2024-07-08 16:01:00
As he concludes the X trilogy with MaXXXine – starring Mia Goth as a porn star on the hunt for a serial killer – the filmmaker explains how the demonization of heavy metal fans fueled his childhood imagination.
Monday 8 July 2024 2.00 in AEST
MaXXXine, the latest high-sleaze shocker from horror auteur Ti West, opens with a montage of archive footage harkening back to the satanic panic of the 80s. West’s X trilogy, which concludes MaXXXine, is concerned with America’s eternal conflict between old-school puritanism and the liberalization of social norms, and MaXXXine makes the matter clearer than ever. The film follows adult film star anti-hero Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) trying to make the leap into Hollywood during the height of “moral majority” conservatism in the mid-80s, while being pursued by a serial killer.
MaXXXine Review – a terrifying Hollywood tale of sex, death, fear and gloom
Growing up in Delaware in the 80s, West remembers being besieged by censorship that he would go on to curse. “I remember older siblings who were involved in heavy metal music were looked down upon, like, ‘Are they really bad people?'” he recalls. “I was like, ‘That’s my kids – if they’re bad, I’m screwed!'”
The X trilogy debuted in 2022 Xabout a group of amateur pornographers trying to film a Texas ranch in the 70s, and came to prominence later that year with the release of its 1918-set prequel Pearl, about a murderous farm girl who dreams of becoming a star. Each film was made for $1m – microscopic, even for the infamous horror genre – and made more than 10 times that at the box office. West directed, produced, wrote and edited all three films; they’re disturbing, loving genre pastiches with style and humor lit by gonzo Goth performances. I five star review of PearlThe Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called her “the Judy Garland of horror”.
The sordid side of Hollywood … MaXXXine. Photo: Justin Lubin
Goth succeeds in making Maxine and Pearl seem like pure strivers with an insatiable need for whatever it takes to achieve stardom. (The most famous of the many Pearl memes is a TikTok comment reading, “Pearl is so kind.”) “I think everyone relates to wishing you had a different life than the one you have,” says West.
The X trilogy goes around the boundaries known as “raised horror”, a fringe genre tag for films that eschew jump scares and gore in favor of sophisticated atmosphere and ideas. The term is generally associated with A24, the cult distributor whose “smart” horror films such as Hereditary and Midsummer unprecedented hits in the genre in recent years. Although A24 also releases the X movies, there is enough sleaze and violence in West’s series to satisfy old-school fans of the genre. If flying body parts aren’t your thing, better stay clear of MaXXXine.
Pearl Review – Mia Goth and Ti West fear storm in unusual pandemic horror
West says he feels “the labeling is silly” because so much classic horror plays on the psychological anxieties that “elevated horror” also considers, but he understands the use of the term. “I think it served its purpose for a while, [but] when you hear it now I feel like it’s a collective eyeroll for everyone,” he says. He also says that some horror movies are basically just jump scares, so they’re considered non-elevated because they’re just an activity for the audience. But it’s not like all those movies are completely dumb.”
Ready to get lost … Kevin Bacon in MaXXXine. Photo: Justin Lubin
One of the most remarkable things about MaXXXine is how West gets great actors – Bobby Cannavale as a buffoonish pothead and wannabe actor; Elizabeth Debicki as a horror director trying to make a “B-movie with A ideas” – to meet the film on its gutsy, sordid level. It is the best of all Kevin Bacon as a twisted southern private detective with gold teeth who pursues Maxine through seedy nightclubs and Hollywood backwaters – one series piece takes place on the Universal lot opposite Bates Motel Psycho. West says Bacon was “ready” to lose a little. “I think he was itching to do something like this, which is why he was the obvious choice for the role. I think he saw this as an opportunity to do the kind of acting he wanted to do.”
MaXXXine is essentially a movie about making movies, which West clearly loves. While the film exposes the bloodthirsty drive for stardom that Hollywood can incite, it does not show that the movie business is fundamentally corrupt. “I feel like a realist about Hollywood,” he says. “It’s fair to be cynical about it to a certain extent, but I don’t think it’s useful. Show business is an impersonal and fairly cutthroat business, and it’s always changing. If you’re lucky enough to have a day when you’re praised for something, you have to enjoy it while it’s there.”
Like his characters, he remains obsessed with the power of Tinseltown’s promise. “Hollywood is one of those places where people feel like you could go there at any moment and be discovered and change your life,” says West. “That’s not true for 99.9% of them – but for the 0.1% of people it’s happened, so it keeps the dream alive. There’s something magical about that.”
• MaXXXine is in UK cinemas
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