MaXXXine

MaXXXine Minx is an adult film star, but she wants to take the next step in her career and is aiming for the lead role in an upcoming horror film. But succeeding in a Hollywood filled with madmen, serial killers and violence won't be easy. Especially when her past comes to mind. Ti West has conceived the final installment of his trilogy as a great homage to the 80s and the brainy thrillers and horror films of that era, and has uncompromisingly subordinated everything to it. Anyone expecting a traditional thriller with light genre games is in for a bummer. MaXXXine isn't afraid to be a wild, ridiculous and bizarre B-movie. And it certainly doesn't try to be cute. But it's undoubtedly interesting not just to fans of what West is paying homage to here. (09.07.2024)

The conclusion of the  X / Pearl / MaXXXine trilogy starts out promisingly and delights the viewer with its insidiously sinister tone, horror distastefulness, 1980s-style audiovisual aspect and setting in Hollywood movie studios, but the depiction of a Satanic cult and the impression made by the point drags the film down into the realm of lazy and cheap bullshit that fans of the series don’t want. Furthermore, the film does not in any way utilize the presence of the infamous "Night Stalker" (see the excellent Netflix documentary), who is mentioned only in news reports. [Karlovy Vary International Film Festival] (07.07.2024)

The worst of the loose trilogy and three levels lower than the previous and excellent Pearl. It's as if Ti West ran out of ideas and Mia Goth in the producer's chair didn't help. It has no pizzazz, not a single memorable scene, no visual ideas. The insane 80s atmosphere is minimally exploited, and if it was at least as dull as the typical slashers of the era, I'd say to myself "good, West pays homage skillfully". Except the gore and murders are almost absent, the whole thing is devoid of wit and suspense, and the director does try to make a point, but it's pulled out of his ass with the whole "cult" thing, and I just shook my head during the shootout by the pool. Kevin Bacon makes a couple of unnecessary appearances, and his role is fades out in a few minutes, and Goth, whose performance in Pearl had me in a trance, bored me here. If only West had at least included the Night Stalker, who is mentioned throughout the film, but no way. It almost feels like West and the crew just wanted to fool around with the camera and conceived the whole thing in a lazily, half-assed and half-throttled manner. (26.08.2024)

Ti West completed his trilogy of horror movies starring Mia Goth with a spectacular ultra-pastiche that in a certain respect not only tops off the series and the director’s filmography to date, but also the entire filmmaking tradition of decadent genres. Since time immemorial, all trash filmmakers have longed for acceptance and recognition, which means studio facilities and shooting in Hollywood. West’s trilogy about the alluring nature of filmmaking and promises of fame ends there. The director absolutely delights in the eclectic composition of allusions and references. His film radiates enthusiasm for the high and the low, thus setting side by side allusions ranging from porn to Chinatown, from American trash to giallo, and from Psycho to The Long Goodbye. Taking full advantage of the fulfilled dream of making his film under the wing of the celebrated Universal Studios, he stages a fannish tour of not only iconic locations in L.A., but mainly Universal’s outdoor sets. In so doing, he recalls the VHS era, highlights genre movies made by ambitious female directors and settles accounts with the religionists and moralists who protested against trash filmmakers and their works in the 1980s. However MaXXXine still primarily remains a hedonistic genre fantasy that doesn’t aim for historical accuracy (e.g. female directors were given room to work by Corman, not by the major studios). The main denominator here is the filmmaker’s own joy and, ideally, that of viewers having the same mindset. We could reach for the word Tarantino-esque, but that would be inadequate and limiting in any case. Because whereas Tarantino makes ultimate paraphrases of his favourite genres by ingeniously twisting iconic moments with his screenwriting, West outright composes an enthusiastic tribute that makes do with a fetishistic reconstruction that isn’t much more sophisticated than its inspirations in terms of screenwriting, but is joyfully informed by those films and enthusiastically revels in the possibilities that present themselves (which is perfectly confirmed by the closing vanity shot). (30.06.2024)

Ti West once again convincingly fetishizes the horror subgenre of yesteryear, unfortunately this time I have a bit of a problem with it, because this particular slice of horror (80s trash set in the streets of a big city) is not one of my favorites. I guess subjectively I would have much preferred if MaXXXine had a more prominent role for the giallo elements that it is partly based on. I can tolerate a sleazy thriller with a charmingly demented satanic panic twist, but it won't become my favourite. And even though it's pleasantly refreshing in specific moments, uncompromising and, for all its stupidity, nicely contrived, the various motifs fit together meaningfully. (16.07.2024)