I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theater, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. This time we turn our attention to A24 and their new release of the Ti West Trilogy on Blu-ray.
“I will not accept a life I do not deserve.”
In 2022 writer and director Ti West gave horror fans the gift of the one/two horror punch of the films X and Pearl. From those two films came the rise of Mia Goth, who has since become horror royalty. I’ve been a big fan of Ti West ever since 2009 when I saw The House of the Devil. I adore that film, to the point where I have a Mondo poster of it hanging in my living room, and then he did The Innkeepers, which for me cemented his awesomeness, and that he wasn’t simply a fluke. When you look at his filmography and you watch his films, you can see the man has talent, but for some reason he’s not a bigger name in the industry. But I feel like that’s going to change soon, and it seems like A24 knows that West can deliver the goods, especially when you consider that they are releasing the X, Pearl, and Maxxine trilogy in this gift set.
X (2022)
“You know how some people react when it comes to sex.”
The film starts with a scene that feels lifted straight out of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We have the police responding to a bloodbath in a house that looks a lot like that Texas massacre house did, with the bloodbath to rival that classic film. Then we jump back 24 hours and see how it all began. Mia Goth starts her iconic role of Maxine here, joining a guerrilla troop of porn filmmakers who set out in a van to an isolated farmhouse they rented where they can shoot without the worry of intrusion. Well … at least that was the theory, anyway.
Martin Henderson plays the fast-talking Wayne, who is the brains of the operation, for what that’s worth. Slicker than the best used car salesman, he has his crew hyped up to hit the big time. That includes Loraine (Ortega), who handles sound, and her partner R.J. (Campbell), who is the “genius” cameraman. Bobby-Lynne (Snow) is the experienced starlet, and Jackson (Cudi) is the stud of the film. It’s called The Farmer’s Daughters, and Maxine is along because she believes she’s already a star and headed for big things. The only thing this crew is going to get, however, is a cascade of messy deaths. You see, Howard (Ure) who rented them the space isn’t really happy to find out who and what they are. He’s also very protective of his equally elder wife, Pearl. I won’t tell you who plays Pearl, but it becomes pretty evident by the end of the film. What we get here is a day of shooting some hot and heavy porn and a night of slaughter. We already know what the morning looks like.
Most of this we’ve really seen before, and there isn’t anything new here. What West gives us is really a love letter to the classic slasher films of the 70’s and 80’s. The film takes place in 1979, and while West is shooting on digital, he does a pretty solid job of making the film look and feel like it was made in the 70’s. He reproduces the look of the filmstock with its desaturated colors and even some grain, although I don’t buy it quite as much. It looks like the kind of exploitation and grindhouse films that the movie pays homage to.
Pearl (2022)
“What are you doing here, Mr. Goose?”
X was still in production when Ti West and Mia Goth started to collaborate on a script for a prequel to the film. He got the second film greenlit before he even finished production on the first. Maybe Ti west has a little Wayne in him.
Once you’ve seen X, you will understand immediately why Mia Goth was perfect to play the woman in her younger years. This time it’s 1918, and war and disease are about to kill over 25% of the population of the world. West embraces his new material with the same passion he did to the 1970’s. This film opens very much like a huge MGM film of the 1940’s and 50’s. Pearl comes out of the shoot like a copy of Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz. West creates the illusion that this is going to be a bright, feel-good movie, but if you saw the first film, you know that’s not the way it’s going to play out.
Pearl (Goth) is a young farm girl married to a man who is fighting what would later be called World War I. Her father is an invalid trapped in his wheelchair, and her mother is a strict Puritan kind of woman who corrects her frequently, trying to literally kill the dreams she has of being a star. Sound familiar? The film echoes many of the lines from the first film. As the movie runs along, we get to see a darker and darker heart growing in Pearl, so the bloody results are going to be somewhat expected. The film is also notable for including future Superman David Corenswet as a movie projectionist who befriends the star-blinded young woman. One of the best running “jokes” here is how Pearl befriends a local gator to help her get rid of unwanted problems and will play a part later in X, which of course actually came earlier.
West now uses a production design that is very colorful. Colors are bright and vivid; they are quite over-saturated in contrast to what things looked like in X. He also has a flair for iconic images. There is a scene with Pearl and a scarecrow that stands out to me as one of the more impressive moments in the trilogy. You can also see that Mia Goth is actually gaining the confidence as a real person that these characters search for in the trilogy. She comes more fully into her own here, and part of that could well be that she collaborated on the script, unlike the other two films.
Maxxxine (2024)
“Do you know what happened to the last person who tried to kill me? I crushed her f’in head.”
by Brent Lorentson
It has been six years since the events at the farmhouse in X unfolded, and Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) has moved on to Hollywood to pursue her dreams of being a star. Things seem to be looking up for Maxine as we watch her nail an audition in the opening scene, though it seems she’s still dancing and doing adult films … oh, and cocaine; yeah, she’s doing a lot of cocaine, but that’s just part of the charm of the 80s, right? The opening credits really set the tone of the film as we see news headlines of the time and a big focus on the Night Stalker, the serial killer who was terrorizing the citizens of Los Angeles at the time when the Satanic Panic was also at its peak and conservatives were fighting against Hollywood and the music industry. When I say Ti West captures this moment in time, it’s not a flashy neon-clean version of 1985; his version has grime and sleaze and feels dangerous.
It turns out Maxine does get the part she auditioned for, and it is for the lead part in a sequel to a successful film called The Puritan. The film is being directed by Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki). She’s a director who is looking to make more than just a sequel; she wants to be treated as a serious artist. She makes it clear that she’s taking a risk by casting Maxine due to her adult film past, but she acknowledges that she sees talent in her. Part of me wishes we got more with these two together, especially because of the time period and these strong women both able to see the drive and hunger to succeed, you can see how these two would bond … but this isn’t that kind of film. The only real male friend in Maxine’s life is Leon (Moses Sumney), who works at a video store next to her apartment. We are quickly reminded what kind of film this is when Maxine finds a videotape on her doorstep that reveals someone knows about her violent past, and to make matters worse, someone is killing her friends. If you are worried Maxine may have lost her edge and is going to just play victim, trust me, Maxine has not lost her edge, and we see that when she confronts a mugger.
This film is bigger in star power that we see throughout the film. Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan play a pair of homicide detectives who are investigating murders that may or may not be connected to the Night Stalker. Giancarlo Esposito plays Maxine’s entertainment lawyer, Teddy Night, who deserves a film of his own … He may not have a lot of screen time, but he’s so much fun every time we see him on screen. Then there is Kevin Bacon playing the ultimate sleazeball private detective, John Labat. OK, you know that when people say “so and so steals a movie” most times I kind of just roll my eyes, but what Kevin Bacon does here is on another level. Oh, and when his nose gets broken and we later see him dressed and looking like Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, OK, I friggin loved that. Then there is the studio backlot; this is almost a character of its own. The Psycho references from X have their payoff here.
Is the killer targeting Maxine to get her off the picture, or is it all a coincidence? Who hired John Labat to find Maxine? These are the big questions in the film, and with the scope of this film being so big, I feel the only part that disappointed me was that I wanted more time with all the separate plots going on and with all the characters we are introduced to. This easily could have been stretched out to a limited series. The film is simply so rich with material it had me craving more … like the stuff with Leon at his video store. I would have loved to see him dealing with customers, and he even gets a bit of a story of his own, but we don’t see it go anywhere. Though, I get it, the film can’t be three hours long, and it’s better to want more and be happy rather than feel like you watched something that was bloated and unfulfilled.
Now the film is kind of marketed as a slasher, but I’m not quite sure that’s a fair description. I can’t help but feel this had elements of the Giallo films of the 80s, but also a bit of Brian De Palma and a slew of other films like Crimes of Passion and Mrs. 45, and then throw in some elements of the Satanic Panic films, and this film was the result. This film is definitely its own film and stands out from the previous two, and that’s what I love most about this franchise. Each film has its own style, and what things you’re into might factor into which film you like more than the others.
You get the three discs with the extras ported over from the previous releases. You also get a nice booklet that brings provides wonderful background. It’s all in a sturdy case that secures the discs well and will hold up for the long haul. The trilogy will make a great gift to slide up under someone’s tree. Hopefully you’ll stick around because it’s going to be a scream. Do that and “You certainly have everyone’s attention”.
