PHOENIX (AZFamily) — It’s time to max out.

Taking place in 1985, MaXXXine follows adult film actress Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), living in Hollywood seven years after surviving the murders in the previous film X.

Maxine ends up landing a role in a sequel to a popular horror film, finally getting her chance to break out of the adult film industry and become a legitimate actress.

Unfortunately for her, the serial killer known as the Night Stalker has set his sights on Maxine, drawing the attention of law enforcement and others who end up suspicious of Maxine and her connection to the massacre she survived.

Director Ti West’s X trilogy is certainly an odd one, and one I don’t think anybody expected to play out how it did. It started off in 2022 with X, a slasher film set in 1979, starring Mia Goth in a dual role as Maxine Minx and murderous 79-year-old Pearl. It wasn’t the greatest thing ever, but it was a sincere tribute to the trashy grindhouse slashers of the 1970s.

Later that same year, West and Goth released the prequel film Pearl, taking place in 1918, telling the origin of the psychotic old woman. While it was a slasher film like X, it was also a loving ode to classic Technicolor Hollywood. It was like 1930′s MGM made a slasher, which is pretty much the most awesome thing ever, featuring a powerhouse performance from Mia Goth.

Now we have MaXXXine to cap off the trilogy, telling the story of Maxine in Hollywood as she attempts to elevate herself beyond adult films and into real stardom. With the setting now in 1985, the retro ’80s vibe is in full effect, complete with a bumping synth soundtrack, glitchy VHS effects, garish fashion to go around, and Satanic panic at an all-time high.

Once upon a time…

If anybody remembers back before Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood was released, all we knew was that it took place in Hollywood and involved the Charles Manson murders. That brief description made everyone think Tarantino was making a horror/slasher film, but we all know we ended up getting something much different (and better).

Well, MaXXXine seems like what everybody thought Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood was going to be: a retro slasher movie involving a real serial killer (in this case, Richard Ramirez, aka The Night Stalker) with the big white Hollywood sign for the backdrop. It may be the complete opposite type of film than Tarantino made, but MaXXXine shares a lot of the same qualities, exploring the Hollywood culture at the time while telling the story of a struggling actor.

The idea of using a real-life serial killer as the antagonist for MaXXXine definitely seemed inspired by Tarantino’s film, but it also seemed to be the most logical way to incorporate slashing into this story. This is a slasher trilogy, after all, and I think that’s what ends up putting MaXXXine into a box too small for its ambitions.

A need for bleed

Now I’m not expecting Ti West to suddenly stop being a horror filmmaker, but the slasher elements of X and Pearl felt far more natural and less like they were just there for obligatory reasons. X is about murderous old people and Pearl is about one of those old people when they’re young. The whole point is that these people kill other people.

Maxine Minx isn’t a killer, and her titular film doesn’t go down the predictable road of her past trauma turning her into a killer herself, so that was nice at least. While the trauma indeed has an effect by giving her PTSD, she remains a steadfast and capable final girl, with a phenomenal final scene to boot.

So, that means we get the Night Stalker terrorizing Los Angeles and keeping the community on edge. Unfortunately, most of these kills are off screen, but the ones we do see are heavily inspired by old school Giallo films, with blood, knives, black gloves and all.

Compared to X and Pearl, the story here has far more going on with multiple plot lines, locations, and characters intertwining. There isn’t just Maxine acting in her new movie and the Night Stalker. The authorities and other shady characters get involved and every little piece connects at the end.

However, none of this really resolves in a hugely satisfying way. While I get what West and Goth were both going for with this trilogy thematically and how the characters of Pearl and Maxine connect, basically acting as two sides to the same coin, I didn’t quite connect emotionally with how it all wrapped up.

Maximizing your budget

One thing you have to give Ti West with these X movies is the man knows how to use his miniscule budgets to their maximum potential. I was taken aback after I watched Pearl and saw it cost only $1 million. Just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how much money you have, but what you do with it.

Well, West and his crew clearly had a lot more cash on hand this time. I wasn’t able to find out exactly how much the budget was for MaXXXine, but it was obviously much larger, and you could see every cent up on the screen. Just imagine what this crew could do with blockbuster budgets.

It’s shot on location in Hollywood, has a variety of locations, high production values, and better effects. There’s a lot of love for the Hollywood setting with the cinematography and sets, even if it gets a bit too whimsical for its own good with the classical references.

West and his longtime cinematographer Eliot Rockett clearly know how to make a beautiful looking picture, adeptly capturing the visual language of various filmmaking eras. The way they light and frame their shots is beautifully realistic and highlight the actors features in intriguing ways. Every frame is lovely to look at.

They’re also both talented at building heavy, foreboding atmospheres, but where West has always fallen short for me is that his films fall very short of building any sort of suspense. They’re never as scary or tense as I feel they should be and often just leave me feeling empty, aside from Pearl, his magnum opus.

Star power

Some of that increased budget definitely went to expanding the cast with far more characters portrayed by some pretty big names. There’s Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Giancarlo Esposito, Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins, and Halsey. Definitely a huge step up.

The highlights from that list were definitely Kevin Bacon and Giancarlo Esposito. Bacon, who portrays a sleazy private investigator investing Maxine, is deliciously disgusting and a delight to watch every time he’s on screen. He has that usual Kevin Bacon charm, but not in the way you’re used to.

Giancarlo Esposito, finally, thankfully, FOR THE LOVE OF THE FILMMAKING GODS, gets to show his range, finally playing a character nothing like Gustavo Fring. Here, he’s your typical talent agent, always having his client’s backs, while also carrying a sense of authority. (Sidenote: his hair was terrific.)

But of course, the star of the show is Mia Goth as Maxine Minx. She’s just as magnetic as ever but is far more reserved and less theatrical than when we last saw her. Maxine is somebody who clearly carries a lot of trauma from her past and compensates by being rough and blunt with people. Just like Pearl, she also has that same sense of ego and pride.

As great as Mia Goth is, though, I find her far more compelling when she’s portraying Pearl than when she’s portraying Maxine. Pearl is just a far more interesting character with her naïve, violent, psychotic nature. Like it goes for West, Pearl is also Goth’s crowning achievement.

Pearl’s darkness offered an extra layer beyond a simple desire for stardom. She’s somebody who desperately wants to be a star but finds her murderous tendencies getting the best of her to prove to everybody else what she’s capable of. Besides wanting to be a star and trying to escape her religious upbringing, Maxine is somebody who just seems to get caught up in bad situations. However, both characters and Goth portraying them are necessary to get this trilogy’s grand point across.

MaXXXine may not be the most exciting or satisfying trilogy capper ever, but fans of X and Pearl should still be pleased with this finale. Even if it’s unwieldy and overstuffed, it’s a technically masterful throwback to 1980′s slashers, all anchored by a stellar performance from Mia Goth.

While the ending could have been better, Ti West, Mia Goth, and the crew should all be proud with the films they created. This is a series about filmmaking that celebrates the art and craft behind it, while also criticizing the industry and how it commodifies people. It’s only natural that they craft a trilogy so unique and passionate that it deserves a place in film history.

MaXXXine will be released in theaters nationwide on Friday, July 5th.