MaXXXine (2024)

"I will NOT accept a life I do not deserve." 
— Maxine Minx

It's sad to see Ti West's A24 horror trilogy come to an end, but that's the way it needs to be, and we absolutely do not need to see a continuation or any more of a backstory than what we already have. It breaks my heart to say goodbye to the character Maxine Minx, but the way that she will be preserved and remembered at the end of MaXXXine is the way that it needs to be. 

I'm not quite sure why everyone has been saying that this has been "mid," unless only to be quirky and different hating on something that they know a lot of people are excited about. I genuinely enjoyed the film, as different as it was from its precessors X and Pearl. It's incredible to think that all three films have such different feels and are all unique in their own ways. 

The best of the trilogy? I'm unsure. The one I resonated and enjoyed the vibes of the most? Absolutely. The stardom, the intensity of Hollywood, the stress of it all, the wanting to be famous and more than average no matter the cost; I loved the theme and the vibe that the third release offered. The complaints are fascinating to me, as it seemed very apparent that this film was going for a different feel; one of an 80s horror slasher. Then again, I felt the same way about American Horror Story's 1985 season, in which it recieved a lot of hate. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the 80s vibe in film and television. 

I will say, I'm not the hugest fan of horror, but definitely not opposed to see one with friends. That being said, I saw this one alone and was unsure of what to expect. Between watching X through my fingers and Pearl having jumpscare  out of nowhere of graphic images and terror, I went in blindly expecting the worst; to go out with a grand finale. Without spoiling, I thought that MaXXXine was far less terrifying and of the "horror" genre than X and Pearl, although it had its fair share of gore and blood. I'm not even sure I'd consider MaXXXine a "horror," as much as a "thriller." Nevertheless, there were times that I was watching with my hand to my face and ready to turn away; whether that was because of the actual fear the movie induced or just what I was expecting because of the prior films, I'm unsure. In retrospect, all of the scares that I was anxious and cleching my pearls about (no pun intended) ended up not being that bad. There were maybe only one or two scenes that were really bad that had the theater gasping. 

Let's talk about Mia Goth's performance. A fan of the trilogy, it's so bewildering to watch Mia Goth go from portraying both Maxine Minx and the old woman in the first, to Pearl and monologuing for minutes straight in the second, to Maxine Minx in the third where she seems a little more tedious and hesitant just because of how much she has to lose. I have to say, Mia Goth really kills it in the third installation and I think this portayal has to be my favorite. 

This isn't to say that the additonal cast doesn't absolutely kill it (again, no pun intended) as well. Kevin Bacon has a hilarious suthern accent and gold grills on his canines, Halsey brings back her iconic Jersey accent, and Lily Collins sports a Scottiish accent, for some reason. Also? Had absolutely no idea that Sophie Thatcher was in this film, which was a great little surprise. I was highly enamoured with the supporting cast, maybe that's also why I liked this film so much, they had so many of my favorites. I believe they all porrayed their characters well, but it's quite a shame that most of the characters didn't have much screen time. 

I would say that this was my greatest struggle with the film, was just how much is centered on Maxine and didn't include the other characters. I felt like almost all other characters had little to no screen time compared to Maxine, which I know may have been the point as we are exploring her life and her struggle in balancing work and life (who doesn't struggle with that, honestly) but it would've been nice to see some of the other characters on screen for a longer length of time, especially with how much they were promoted. 

Substance wise, I thought that it was enough of a whodunnit? mystery to keep the audience intrigued, with side plots keeping the entertainment alive as well. I've always said that I liked the cinematography and execution of X more than Pearl, but liked the biography deep-dive that Pearl provided and the perspective of Pearl as a character. With the added MaXXXine, I really think that we got a mix of the two, which I appreciate. I heard that it was being advertised as a Giallo film, in which you learn something new everyday because I had to look up what this was. I agree with other reviewers that it may not be considered a true Giallo film (but then again, what do I know) but I do think it has some of the elements like a face-less killer, black gloves, a psychotic woman lead, etc. Regardless of what category it fits into, I really liked the blackmail, murder-mystery components that MaXXXine presented and thought it was well executed. 

I honestly wouldn't hesitate to say that this may be the cuntiest, campiest horror film of the summer. From Maxinine's very obviously dyed blonde hair to her little white convertible with her name on her license plate. In a personal opinion, I absolutely loved the way that the film was shot and edited. The double shots in one frame, the neon, just everything. Again, may be personal opinion and the fact I thoroughly enjoy the 80s slasher feel, but I absolutely fell in love with the theme and feeling of Hollywood that MaXXXine brought to the screen. 

Not to mention, there are various easter eggs that make this film amazing. From the house from the infamous Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and the elements taken from that film to the old scenes used from X, the elements utilized in MaXXXine are quite stunning. The subtle details are incredible. If you listen carefully, you can hear Lorraine's (Jenna Ortega's) iconic scream from X and you can see that Maxine is now a blonde, which Pearl hates. There's even a subtle hint to scenes from Pearl, one of them being the movie store employee watching some horror movie with a scene of an alligator eating somebody. Absolutely brilliant.

To reiterate, do I think that this was the best of the three in the trilogy? Maybe. Was it definitely my favorite? Absolutely. I actually really enjoyed the camp-y horror feel and the subtle references to old horror movies and previous films in the triology. While I don't think MaXXXine was as gory as X or as in-depth of a personality analysis as Pearl, I do think that it did a magnificent job showing us more about where Maxine went in life and what she struggled with following the events of the first film. I loved the cast and Mia Goth's portrayal of Maxine, where we see just how much she actually has to lose in this life, especially after all that she's worked for. A huge fan of this trilogy, especially how impressive it was to pull off each of the three films being so different from the last. 

I'm really glad that I was able to see the ending of this trilogy on the big screen and so close to release; I was even able to get a full-sized, double-sided movie poster! I'm excited to watch the entire trilogy (X, Pearl, MaXXXine) in a row and compare them more in-depth upon my second rewatches for each. Overall, I thought MaXXXine was very well done and I genuinely believe that it's going to be one of the defining films in the cinemas for the 2024 summer. Can't wait to rewatch when it's released for streaming and see what other details I've missed!