Repeat Offenders Section Editor, Nic Chang, reviews MaXXXine, the conclusion to Ti West’s horny and unhinged retro horror X trilogy, which doesn’t quite succeed as a murder-mystery and a navigation of fame and stardom in 1980s Los Angeles.
Ti West has always had a thing for retro horror, for better or for worse. What began as a restrained throwback to 1970s exploitation horror, successfully transitioning from hangout vibes to realistically grim slasher set-pieces, unfolded into a series around stardom, fame and desire, explored through differing eras. Pearl solidified West’s intentions through the origin story of its titular character in 1910s America, whose dreams of stardom and abusive family life led her towards a murderous rampage (and the eventual farmhouse massacre in X).
Whereas MaXXXine is as similarly retro as its predecessors, aiming to recreate pure giallo vibes for its 1980s Los Angeles setting, West is going for something different. The contained nature of X and Pearl has expanded towards a larger scale, clearly in West’s attempts to target Hollywood. To an extent, he succeeds in capturing the sleaze and glamour lurking underneath the showbiz industry. His passion for retro horror could not be much clearer. But without the simplicity of his setup or the artful nuance of his craftmanship, West’s focus isn’t exactly clear in MaXXXine, and he opts for bigger swings that ultimately harm the film to its detriment.
After surviving the massacre of an amateur porn shoot at a Texas farmhouse in 1979, adult star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) is aspiring to become an actress. In 1985, she auditions for a role in Elizabeth Bender’s (Elizabeth Debicki) new horror film, The Puritan II, and successfully lands the role, finally landing Maxine the big break in Hollywood she’s desired. Although Maxine is prepared for the difficulties ahead of her, she remains haunted by her past. Simultaneously, a serial killer, dubbed The Night Stalker by mainstream media, is committing a string of murders targeting Hollywood starlets throughout Los Angeles, whose presence not only threatens to cross paths with Maxine but may possibly expose her past.
As a finale that could’ve made West’s X trilogy a great one, MaXXXine is nothing short of frustrating. From a visual standpoint, West has done his homework in translating the feeling of a giallo into a modern horror film. His use of neon lights and film grain fuel the late-night sleaze of the gritty streets of Los Angeles. West’s sense of mood and place remain undeterred, resulting in great production design, and yet it lacks tension, even in the promising first hour. Unfortunately, West too often prioritises its status as a gorgeous pastiche instead of telling a compelling narrative. Not only does he neglect thematically rich opportunities but his messy storytelling cannot keep up with the larger scale of MaXXXine, and there comes a point where the visual aesthetics end up feeling like window dressing.
Its disappointments are only enhanced by how it intrigues from its setup. While Maxine isn’t quite the compelling character that West makes her out to be, you can’t help but feel interested in her journey through Hollywood and how her arc continues the franchise’s recurring themes of stardom and fame. But then we meet her colleagues, Tabby Martin (Halsey) and Amber James (Chloe Farnworth), where we become reminded of Maxine’s past, and how she tries to balance her navigation of the film industry against who she is. Once the narrative doesn’t need them, West dispatches them with utter dispassion. Then we have the director of The Puritan II, Elizabeth Bender, a strong, resilient woman who fought her way to the top of Hollywood and never relented from the sexism around her. Unless she’s offering words of wisdom to Maxine, she doesn’t have a larger part in the narrative. Then we have Teddy Knight (Giancarlo Esposito), an agent for the film industry whose only memorable aspect is how he shares Breaking Bad’s Gus Frings’s stern, intimidating frown. But there’s this private detective, John Labat (Kevin Bacon), who keeps following Maxine because he knows her past and threatens to expose her—oh wait, he’s just running silly, serving as nothing more than a bumbling, over-the-top threat that fails to fuel the larger stakes at hand.
And that’s not even all of the characters that keep taking up too much screen time. We have Leon (Moses Sumney), a video store employee who knows his cinema, and seems to provide Maxine an emotional balance. But he’s barely in it for long because West doesn’t know how to alleviate his narrative purpose. Next, we have Maxine’s colleague, Molly (Lily Collins) from the set of The Puritan II, who does nothing more than hold a silent, exaggerated and yet corny scream of terror while in-character. Finally, we have a detective duo, Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Torres (Bobby Cannavale), that seems plucked out from a generic 80s buddy comedy. The only mildly interesting element about Torres is his incompetence in his acting and how he reflects on failing in Hollywood, a theme left ultimately unexplored, while Williams is… just there in the background. And then the two characters only become useful in a left-field climactic shootout that West fails to earn.
If you thought reading those two paragraphs was exhausting (much like how I wrote them), wait until you see how they culminate throughout MaXXXine’s underwhelming narrative. Its biggest failure is that it has no idea what to do with its characters. So many storylines compete for attention that it comes at the cost of Maxine’s arc. How she may be corrupted by Hollywood, by her dreams or by her traumatic past makes little difference, for West struggles to create any meaningful character moments or depth, and the complete lack of narrative balance means that his thematic ambitions ultimately exceed his grasp. Because of his careless handling of character arcs, it leaves the genre elements feeling underexplored. MaXXXine stresses its nature as a murder mystery by shoehorning its connection to The Night Stalker, only to operate with such first-draft energy that it leaves you little time to consider its possible clues or suspects. It’s never as interesting as it possibly could be, only to sink to further lows with a disastrous act.
It was only halfway through that I guessed who the culprit was, and I had my fingers crossed in the theatre, hoping West would be too smart not to go for that decision. But he did. And it’s the dullest route he chose in attempts to explore the Satanic panic context underneath Los Angeles. If that’s not the final nail in the coffin, then it’s the way that MaXXXine delivers non-existent pay-offs to storylines with sluggish energy and surface-level depths, and also how it often relegates Maxine to the background in the process. Did I also forget to mention the tonally conflicting, out-of-the-blue shootout that occurs too? And what on earth could have compelled West to make these creative decisions? Was he going for camp? Because if so, why not commit the whole way? Why neglect any sense of stakes too? Was he paying more attention to how gooey the kills looked or how cool the 80s were? WHY, WEST? I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU, WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!
At least Mia Goth remains credible throughout these films. In case it wasn’t clear enough in X, Goth wanted you to know she was a fucking movie star in Pearl, and what a delightfully unhinged performance that was. By playing these two characters on similarly emotional wavelengths throughout this franchise, her performance demonstrates the seemingly confident, unshaken persona that Maxine inhabits to suppress her trauma, crafting an ideal image of the all-American girl that Hollywood, and the world, desires. Young, blonde and gorgeous, but also a great screamer and a badass final girl, transcending beyond the genre clichés seemingly set up for her. Not only does she make Maxine a convincing character and hard-working actress capable of creating star power beyond her reputation in the adult industry, but she radiates with such exuberance and energy that anytime MaXXXine shifts away from her, it loses its pulse. And too often it loses that, even when Kevin Bacon and Giancarlo Esposito are having enough fun to try and carry the film on their backs.
Instead of delivering a great third film (and a bold finale), West’s MaXXXine proves that the third time isn’t as charming. Goth proves herself as the star she will always be, and there may be gorgeous visuals, retro aesthetics and slick-looking practical effects, but those do not make a good movie. Even when he tries to take risks, West seems unsure where to take his narrative on a bigger scale, and since that doesn’t suit his script, MaXXXine wanders and lumbers without a refined purpose until it concludes on a weak note. Maybe this is what West intended all along, and good for him if that was his true vision all along, but I will not accept a bad film I do not deserve and that’s what MaXXXine is. Disappointing.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
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