Ti West has created one of the most intriguing cinematic trilogies over the last couple of years revolving around actress Mia Goth.

In 2022, West released two movies in one year the first film was entitled ‘X’ which was a story about a group of pornographers traveling around the southwest of the United States looking for locations to shoot their film.  when they arrived on a small farm on the outskirts of Texas,  they ran into a psychotic elderly couple who slowly killed them off one by one until only one girl survived.

A few months later we got the film ‘Pearl’,  Pearl was in the origin story of a female killer and how her obsession with Fame led to the destruction of her mental state.  Pearl was a fascinating character story about how one girl’s obsession with Fame brought her down a path of nothing but bad decisions and even worse outcomes.

West was able to create a story about a girl’s desire for fame with two movies That only had a budget of 1 million dollars each. With the amount of buzz behind the X film series,  A24 was able to secure a little bit more money and several big-name actors to be involved in the film’s conclusion entitled ‘Maxxxine.’

Several years after the events that took place on the Texas farm in the movie ‘X’, Maxine Minx Continues her journey to obtaining fame by continuing to star in pornographic movies in hopes that they will launch her into a line of legit films.  Maxine decides to read for a part in a satanic horror film that she believes will be the movie that jump-starts her career in Hollywood. 

After landing the part in the film, Maxine believes she is finally one step away from her dream however a figure from her past has followed her the Hollywood and he knows all about what happened on the day that she was attacked in Texas. To make matters worse the city of Los Angeles is under siege thanks to the notorious serial killer ‘The Night Stalker’ who was hunting down young women in the city and is rapidly racking up a massive body count.

Maxxxine is then given the nearly impossible task of one trying to protect herself from The Night Stalker to trying to figure out who knows about the murders that took place several years earlier,  and three somehow manage to be on time for her film shoots or risk blowing the biggest opportunity of her career.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, Mia Goth has done a terrific job at owning the emotional aspects of this film trilogy. Much like the film Pearl,  Goth showcases her acting abilities which has allowed her to play three different characters but all have a very similar backstory. The character of Maxine is shown early on in life as someone whose only goal is to become famous.

She goes as far as to claim as a little girl that she will not accept a life that she doesn’t deserve.  This obsession with fame however has cost her everything she has no plans on slowing down no matter how many people close to work get killed in the process. Maxxxine is stylistically an ole to many a 1980s horror and slasher films and the Cinematic style of this movie is very much a love letter to the old Hollywood System that existed nearly four decades ago. 

Unlike the first two movies,  Maxxxine can showcase a large assortment of talent in notable faces such as Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon. The character of Maxine capitulates the story of a small-town girl who idolizes television and decides to move to the cold harsh reality of the city of Los Angeles what’s the only thing that matters to her is being famous and becoming a star.

The entire film franchise is a commentary about how these young women effectively give up their humanity if it means they can attain their dream whether the outcome of such a decision is for the better or the worst.

The film also takes a perspective on the religious culture War of the 1980s that’s so many in the religious right opposed the content that came out of Hollywood. The ending certainly takes a detour towards over the top but the narrative of the trilogy remains consistent throughout. Maxxxine will elevate the talents of Mia Goth in the eyes of audiences moving forward.

Maxxxine is one of The Shining examples of how well low-budget filmmaking can turn out with a little bit of heart and passion for The Craft.

4/5

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