Horror fans, prepare yourselves for the wildest and most meta-horror experience of the year. Ti West’s MaXXXine, the highly anticipated final installment of the X trilogy, is almost here, and it promises to be an absolute bloodbath.
For the uninitiated, MaXXXine continues the story of Maxine (the mesmerizing Mia Goth), the aspiring porn star who barely survived the grisly events of 2022’s X. Now it’s 1985, and Maxine has made her way to Los Angeles, hoping to truly make it big in the adult entertainment world.
However, terror doesn’t rest, and this time the threat comes in the form of the real-life Night Stalker serial killer, who seems to have taken a very personal interest in Maxine. As if that weren’t enough, the new trailer suggests Maxine will need to contend with seedy private eyes (Kevin Bacon), overzealous cops (Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale), and even a pretentious art-house director (Elizabeth Debicki).
What really sets MaXXXine apart is its unabashed meta-humor and loving homages to classic horror. The trailer cleverly opens with a fake trailer for the non-existent “The Puritan II” – a brilliant wink to A24’s breakout, The Witch. We then get tantalizing flashes of the Night Stalker leering at a strip club (very Dressed to Kill) and graphic violence splattering across stacks of retro VHS tapes (and what a great choice to use Laura Branigan’s Self Control as the trailer’s score!).
If X was a love letter to 70s grindhouse and the prequel Pearl was an ode to grisly 1910s melodrama, early buzz suggests MaXXXine will be West’s deliriously gory remix of 80s video nasties and Italian giallo (horror fans know what I’m harping on about). Recurring stars like Moses Sumney, Halsey, and Giancarlo Esposito seem primed for deliciously unhinged supporting turns.
Five years after blowing our minds with X, Ti West appears to have concocted an ultra-stylish, deeply deranged cinematic experience, one that simultaneously celebrates and eviscerates the shabby history of exploitation filmmaking.
You’ll be able to lose your head over MaXXXine when it unleashes its terrors in theaters on July 5. Consider this your final warning!
