'MaXXXine' Delivers More Thought Than Trills
MaXXXine, the third film in Ti West's X trilogy, is a diabolically fun experience. The movie is both a message on the cruelty of the entertainment industry while being a darkly comedic horror movie. MaXXXine doesn't use the typical horror conventions. There are no scenes of the killer lurking just to deliver a jump scare. In fact, we don't see a lot of the kills in the film. Just the dead bodies. One thing I really admire about this film is that it's much more about the dark side of Hollywood than a typical slasher tale. MaXXXine could have easily been a film focusing on uncovering the killer's identity, but it takes a back seat toward developing Maxine's (Mia Goth) character.
When we first meet Maxine, she's a little girl on a home video her father is recording. She says she wants to be a star, while a large sign saying something about Jesus rests above her head, indicating the type of religious household Maxine grew up in. Defying all of the bibe-thumping from her hometown, Maxine becomes a porn star who's now in her mid-thirties. Unable to do porn forever, Maxine ventures out to Hollywood to become a movie star. When we cut to Maxine as an adult, she's in a casting session where she delivers a monologue with such conviction that it's easy to see Maxine has a lot of baggage she's carrying. Although Maxine wasn't auditioning for porn, she's asked to reveal her breasts. It's not a man who asks her to do it but a woman. In Hollywood, it's not just the males who are exploitative. Maxine might want to be an actress, and very well does earn her big break but it's at a cost.
Porno may not be the best industry, but Hollywood isn't much better. Maxine is incredibly mistreated by the director of the film she got cast in. Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) is a demanding, cruel person. She constantly belittles Maxine and threatens to fire her at one point. In one particular scene, Elizabeth is driving around the studio lot with Maxine as her passenger. Elizabeth tells Maxine that she has to be willing to do anything to stay in the industry, as everyone wants her job. Basically, she's telling Maxine not to screw up. If she's told to show her breasts, she must do so without hesitation. The sexual exploitation of women has been around from the beginning of Hollywood to today. At this point it's no secret anymore. The eighties were a particular time in which women were massively sexualized. Look at Porkys as a good example. Even Airplane! made a mockery of the amount of boobs that were shown in films at the time.
MaXXXine takes place in the 1980s, a time when everything was colorful and over the top. The film does a fine job introducing the audience to the era. There's an opening montage featuring Ronald Regan and other highlights from the 1980s. It was a time of excess, something Maxine couldn't get enough of. She certainly loves her cocaine. If working in Hollywood, a little bit of coke can help get you through a 15-18-hour workday.
In the opening news feeds is a story about a serial killer called the Night Stalker. The Night Stalker starts killing people Maxine knows, with her possibly being the next victim. Soon, Maxine gets mixed up in a series of murders. To help her find the Night Stalker is the FBI who plays up the film's more humorous bits. Detective Torres (Bobby Cannavale) acts like a fool at times, asking his partner if his acting is good when trying to convince Maxine to do anything.
Maxine is much more of a social commentary on Hollywood's misogyny than a horror movie. In fact, most of the film's best parts have nothing to do with the Night Stalker. When we find out who the Night Stalker is, it's a lame plot twist that I saw coming from a mile away. Thankfully, the film is much more of a character study than it is a dumb horror movie.
Maxine is the star-struck adult who can't get over her obsession with fame. So, she does whatever she can to stay in the spotlight. After landing her first big role in a horror movie, Maxine is hoping for her life to finally change so she can break from the poverty she lives in. By the film's end, the movie pays homage to Boogie Nights, where Maxine looks deeply at herself in the mirror, proclaiming, "I'm a star." The only difference is in Boogie Nights, Dirk Digler was addressing his exposed member in the mirror. Saying, "I'm a star," Where Maxine left the porn industry, Dirk Digler went back to it.
The biggest difference between Maxine and Dirk is that Maxine knows how to defend herself. There's one scene in particular where Maxine switches the tables on someone who's trying to knife her in an alley. Instead of succumbing to the scumbag's will, she points a gun at him, forcing him to strip and suck on the gun like it's, you know. It's her way of exercising the humiliation she felt from the film and porn industry. She's making a man do sexual things. A man who probably aimed to rape her. It's scenes like this that make Maxine a fascinating character to watch.
Ti West should be very proud; he's made a solid horror movie trilogy. MaXXXine may not be as good as Pearl, but it does tie with X. It stands on its own without needing to see the other two films for context. It's a grand finale to a fine horror trilogy that, for once, makes you care more about the main character instead of marking time for the killer to show up.
