MaXXXine
2 snakes out of 5
by Eric Lindbom-
With MaXXXine (in theaters), writer/director Ti West and actor Mia Goth bring to a close a buzzy horror trilogy celebrating three distinct cine-eras.
X, a cross over hit, followed eager DIY pornographers who ran afoul of a reclusive elderly couple who resented a skin flick being secretly shot on their rural Texas property. Goth played duo roles – as Pearl the murderous old lady (buried under globby make up) and Maxine, the headstrong final girl desperate to make it in nudies. With sun dappled film stock and an era appropriate soundtrack – including Mungo Jerry’s “In the Summertime”– X shrewdly channeled ‘70s drive-in horror. It lacked the intensity of its inspiration, Tobe Hooper’s iconic THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, though, like Hooper’s EATEN ALIVE it also featured a hungry alligator.
PEARL, the second installment went backwards in time while leaping ahead creatively. A candy colored homage to Douglas Sirk,‘50s melodrama and THE WIZARD OF OZ, the prequel showed Goth’s aged character as a sympathetic but psychotic young farm woman with delusions of cine-star grandeur. As in his earlier nerve rattler THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, West kept the powder dry for maximum impact until his title character wielded an axe with the fervor of Lizzie Borden. PEARL also featured a superb performance from Goth with a much YouTubed monologue that many rightly felt should have earned her an Oscar nomination.
PEARL was set during the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918, a reference to the COVID pandemic that birthed the first two films. X was shot in New Zealand, one of the few countries open for business during the production shutdown. After building a Texas town, West, and his star Goth, opted to stay in country and write and film PEARL on those pre-existing sets. During post-production they proposed a third chapter and then A24, the canny production company, agreed to it once the first two films caught fire.
So MAXXXINE, set in the gaudy ‘80s world of heavy metal, unspeakable hair dos and cult porn actors, came loaded with a big budget, a roster of name stars jumping aboard and rightful fan expectations. Sadly, it clunks like so many direct-to-video schlock movies from the period whose directors often went on to bigger things.
As a child, Maxine Minx’s hard core Christian dad drilled into his daughter the mantra “I will not accept a live a life I don’t deserve.” She uses that slogan to push past her career as a porn star and live performer in skeevy quarter movie booths into acing a key role in a ‘legit’ film, the horror sequel PURITAN II. A slumming art house director (Elizabeth Debicki) pushes her relentlessly. Maxine tries to maintain focus while being pursued by a gloved killer, well aware of her past history, who’s murdering her co-workers. Each expires after attending “a party in the hills by a producer” which Maxine wisely avoids. She’s also hassled by a pair of homicide cops (Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale as a failed actor) and a private eye (a gleeful but over the top Kevin Bacon).
The deceased have pentagrams carved onto their faces in a call out to red herring Richard Ramirez, the infamous‘ real life 80s serial killer known as the Night Stalker. These allusions let West have fun with devil fearing ‘80s parents, the type that dragged ‘evil’ rock stars like Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider before the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) which stickered decadent albums making them even more popular.
While MAXXXINE identifies as a slasher set in Tinsel Town, it’s more in line with over ripe women in danger ‘80s trash like THE SEDUCTION (nutso Andrew Stevens stalking Morgan Fairchild). Once gorehounds acclimate to its lack of suspense some may cozy up to West and production designer Jason Kisvarday’s vividly sleazy re-creation of Hollywood Boulevard; at a Q&A, West alluded to 1983’s ANGEL about a high school girl hooking on the dirty boulevard as a visual signpost. The original Bates motel and PSYCHO house sets make a welcome appearance too.
Such trappings can’t spackle over the holes. Goth’s Maxine, rootable in small doses, grates as a one-note protagonist barely concerned with the murders around her until late in the game. This kick ass character remains perversely passive story wise especially when she’s largely tied to a tree and barely participates in a bullet ridden finale.
While Goth deserves better material, she has a memorable scene where she suffers PTSD while being fitted for a life cast of her PURITAN II character’s decapitated head. Unfortunately, she flashes back to scattered memories from X, a film viewers will return to more frequently than this half-baked effort.
Eric Lindbom is a hardcore horror buff with a strong stomach, weaned on the Universal classics from the ’30s and ’40s. He’s written film and/or music reviews for City Pages, Twin Cities Reader, LA WEEKLY, Request magazine and Netflix. He co-edits triggerwarningshortfiction.com, a site specializing in horror, fantasy and crime short stories with illustrations by co-editor John Skewes. He lives in Los Angeles.
