“I will not accept a life that I don’t deserve.”
This has been Maxine Minx’s mantra since her debut in Ti West’s retro slasher X. When MaXXXine, the conclusion to the X trilogy, kicks off six years later, she is still living by it. Having escaped from the events of X, deliciously dubbed the Texas Porn Star Massacre, Maxine is now a bonafide sex symbol living in Los Angeles. Having taken the adult world by storm, she now seeks that coveted cross-over role into the mainstream.
Mia Goth’s performance showcases the trauma and tragedy that lurk within fame through a steely resolve and non-stop desire to get the life she wants. She survived that harrowing ordeal on the farm and has used it to blaze her path forward. Goth’s performance here is more subtle than her leading turn in Pearl, the trilogy’s second entry, but there’s red-hot emotion that burns in her throughout.
The chickens of Maxine’s past have come home to roost though and they mainly do so via the southern-fried charm of Kevin Bacon’s Detective John Labat. His performance manages to channel both Benoit Blanc and the Tasmanian Devil, creating a mangy, golden-fanged gentleman who shines whenever he’s on screen.
What follows is an odyssey through the grimy streets and smoke-stained backrooms of 1980s Hollywood. Tension and fear crackle around the city as a series of murders are taking place, targeting starlets and harlots alike. With the Satanic Panic in full effect, protestors and sycophants haunt the Hollywood streets and back-alley filming lots. A grainy haze of yellow and gold lingers throughout the film, bringing to mind the hallucinatory hopes and dreams of Pearl combined with the gritty reality of X. The allusions and references to the two movies that lead up to MaXXXine are not as heavy-handed as Pearl’s nods to its predecessor, but they’re still there for the keen-eyed viewer looking for easter eggs.
Director Ti West loses his grip a bit in the third act as MaXXXine’s tone leans fully into the campy aspects of the revenge fantasy and exploitation films of the era in which it’s set. The plot’s mysteries are too easy to deduce for those paying attention, and West seems more keen on fun than nuance.
The rest of the cast rounds out the picture wonderfully. Elizabeth Debicki is cold and collected as the determined filmmaker seeking to unite A-level ideas with B-level movies. Giancarlo Esposito portrays Maxine’s sleazy agent-cum-lawyer who would be just as at home in Atlantic City as Los Angeles. Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan are LAPD murder police who are looking to put an end to the ritualistic murders taking place, and their presence provides a dash of buddy-cop comedy to West’s bubbling cauldron of 80s cinema.
Fans of the first two X films will undoubtedly enjoy the finale, with opinions sure to be split on how well Ti West sticks the landing. What MaXXXine indisputably does is cement Mia Goth’s status as horror’s premier scream queen. This may be the last we hear from Maxine Minx but now, we all know her name.