Horror Movie Blog > Horror Movie Reviews > MaXXXine Review
Synopsis
The story follows Maxine (Mia Goth), who has made a name for herself as a porn star in Los Angeles, but she wants more and hopes that a career in movies will be her ticket out.
She auditions for a horror film directed by Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki), who is trying to expose the dark side of 1950s America with her sequel, The Puritan 2.
Maxine's rise to fame hits two major snags: a sleazy private detective, John Labat (Kevin Bacon), who’s digging into her past, and the looming presence of the real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker.
When her friends start turning up dead with pentagram markings, the police suspect a copycat killer and believe Maxine might know something.
My Thoughts
Ti West sure does know how to make a trilogy in ultra quick time, doesn't he?
MaXXXine is the final installment in the X Trilogy, following on from X and Pearl, and if you haven't seen those movies, I would recommend watching them first before watching MaXXXine, although it isn't 100% necessary.
The movie’s look, with its bright lighting and 80s music, is really well done, and the practical gore effects are really good as well.
But the main problem with Maxxxine is that the movie doesn't really work in building too much suspense or mystery, and it really isn't hard to work out who the killer is, and ends up all being a bit anti climatic.
Mia Goth delivers a strong performance playing the lead role as a tough determined and sometimes ruthless heroine and these roles showcase her talent brilliantly, and the supporting cast, including Elizabeth Debicki, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon, add a lot of fun to their roles too.
The film though ends up being a bit of a mess overall and while it tries to portray many themes, it never really commits to any of them.
While the film has its issues, it also has its moments.
I laughed out loud on more than a few occasions, especially when Kevin Bacon or Giancarlo Esposito were on screen and the lighting, practical effects and 80's vibe I digged a lot, as well as the soundtrack.
Scene to scene the film works fine and is quite entertaining, but overall when it is all put together, it ends up being messy and the film works more in pieces rather then as a whole, and the ending does not land as well as I had hoped it would.
Ti West just tries to do too much without really committing to anything and it all feels a bit too crammed together, and while I did enjoy it as I said it also feels a bit too random and messy and doesn't hit the same level as the first two movies in the trilogy, and by the end of the film, it all feels very anti climatic.
But I do give Ti West a lot of credit for forging a trilogy that are so different from each other.
But it is still watchable and it has recently landed on Amazon Prime if you want to watch it from home!
I would rate this film 58% on my horror movie nerd-o-meter.
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