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 (072524)
Maxxxine is a scary, suspenseful, and well-crafted horror film that recalls the
psychosexual thrillers of the 80s. It would be considered a slasher film by most
viewers which is one of the genres that is least respected by critics. But
saying it’s just a slasher film is like saying Once Upon a Time in the West is
just another spaghetti western or The Wild One is just a biker film. Like those
films in many ways Maxxxine rises above and transcends its disreputable genre.
Ti West, the director of Maxxine, is without question one of the better examples
of the new generation of fright film makers. Martin Scorsese greatly admires
West’s work and has repeatedly praised it. And after seeing Maxxxine, he said
“Ti West shows his love of cinema in every frame.”
In addition to directing, West also produced and edited Maxxxine. He started out
doing the proudly retro House of the Devil (you can see my interview with that
film’s star, Mary Woronov at
www.artinterviews.org), and he also did the other films in the X
trilogy . He owes stylistic debts to Alfred Hitchcock, and Michael Powell
(specifically Peeping Tom), and the Italian Giallo master, Dario Argento. But
his biggest influence is obviously Brian De Palma and this film would fit right
nicely in a film festival featuring Dressed to Kill (80), Blow Out (81) and Body
Double (84).
Maxxxine is the third and presumably final film in the X series although there
are rumors that Ti West wants to use some of the characters again in the future.
The first film in the trilogy,
X
from 2022, introduced the porn performer protagonist, Maxine Minx and Mia
Goth plays both her and the elderly serial killer. She transformed herself so
completely in the film that I did not guess she played both roles until I saw
the credits.
The second film,
Pearl
(also 2022) which I think was the best in the series is a prequel which
jumps way back in time and shows the origin story of the killer, Pearl, from the
first film. Finally, Maxxxine, which is a sequel to
X,
shows the title heroine trying to cross over into a mainstream horror film while
she is being investigated by police, harassed by a detective, and stalked by a
killer. She encounters disrespect because of her past and former profession, but
she hopes to rise in her station.
One of the things that makes the X series so special is that Ti West doesn’t
just give us a good horror film, he takes us on a tour of film history morphing
his style in a way that is appropriate to go with the content and time period of
each film.
X
was shot like a 70s grind house film;
Pearl
looks like a Technicolor melodrama (which goes with its Wizard of Oz allusions)
and Maxxine looks like an 80s psycho-sexual thriller with the same kind of
garish colors and exaggerated scenes of violence. The films in the trilogy work
best if you see then in the order they were released.
The film stars Mia Goth (her birth name was Mia Gypsy Mello de Silvia Goth) who
is arguably the current reigning queen of horror films although Maika Monroe who
was in It Follows, Watcher and the current Longlegs is giving her some serious
competition. So far, she has been in the Suspiria remake (2018) which was much
better than I expected, the groundbreaking
Infinity Pool (2023) as well as the X
trilogy (2022-2024). West said he liked to use the actress because like her
character she is naturally unpredictable. She is also still slated to play
Lilith, the vampire queen in the long planned 2025 Blade film and the bride of
the monster in the upcoming Frankenstein film which will be directed by
Guillermo Del Toro. At this point I would eagerly watch a dog food commercial if
Mia Goth was in it. Goth is not super glamorous or aristocratic like Grace
Kelly. Although she is photogenic, she would never stand out in crowds and her
very ordinary beauty makes her relatable. In this film she is a likeable albeit
rather ruthless everywoman who could represent any struggling person with
artistic aspirations who wants to rise above their station. Because of the
can-do attitude of the main character in the film, and her determination to
succeed in show biz, a New York Times critic referred to Mia Goth as “the Judy
Garland of horror.”
The film suggests that you might have to do anything to get ahead in Hollywood
including horrible things, and the film proves the validity of the Bette Davis
quote in the beginning of the film, “Until you are known in my profession as a
monster, you are not a star.” We sympathize with Maxxxine even after she does
monstrous acts because in watching her, we see the monstrous side of ourselves
that could come out from our ambition.
The character of Maxine always shows much determination and gumption. The mantra
she repeats throughout the film is “I will not have a life I do not deserve.”
When she leaves an audition, brimming with confidence, she tells the other
actresses who auditioned. “Y’all might as well go home-I f***king nailed that.”
This inversely parallels a similar scene from
Pearl
in which Pearl (played by Goth) totally blows a scene in a rehearsal and ruins
her big chance which drove her further into insanity and evil.
The side characters are also great and they are interesting enough to carry
their own films including John Labat who has a really exaggerated Louisiana
accent (when I went there no one talked like that) . Kevin Bacon, who often
plays a decent guy (see the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special) plays
John, one of the most instantly loathsome and repulsive characters in recent
cinema. He is as bad as Sean Penn’s slimy lawyer character in Carlito’s Way. You
could look at either character or immediately think “he’s scum.”
Another fine character in the film is the smart and tough-as-nails director, of
the film Maxxxine is working on. Elizabeth (perfectly played by Elizabeth
Debicki) is as determined to succeed as Maxxxine and she becomes a kind of
mentor to her. When Maxxxine comes late to a shoot after her past catches up
with her, Elizabeth says, “This is the defining role in your career. Whatever’s
going on in your life that is interfering you need to squash it." Also there are
two delightful police characters, Detective Williams and Tores (Michael Monaghan
and Bobby Canavale). In the film they are supposed to be real cops but they act
sound and look and interact with each other just like police in old cop shows
like Silk Stalkings.
The film also has a likeable tech savvy sidekick character named Leon (Moses
Sumney) who works in a video store below Maxxxine’s apartment. He’s a lot like
the geeky tech wizard in Dressed to Kill or the John Travolta character in Blow
Out. He provides info Maxxxine needs to solve the mystery and plays a similar
role as those characters and they always seem to represent the directors in some
way.
The film starts six years after the events of
X
and Maxxxine is still traumatized by the slaughter that she witnessed in that
film. In the other film Maxxxine was making a porn film when all of the crew
except her were killed by a homicidal elderly couple and she ended up (like
Jammie Lee Curtis) as ”the last girl.”
Maxxxine takes place in the 80s during a period when films were becoming
increasingly violent. There was a kind of moral panic surrounding horror films
(fundamentalist protesters are shown picketing the film), and there was an
increase in censorship attempts from the religious right in the form of the
moral majority.
As the movie goes on, we see hints that someone is stalking Maxxxine who knows
all about her past. For instance, she receives some anonymous footage of the
cabin where the massacre happened from
X
on a VHS tape, but no one should know about that because there were no apparent
survivors.
Maxxxine’s stripper friend, Tabby Martin (played by pop star, Halsey) appears to
get a break when she gets invited to a big producer’s house but she never comes
back. Meanwhile bodies begin to pile up as the mysterious night stalker killer
begins to knock off all of Maxine’s friends. Since the killer leaves pentagrams
on the murdered bodies the police suspect he is an occultist but he also seems
to know things about Maxxxine’s past no one should know.
Because of its gore, the voyeuristic characters, and the porn star heroine the
film often evokes Body Double, This is particularly obvious when in a bar scene
that has dance number with flashing lights just like one of the best scenes in
Body Double. The film plays a new version of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax
which was also used in a similar scene in Body Double (84). But unlike Body
Double this has a more modern and assertive adult star female heroine who is not
a mere victim. Maxxxine has guts and is very proactive and she never takes a
back seat to anyone, and she reaches a level of self-actualization that most
female horror characters never reached in the 80s. She is more like Buffy
Summers, Ripley or Furiosa, than Holly Body the porn star last girl in Body
Double (who was immortalized by Melanie Grifith) or the passive female victims
(played by Janet Leigh and Sylvia Miles) in Psycho.
The film is a meta-horror film which often expertly messes with the audience’s
perception of reality. Since the premise has a horror film being shot with real
murders going on in the background sometimes the audience can’t tell what’s
happening is real within the movie or if it is occurring in the film within the
film. At one point a dead ringer for Buster Keaton stalks Mia Goth and you think
it must be in the film because it looks so contrived, outrageous and artificial
but it ends up being real I can almost imagine Ty West triumphantly yelling
“fooled you” after finishing the scene.
Although it does not have aspirations of being high art horror film like
Hereditary, Maxxxine is an invigorating and consistently enjoyable piece of
cinematic sleaze. There are scenes in the film that made me smile inside for
days, and I think I would be able to re-watch his film in ten or 20 years, and
still have a perfectly good time.
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