MaXXXine (2024) | 31 Days of Horror: Oct 11

101

Exxxtreme entertainment incoming!

MaXXXine is an interesting horror film in that it focuses more on the psychological trauma of the main character rather than the killings that occur throughout. As with its predecessor X, it changes the expectations for the film making it more unique and less predictable.

Before Viewing

In 1985 adult-film star Maxine Minx travels to Hollywood to make the leap into legitimate pictures. As she works her butt off to become a star, the Night Stalker is making a name for himself as well, murdering women in the southland. A star-studded cast continues the story of MaXXXine.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

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After Viewing

A brief 8mm, black and white film showing Maxine Miller (Charley Rowan McCain) as a young girl dancing in 1959 opens the film. She speaks to her father offscreen, claiming she wants to be just like him someday. Twenty-six years later, Maxine, now known as Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) and an adult film star, auditions for a role in a Hollywood horror film for director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki). She delivers an incredible reading of the script impressing the director. The opening titles of the film include documentary footage to contextualize Southern California in 1985. It’s the Reagan era, a serial killer called the Night Stalker troubles Los Angeles, and censorship & moral outrage trouble the record and film industry.

Maxine is excited to hear from her agent, Teddy Night (Giancarlo Esposito), that she got the role in Puritan II, a horror film set in the 1950s. After her shift at an adult peep show ends, she says goodbye to her friend Tabby (Halsey), who is attending “a party in the hills.” Maxine walks into an alley and is followed by a Buster Keaton performer (Zachary Mooren) who pulls a knife on her. She pulls a gun and forces the man to strip and suck the barrel of the gun before stomping his scrotum with her high heel. At her apartment, an anonymous person drops off a videotape containing evidence from a Texas police department. It is footage of a film Maxine was shooting at the Douglas farm where her friends were murdered by Pearl Douglas.

The following day, Tabby and another friend, Amber (Chloe Farnworth), are found dead in a Hollywood cemetery, a satanic brand applied to their skin. Detectives Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Torres (Bobby Cannavale) investigate and attempt to talk with Maxine, but she states she doesn’t talk to cops. Maxine is contacted by a private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon) who has been hired by a mysterious individual to help find her. He provides an address to meet his employer. She is afraid he knows about her role in the killing of Pearl Douglas. When he follows her outside the film lot, she pulls over and punches him in the face with her keys, breaking his nose.

Elizabeth impresses on Maxine how much she has gone to bat for her in getting her a role in the film. This is not just a horror film to her, but an important statement–and a film that will make careers for everyone. Elizabeth takes Maxine for a tour of the back lot, showing her the original set of the Bates Motel from Psycho. That night Maxine’s friend Leon (Moses Sumney), a manager of the local video store, is attacked by the mysterious person and slain. She is forced to speak with the Detectives who don’t care about her past. They only want to stop the next person from being killed.

Molly Bennett (Lily Collins), star of the original Puritan film gives Maxine some show biz advice and invites her to “a party in the hills” that she’s been invited to. Labat sneaks onto the backlot chasing Maxine into the Bates Mansion set before being stopped by studio security. Not knowing Maxine’s troubles, Elizabeth tells her to squash the distractions. With Teddy’s help, they capture Labat and kill him in a car crusher. Maxine decides to finally visit the address Labat gave her. It ends up being a mansion in the hills, under the Hollywood sign.

Inside she finds Molly dismembered in a suitcase, and the villain behind all the killings, her father, Reverend Ernest Miller (Simon Prast). He wants to reveal Maxine as a heretic and expose the sin of Hollywood by releasing a film he’s made of these killings. The detectives arrive and a shoot-out occurs. Torres is shot, and Williams is stabbed in the face by a crucifix but manages to wound Ernest in exchange. Maxine finds her father by the Hollywood sign and thanks him for being a divine intervention in her life. She has a premonition of her stardom on Puritan II, and selling the rights to her life story. She shoots her father in the face. One month later she goes back to work on the film, claiming she never wants it to end.

“Your character, Veronica, is a powder keg ready to blow. A killer, but not a villain.” – Elizabeth Bender

MaXXXine is the third film in Ti West’s X trilogy, all produced by A24 studios. The first film, X, is a 2022 horror film that I reviewed last year. It draws inspiration from classic horror films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Psycho while creating something wholly new. The second film is a prequel called Pearl that focuses on the backstory of the old woman killer from X, also played by Mia Goth. The setting for MaXXXine comes six years after the events of X, in which Maxine survived an attack by a violent woman (Pearl), who killed her fellow cast members in the porn film they were making. Maxine kills both Pearl and her husband out of survival more than revenge, but also strangely liked doing it. Director West allows audiences to believe that Maxine may have a little bit of whatever made Pearl interested in killing; both being played by the same actress being one of the biggest clues.

It’s now 1985 and Maxine has come to Hollywood to make it big and become the star she has always dreamed of being. At the beginning of the film, she’s attempting to make a break from her adult film career and into mainstream horror films. Having the main character take this action alludes to the horrific nature of the original film in which actors in a porn film become the “stars” of a real-life horror attack. MaXXXine switches it up by having the lead become a character caught up in a horrific revenge film that plays out with the glamor, and seediness, of Hollywood as a backdrop. Even though Maxine will be starring in a horror film, MaXXXine plays out as a strong feminist film in the vein of Revenge or Ms. 45. In fact Maxine’s confrontation with Buster in the alley completely echoes a scene from the latter film.

What describes the film best, however, is Elizabeth’s description of the character Maxine will be playing in Puritan II, Veronica. Of that character, the director says that she’s a killer but not necessarily the villain. What an apt description of Maxine’s role in X. Maxine certainly killed Pearl and Howard, and that portion of her past obviously haunts her throughout this film. Where she falls on the morality spectrum for that incident may be seen differently depending on the viewer. Her actions were presented as justified, as it was either her or them. But her inaction at leaving the scene and failing to contact the authorities creates some of the tension between her and private investigator Labat. He leverages the information, knowing that if it got back to the LAPD detectives, or even the filmmakers, she would have a huge setback in her career. And her career is the most important thing to her. Her killing doesn’t stop there as she also kills Labat and her father, two more people who are getting in her way.

Maxine is attempting to become a crossover star. That is someone who transitions from Adult films to mainstream pictures. To date, there have been very few actors to attempt this. Certainly, adult film stars have had cameos or slightly larger roles in mainstream films (Katie Morgan in Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make A Porno is one example). But crafting a career as a mainstream celebrity, as Maxine wishes to do, is unheard of. The two adult actresses that have gotten closest would be Marilyn Chambers, who mostly did R-rated soft-core films, and Traci Lords, whose mainstream career includes a number of horror films and roles in John Waters movies. MaXXXine is trying to question the legitimacy of a woman who has killed people that threaten her career and the stigma that carries, by comparing it to an adult film star trying to make their way into mainstream Hollywood success. Which is harder?

The film within a film, Puritan II, is being shot on the Universal Studios backlot. Ti West made allusions to one of Universal’s most famous horror films, Psycho, in X. In MaXXXine, he doubles down, having Maxine visit the set of the Bates Motel and house on the backlot. She sees a version of Pearl in the window of the house, much like Norman and others see the visage of Mother in the original Hitchcock film. She is later chased by Labat into the house, which reveals it is only a facade, with no finished interior–breaking the idea that she is playing out her own version of the story. West even goes so far as to have Elizabeth mention the lackluster sequel, Psycho II, reminding audiences that the film being shot is also a sequel to a popular film, Puritan. The use of that title for the film series within MaXXXine is not an accident. By definition, a Puritan is “a person with censorious moral beliefs, especially about pleasure and sex.” This defines Maxine’s father perfectly. Well, perhaps a hypocritical puritan is more accurate.

Being set in the 1980s, when the moral majority and fundamentalist Christian movement became popular backers for political causes, and having the actual villain of the film be a southern minister who has very strong views on chastity, sin, and corruption is no coincidence. Ernest Miller decides that in order to save his daughter from the sin and devilry of Hollywood, he must commit atrocious killings (of porn stars, Maxine’s friends, and actors) in order to show her that he loves her and show America the sin within. Obviously, he’s a troubled individual–not very different from Pearl, who Maxine had to fight in X. This time she must kill her father to finally be free of her past. In doing so, she thanks him for giving her what she needed. Sometimes people can be blocked by past events and trauma, blaming them for their current situation. Maxine is shown as a strong character who overcomes and embraces that trauma, realizing it has guided her to where she is today. She tells her father he didn’t fail her, as she goes on to become a star. The ending of MaXXXine presents a slightly conflicting portrayal of its star. On one hand, she is finally free (apparently) of anyone who can do her harm–specifically her father and his private investigator. But she’s also a character that has been shown to do whatever it takes to succeed, including killing. Can she truly ever be free of that?

Assorted Musings

• The posters for Puritan II along with its 1950s setting are reminiscent of the posters and setting for the original Stepford Wives film, which is a strange horror/sci-fi hybrid that features plenty of satire of feminist roles.
• John Labat’s character evokes Jack Nicholson’s detective JJ Gittes from Chinatown, with his white suit and bandaged nose.
• The death of Molly Bennet just prior to the filming of Puritan II may be a reference to the death of Dominique Dunne (of Poltergeist fame). She was murdered a few days into the filming of the V television miniseries by her boyfriend, prompting them to recast her character.