Ti West’s MAXXXINE | Review

Mia Goth: Certified 21st Century Scream Queen

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD. TREAD LIGHTLY! GO SEE THE MOVIE AND FORM YOUR OWN OPINION!

I will not accept a life I do not deserve.

Going into this film, I was aware it would break open a period of time we have seen in popular culture pretty frequently in the past decade or so. Like its predecessors, it plays like a film from that period (Pearl in the 1930s-40s, X in the 1970s slasher era). West captures the feeling of the 80s through lighting and color. The inclusion of slasher elements in this film is justified, accompanied by great comedic timing reminiscent of the era's films.At a glance, MaXXXine sets the stage for a good time in a period where everything felt so surreal.

One comparison that comes to mind is a season of the popular TV show American Horror Story. The 1984 season has a similar plotline with the Nightstalker at the helm of a dark and twisted period in Los Angeles. Unlike this season of AHS, MaXXXine approaches the Nightstalker as merely a shadow lurking that never reveals itself. We only ever hear of the killings; they are completely unrelated to the film. It was disappointing to introduce such a tense and confined atmosphere of the early 1980s only to relegate it to the background. It still captures a certain charm, adding elements from specific horror genres like religious horror, but it struggles to deepen beyond any surface-level engagement. It often feels like homage rather than innovation.

Avoiding spoilers, the film excels in its visceral depiction of gore and explores intriguing horror elements. The horror elements intrigued me during the first act. The gore feels like Italian Giallo films of the 70s and 80s while also implementing an American level of humor. Buster Keaton’s scene is spectacular and should have kicked (lol) off a finale that did not have such an identity crisis as it did. I loved the flashback scenes and the trauma related to Maxine’s dark past. It makes watching the two previous films worthwhile. Initially, it seems this will be the main focus, suggesting Maxine could embody the prolific figure Pearl aspired to be. However, the narrative pivots unexpectedly, sidelining the X-related trauma for fleeting mentions throughout the runtime. Her longstanding issues with her father haunt her and eventually dominate the plot. This is not where this film should have gone, in my opinion. I preferred the trauma from the murders that occurred in X as the main focus in the second act, but it seems sidelined once the big bad is revealed.

The performances are light in this film, with Kevin Bacon and Giancarlo Esposito turning in some pretty amusing takes on oddball characters. Mia Goth does her thing, but her range here is more infrequent than in the past two films. The script isn’t as diverse and grows bland towards the end.

MaXXXine is probably the weakest in the trilogy. It has fun and a fantastical atmosphere, but it falls short within its own bounds of story progression and trauma. The third act is too anti-climatic and predictable. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly went wrong with this film to make it this way, but it feels as if West’s intuition failed him.

While capturing the essence of a B-movie is bold, and I admire that, the film feels constrained by this choice, limiting its potential impact.

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