PopHorror Let's Get Scared
For non-genre fans, Ti West suddenly burst onto the scene with the sleazy, Texas Chain Saw-esque slasher film X. But for those of us who have been following the horror director’s career the whole time, West’s fame is long overdue and very welcome.
The first Ti West film I saw was the 2009 under-the-radar release, The House of the Devil. I immediately loved it, and it’s since become one of my favorite films. Nobody has captured the ‘80s quite as well as West does in this film. It’s not the neon-soaked, hairsprayed, glittery decade of decadence that many movies portray it as.
This film really got the vibe. Understated and low-key, it’s a well-paced suspense story about a college student who thinks she’s accepting a harmless babysitting job. As the movie careens toward the cultish climax, it ratchets up the dread until culminating in a terrifying conclusion.
It’s such a well-done film that I couldn’t wait to seek out more of West’s work. He also popped in to direct a segment of VHS (2012) and wrote and directed the Eli Roth-produced found footage religious movie, The Sacrament (2013).
However, the next movie from West that really solidified my fandom was 2011’s The Innkeepers. The true definition of a slow burn, this movie focuses on two employees of a closing inn on its final weekend. The duo considers themselves amateur ghost hunters who have long desired to see the spirits that supposedly haunt the old inn.
West took a break from films for a few years and smoothly segued into television, helming standout episodes of hit spooky shows like MTV’s Scream and Amazon’s Them. Then, finally, he was back in a BIG way! West’s triple-threat trilogy is definitely unforgettable and sure to cement its place in modern horror history.
The movie X was on the table as an A24 release back in 2020 but because of Covid, the film was pushed to come out in 2022. That was a blessing in disguise for us horror fans because it gave West (and his star and co-writer, Mia Goth) the time to scrawl a script that would serve as a sequel to X, fleshing out one of its most compelling characters, Pearl (in a dual performance by Goth that still blows my mind).
As a standalone film, X is, well, excellent. Once again, Ti West is the master of capturing an era – a feeling – and making it seem so realistic. The tawdry feel of the ‘70s is so authentic I can practically feel the polyester. The movie focuses on a group of low-budget porn stars and strippers who rent out a cabin to create their own movie, much to the disgust of the elderly couple, Pearl and Howard, who own the property. Specifically, Pearl, who has a personal bone to pick with these wannabe sex symbols – in her own homicidal way.
The kills are incredible, the cinematography is perfect, and you can’t help but fall in love with Maxine, a girl who grew up in a sheltered religious household. Though Maxine is an adult entertainer, she has her sights set much higher – she wants to be a famous movie star!
The movie pays homage to Tobe Hooper’s classic film more than once with shades of ‘daytime horror’ (which I personally love – horrifying events that happen in broad daylight, a device Rob Zombie also employed in The Devil’s Rejects) along with ‘exploitation.’ The film also sticks to the classic slasher formula, complete with a sweaty, exhausted, but totally triumphant badass babe who survives the slaughter.
Of course, the plucky, blue-eyeshadowed Maxine is our final girl after one last exquisite kill, and as Maxine flees the scene before police discover the blood-soaked bodies, you can’t help but wonder, well, where she’s heading next. Fortunately, we’d get to find out.
I think what I love the most about this film is the underlying themes regarding aging and youth. You see Pearl reeling from her unrealized dreams. She’s envious of the young, beautiful actors with their whole lives ahead of them, enjoying sex, being free, and doing all the things she can’t do anymore. It makes Pearl a sympathetic character, even though she’s a completely unhinged murderer!
I love a killer I want to root for with a complex back story. Though in horror, we all love our killers, but how many of them are really empathetic? How many are you really hoping to see at the end of the film, still alive to menace young people in another installment?
Ti West truly created some special characters in Maxine and Pearl. The second film of the series is a completely different experience! Set in the Golden Age of film, 2022’s Pearl , filmed right on the back of X, takes us on a journey to where it all began for a starstruck young woman who dreams of the glamour and glitz of Hollywood. The tone is vibrant, rich, and stunning, immersing you in the colorful world of classic cinema.
We get to watch Pearl unravel as she fails to reach her goals of stardom and realizes she is stuck in her life – caring for her invalid father, waiting for her husband to return from the war, and listening to the verbal abuse her strict German mother dishes out.
It’s easy to see that Pearl didn’t really start out playing with a full deck, and as the film progresses, you see her sanity further crumble. Goth’s performance is the cornerstone of these films, and I think she deserves an armful of awards for this film. The seven-minute monologue at the end grabs your attention as Pearl unloads her emotional burden, ending the perfectly-acted soliloquy with a face-breaking grin that lasts for three tense minutes.
This movie is so perfect, so beautiful, so sad, and so utterly horrifying. The last film in the trilogy, Maxxxine, was released in July 2024. Almost a noir-style thriller, this film follows savvy survivor Maxine to Los Angeles to become the star she’s always dreamed of, leaving porn behind for the big-time.
West does what he seems to do best (aside from writing and directing near-perfect films, of course) which is create a world and let it envelop the viewer, make characters so genuine they seem real, and take us on a wild ride through the ‘80s at the same time that the Night Stalker was preying on the women of Hollywood in a terrifying killing spree that sent the city to its knees.
But Richard Ramirez isn’t the only murderer on the streets of LA, and Maxine could be the killer’s next target.
Without giving away spoilers for those who haven’t seen it, I will say it’s an excellent bookend to the film, the story comes full circle, and once again, you can’t help but love Maxine and want her to have everything her ambitious little heart desires, and, of course, make it to the end alive.
Performances by Kevin Bacon and Giancarlo Esposito bring star power to this sparkling movie, making this film an absolute delight to watch. Of course, Goth is sheer perfection as a single-minded Maxine, going to any length possible to attain her goals of being a bonafide Movie Star, no matter what it takes.
In a world where, as horror fans, we are frequently handed unnecessary remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, and subpar content, I cannot stress how refreshing and fun it is to watch truly original cinema, and thankfully, Ti West keeps the hits coming. I can’t wait to see what he does next!
He gave us Pearl, Maxine, a scarecrow masturbation scene that won’t ever leave my brain, and the best catchphrase of the year (say it with me), “I WILL NOT ACCEPT A LIFE I DO NOT DESERVE.” Thank you, Ti, from the bottom of my jaded horror heart!
Maxxxine is in theaters now. Go see it!
