A24’s MaXXXine Closes Out A Modern Horror Classic

Director/Writer Ti West’s MaXXXine looks to be a bloody finale to his X trilogy, and it’s one of the most exciting horror films of the year. Starring Mia Goth as Maxine “Max” Minx, the film builds off the momentum of 2022’s complimentary horror films, X and Pearl. Ti West’s horror trilogy work as a modern take on the slasher genre, embracing the brutal elements of the past while exploring surprisingly complex takes on classic horror characters.

The third film brings the story out of rural Texas and into the heart of Hollywood during the height of the slasher renaissance. Taking place in Los Angeles in 1985, the trailer for MaXXXine promises a film that’s equal parts send-up of the film industry, a tight mystery thriller, and a brutal slasher movie. Fans of horror can’t afford to miss Maxine’s latest bid to become famous, which should end up being one of the horror highlights of 2024.

What Is A24’s MaXXXine About?

MaXXXine Is The Final Chapter Of Maxine Minx’s Journey

MaXXXine is the concluding chapter in Ti West’s modern horror trilogy, and promises to be a bloody (and exciting) finale for the trilogy. Mia Goth’s Maxine Minx is the central character, an up-and-coming actress taking a stab at fame. When she’s cast in a major movie, her big break might just be around the corner. However, Maxine is still haunted by the events of X, which took place six years prior. Someone else seems to know about the lethal measures she was forced to take to survive X, distracting Maxine even as she’s trying to focus on her big break.

The other complication comes in the form of the Night Stalker. A serial killer stalking the streets of Los Angeles, the Night Stalker has already racked up several kills by the time he seems to cross paths with Maxine. However, the MaXXXine trailer hints that Maxine is ready for him and anyone else who gets in her way. Building off X and Pearl‘s exploration of desire and fame (as well as the dangerous rage that can boil over when those two things are denied), Maxine seems ready for anything if she can become the star she’s always wanted to be.

What Else Happened In Ti West’s X Trilogy?

How X & Pearl Set The Stage For MaXXXine

MaXXXine is the third part of the X trilogy, which began with 2022’s X. Set in 1979, X focuses on the production of an adult film starring Maxine. However, the owners of the remote farmhouse they’re filming at turn out to be plenty fearsome in their own right — especially the elderly and envious Pearl, also played by Mia Goth. Also starring Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi), Martin Henderson, Owen Campbell, and Stephen Ure, X was a brutal and compelling modern riff on the slasher sub-genre that earned over fifteen times its budget at the box office.

Filmed right after the completion of X, Pearl is a prequel that explores the younger days of the titular killer. Set in 1918, Pearl brings back Mia Goth as a younger version of the small-town girl. Convinced she has the talents to be a star, Pearl is held back by her mother’s domineering personality and the chores she forces on her. However, her rage steadily grows more brutal, especially after she begins an affair with a newly arrived projection operator at the local movie theater. A surprisingly colorful but unrelenting psychological horror film, Pearl expanded on the themes of X.

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Why Mia Goth Is One Of Modern Horror’s Best Actors

Mia Goth Has Played Two Of Modern Horror’s Best Characters

Playing both Maxine and Pearl, Mia Goth has gotten a phenomenal showcase in the X trilogy. Maxine in X is a terrific riff on the classic “Final Girl” archetype that embodies those tropes while also standing out well as a quietly complex iteration of it. Maxine isn’t an innocent girl lost in the chaos, she’s a grown woman with flaws that finds herself tested by her violent circumstances. Pearl was an even more impressive showing, with Goth’s haunting final scene in Pearl quietly being one of 2022’s cinematic highlights. There’s a good reason horror fans have been excited for MaXXXine.

MaXXXine seems to find the balance between the two characters, highlighting the inherent duality of Maxine and Pearl as characters. The trailer for MaXXXine reveals that her trauma hasn’t dulled Maxine’s desire for fame. If anything, she’s more commited than ever to seeing her name in lights, telling her friend that she’ll become an icon of the horror genre. She’s dead-set on becoming famous even if it kills her (and anyone who gets in her way). Goth brings a prickly vulnerability to Maxine that makes her a uniquely compelling take on a classic horror archetype, grounding the trilogy with her performance.

How MaXXXine Connects To Real Life

MaXXXine Focuses On A Real Life Killer

Notably, MaXXXine pulls from more than just its own stories. Teased as a major threat in MaXXXine‘s trailer, Night Stalker was a real killer who stalked the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco between 1984 and 1985. Eventually apprehended and identified as Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker was responsible for at least fourteen murders. Utilizing a wide variety of brutal tactics, the Night Stalker remains one of the most infamous serial killers of the 20th century. It makes him an ideal contrast to Maxine, with both of them relishing in their fame even while committing brutal acts of violence.

Los Angeles has a bloody history of brutal murderers amid the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. Beyond the legacy of the Night Stalker (which has directly inspired shows like American Horror Story), the city has also been home to the Manson Murders, the Wonderland Murders, and the gruesome mystery surrounding the death of Elizabeth Short aka the Black Dahlia. MaXXXine‘s focus on the exploitation and fame surrounding brutal acts of violence gives it a clear connection to that legacy of violence in Hollywood, and solidifies the X trilogy’s thematic core with a killer who doesn’t know who he’s messing with.

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How MaXXXine Expands Ti West’s Horror World

MaXXXine Directly Connects Ti West’s Horror Films To Benchmarks Of The Genre

MaXXXine builds off the events of the prior films, as well as the legacy of the horror genre as a whole. The trailer for MaXXXine notably draws attention to the Bates Motel on the Universal Backlot. The filming location for Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking 1960 horror film Psycho, MaXXXine uses the setting to tease the lingering trauma impacting Maxine and connect the film deeper to the history of horror. Other iconic scary films like Frankenstein and Jaws were filmed on the same lot, cementing MaXXXine‘s connection to the cinematic legacy it’s carrying forward and highlighting the same horror icons Maxine idolizes.

Even beyond the clear connections to horror’s past, MaXXXine‘s trailer confirms the ways Ti West’s new film expands the horror universe. Lily Collins, Halsey, Sophie Thatcher, Moses Sumney, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, and Giancarlo Esposito flesh out the world of MaXXXine, ranging from fellow actors and film buffs to detectives and private investigators looking into the murders occurring all around Maxine. MaXXXine isn’t just a riff on horror archetypes and the whole film industry, but a compelling (and grisly) exploration of the City of Angels and the way it can bring out the worst in people.

Why You Should Be Excited For MaXXXine

One Of Modern Horror’s Best Storylines Comes To A Bloody Close

MaXXXine is one of the most exciting horror films of the year, precisely because of what’s come before. Building off the success of X and Pearl, MaXXXine gives Ti West a chance to conclude his compelling, subversive, and brutal take on the slasher genre with another knockout. The trailer for MaXXXine teases plenty of violence for horror buffs, as well as the strong character focus that elevated the previous two films above other recent entries into the genre. Mia Goth’s previous films with Ti West have proven her horror chops, and MaXXXine should cement her place in the horror pantheon.

Fans of horror should flock to MaXXXine when it premieres (and should catch up on X and Pearl, especially if they haven’t seen them yet) and the grisly turns teased in the trailer. Fans of character drama will find plenty to love about these films, which boast impressive performances across the board (and especially from Mia Goth). Fans of film in general will find plenty to love in the series, and MaXXXine seems poised to close out things on a grand scale. There’s a lot to recommend about Ti West’s MaXXXine, which should be a Hollywood ending to die for.

MaXXXine

In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx lands her big break, but her rise to stardom is jeopardized by a mysterious killer targeting starlets. As the body count rises, secrets from Maxine’s past threaten to surface, intertwining her quest for fame with a deadly game of survival.

Release Date

July 5, 2024

Cast

Mia Goth
, Elizabeth Debicki
, Moses Sumney
, Michelle Monaghan
, Bobby Cannavale
, Lily Collins
, Halsey
, Giancarlo Esposito