1985.
Detective Torres and Williams (Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan) continually want to question Maxine over her friends’ deaths and she is being followed by the shady private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon).
Unfortunately, there isn’t much going on underneath MaXXXine‘s stylish surface. This film really delivers on the visuals and the ’80s setting, with accurate fashion, hair and make-up and a very cool soundtrack.
While it’s never boring watching Maxine strut around Los Angeles, there needed to be more substance underneath. The screenplay is rather poorly written, particularly for Cannavale and Monaghan’s characters, and there is somehow too much and not enough going on at the same time.
The serial killer reveal is underpowered and a bit silly, making it all feel rather disappointing.
MaXXXine is very different to X and Pearl in terms of the location (they were set on a Texan farm), the time period and the vibe.
The only obvious connective tissue at the start is Maxine herself, who survived the massacre in X. You should watch X before this film to understand all the references but Pearl is not required viewing.
This one also feels the least like a horror – there are a few gory moments shot with ’80s visuals and special effects, but it isn’t scary or particularly violent. It is certainly not the slasher X was!
Goth remains easily the best thing about all three movies. MaXXXine serves as a spectacular showcase for her talents, proving her emotional range and vulnerability as well as her on-screen magnetism.
MaXXXine is a blood-soaked homage to ’80s movies that forgets to give its viewers a substantial story and satisfying third act.
In cinemas from Friday 5th July.
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