Writer/Director Ti West’s MaXXXine is the end of a horror movie trilogy established by X and Pearl. However, what immediately stands out about this production is how it starts. MaXXXine’s first 25-ish minutes consist of seemingly standalone sequences that each would work fine as a cold open prologue. Protagonist Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) going out to an audition. A sequence where the camera glides through a peep show Minx is working in. An adolescent Minx getting her performances coached by her off-screen father in monochromatic home video footage. Individually, each of these scenes would work fine as a “special shoot” teaser trailer. Strung together, there’s no rhythm between these scenes. MaXXXine keeps starting, stopping, and then starting again without enough juicy campy entertainment to compensate for the wonky structure.
This strangely disjointed kick-off leads into a story following Minx, after the grisly events of X, trying to make it big as an actress in Hollywood. It seems like she’s finally got a big horror movie role that could launch her to stardom beyond the porno world, especially since director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) has taken a shine to her. However, Minx’s work associates and friends keep getting brutally murdered. A slasher villain is targeting Minx…and could it all be connected to how she slayed her way to survival in X? The glitz of Hollywood is about to collide with the harsh realities Minx has tried to escape her entire life.
Once the endless series of prologues are finished, the greatest takeaway MaXXXine instills is an unfortunate sense of “playing the hits”. With Pearl turning into the source of several famous memes, MaXXXine is now all too happy to deliver elements evoking that film and X. Minx’s biggest freak out sequences are an attempt to make the next “I’m a star!” happen. Characters keep delivering lengthy monologues in the vein of Pearl’s big single-take speech from Pearl. Those elements registered as entertainingly surprising in Pearl. Trying to recreate that magic in the bottle just deprives MaXXXine of its own unique energy. Opting to function as a 1980s horror pastiche further dilutes the idiosyncrasies of West’s latest creation. This era’s spooky material has been mined so much in the last decade. MaXXXine doesn’t score lots of exciting thrills with its approach to that epoch of horror cinema.
Despite these grave shortcomings, MaXXXine largely registers as a pleasantly entertaining diversion, especially whenever West gets his freak on. A big gnarly set piece where Maxine gets revenge on a would-be mugger is delightfully extreme. Practical effects work on the vicious kills are well-executed. A late dark gag involving a supporting character wandering around with a weapon lodged into one of her eyes makes for a memorable visual. Similarly, Kevin Bacon’s wildly stylized performance as a Southern-fried Private Eye is a hoot. His flowery line deliveries and cavalier attitude towards the carnage around him are qualities just bursting with personality.
Unfortunately, MaXXXine doesn’t quite provide enough slasher or giallo fun to evade the sense that something is missing. This motion picture is ultimately too straightforward an exercise to be chaotically frightening or great camp cinema. Most disappointingly, I wish MaXXXine had anything to say about sex work or even just West’s own relationship to pornography. Despite being the rare American film anchored by a sex worker protagonist, MaXXXine still uses, like so many movies, folks in this field largely as fodder for corpses. Cops get more screentime and backstory than other sex workers Maxine hangs out with. On-screen depictions of sexuality, meanwhile, don’t register with specificity. Why is a movie with XXX in its title so aloof from sexuality?
MaXXXine isn’t a terrible movie. It is, however, a prime example of a film where nothing on-screen is ever quite good enough to distract from the potential left on the table. Plus, Ti West insists on reminding viewers of superior productions like Pearl and countless 80s horror classics. The past isn’t done with Maxine Minx. Unfortunately, a too cozy relationship with the past hurts MaXXXine as a whole movie!
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