MAXXXINE
“Maxxxine” is the final part of Ti West's horror trilogy, that initially began in 2022 with “X”, which was about a bunch of amateur pornographers who, while attempting to make a new porn feature, are picked off one by one by Pearl, the elderly and demented old woman who owns the farmhouse that the group have hired as the location for their filth. It is a good old fashioned slasher, set in the 1970's which gave West the chance to shoot “X” in the style of that era, and he did so magnificently. Mia Goth played two roles in “X”: first, the young porn starlet Maxine Minx, a girl who dreams that she is destined for stardom, and second, the elderly Pearl, who pines for her lost youth that she sees mirrored in Maxine and her young friends. She is dynamite in both roles, but “X” was initially conceived as a single film, except that the film was shot (in New Zealand) during Covid, and when Ti West and Mia Goth were stuck in a two week quarantine before shooting, they started spit-balling ideas for a prequel that would tell the back story of Pearl herself. They went to A24 with their idea, and the distributors gave them the money to shoot both films, “X” and “Pearl” back-to-back. “Pearl”, which was also released in 2022, was not a slasher but instead a psychological horror film, and it is absolutely demented and glorious, and for mine, it is Ti West's masterpiece. This time with the story being set in the 1920's, West decided to ape the look of those old Technicolor films, and the film looks utterly gorgeous. Once again too, Mia Goth delivers a performance for the ages as the younger version of Pearl, as she goes from quiet girl to full on psychopath by film's end. Both film's were a big success for Ti West, Mia Goth and A24 which almost guaranteed a third film would be coming, which ended up being “Maxxxine”, that looked at the further adventures of Maxine Minx following her survival of the massacre of her friends back in the 70's.
When “Maxxxine” finally went into production, Mia Goth regularly mentioned in interviews that she felt that out of the three films, this newest one had the best script and story line. Obviously being a fan of the previous two, and particularly “Pearl”, I was excited to enter this world one more time but sadly it did not live up to any of my expectations. Firstly, I do not know if it was just media spin or Goth actually believed it, but the script of “Maxxxine” is absolutely dreadful. It has so many plot elements, and small side characters that ultimately mean nothing, that the whole movie just does not gel together properly at all. Things just seem to happen, more in a way to pad the length of the movie, rather than the story moving in a natural manner like the previous two films. Strangely, West decides to also include into his narrative a real-life serial killer, The Night Stalker, who was killing people for real during the time this movie is set, but then does absolutely nothing with it, other than use him as a dull red herring. Another issue I had with the film was Maxine herself, who has lost her naivety that she had in the original film, which is now replaced by a harsh, charmless exterior. Yes, I understand that she is putting on a front, pretending she is affected by nothing and is one tough mother, but she is not the most pleasant character to be around anymore. Goth is still good in the role, but I am just not as much of a fan of where her character has ended up since “X”. Speaking of the acting, “Maxxxine” has the biggest cast of the series, with lots of name actors in a variety of roles, but sadly most of them have been miscast or are just plain poor in the film. Kevin Bacon, as a sleazy private detective, looks to be having the most fun, chewing up the scenery every chance he gets, but his character's motivation throughout the film is another issue I had with “Maxxxine”, because I just could not understand why he felt the need to personally blackmail Maxine, when he was already getting so well paid by his employer for just finding her. I will say that at least Kevin Bacon is entertaining in his role, something I cannot say about Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan, who play some of the most least-effective (and offensive) cops in cinema history, as they are bloody awful.
The biggest flaw of “Maxxxine” though is that it is just not scary at all. While it does have a couple of gory, bloody moments, the film lacks suspense and fear. This is largely due to the fact that, for anyone that has paid attention to “X”, the killer is no surprise at all, and you never truly feel like Maxine is in any real kind of danger, nor that she is suffering badly from the trauma she experienced in the decade prior (thanks to the murderous efforts of Pearl). When the killer is revealed (confirmed??), “Maxxxine” really goes downhill fast, and the final twenty five minutes or so are absolutely terrible, and borderline embarrassing. Due to spoilers, I will not detail all the things I hate during this final sequence, but just believe me when I say that I could not believe how bad it got.
I should mention that “Maxxxine” does have some good in it, as once again Ti West shows off his ability in recreating a time period successfully without overdoing it. The film, once again, looks great, and his been actually been put together well from a technical standpoint. It is just a shame that the film itself is so disappointing. I must mention my favourite moment in “Maxxxine” though and that is when Maxine is being chased by Kevin Bacon's character on the Universal (?) backlot, and they end up on the Bates Motel location including the house from “Psycho”. Maxine decides to enter the “house” and I immediately started picturing a chase through the house, because I know the layout of that house so well, due to my love of Alfred Hitchcock's “Psycho”. However, West then pulls the rug out from under the viewer, because in reality there is nothing in the “house”, as it is nothing more than a facade, so Maxine is literally hiding amongst bits of wood and stuff and not inside “Mother's” house like you expect. It is a brilliant moment, and I wish the film had more of them, but sadly, outside of this scene, and the amazing look of the film, there isn't a lot to recommend about “Maxxxine”. It is easily the worst of the trilogy, and was my biggest disappointment in 2024.
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