Summary
- Martin Scorsese praises Ti West's X trilogy as a thorough exploration of Hollywood's changing "Greater Culture" across decades.
- Each film represents a distinct period of horror in Hollywood, from the '70s slasher era to the '50s melodramas and '80s exploitation.
- The trilogy's overarching theme is morality, showcasing how horror represents these ideals in each decade.
Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese praises Ti West's X slasher trilogy, explaining why the series is a thorough exploration of the changing "Greater Culture" of Hollywood across the decades. West and Mia Goth's slasher series debuted in 2022 with X, where the actress portrayed an aspiring star longing for Hollywood who is swept up in a massacre at a remote adult movie shoot. X would be expanded upon with Pearl's exploration of the original movie's antagonist's origin in 2023, before continuing Maxine's (Goth) bloody quest for stardom in 2024's MaXXXine.
Scorsese shares his appreciation of West to The New York Times. As part of an in-depth exploration of West's trilogy, the director behind Taxi Driver, and Killers of the Flower Moon explained that he viewed each feature as representing a distinct period of horror in Hollywood. While X took on the golden era of the then-emerging slasher feature in the '70s, Pearl explored the highly emotional, less overtly brutal melodramas of the 1950s, before MaXXXine turned its lens to the '80s exploitative, sensationalized horror.
The X Trilogy Is A Journey Through Horror's Evolution
Every Decade Is Known For A Different Type Of Horror
As stated by Scorsese, the X trilogy's microcosms of Horror stretch far beyond just often being set in their respective heyday's time periods. In X, the movie tackles the slasher subgenre head-on through its slow, bloody execution of the cast which leaves Maxine to take on the role of a Final Girl established throughout the '70s. Pearl in comparison is a more cerebral feature where the horror is drawn from Pearl's (Goth) unraveling sanity in her pursuit to be a star, embracing '50s technicolor during her declining mentality.
The ending of MaXXXine serves as a fitting if quietly ambiguous finale to the X trilogy, even while leaving room open for further sequel expansion.
MaXXXine brings West's exploration of Hollywood into the '80s as Maxine finds stardom through a horror sequel having a side job among the sketchier, more exploitative side of Los Angeles, as her past comes back to haunt her. An overarching theme of West's X trilogy is morality and how horror represents these ideals. While Pearl finds herself succumbing to the strict ideals enforced by her parents, later enforcing them herself, Maxine is consistently fighting against killers who seek to punish her for her "sins", be they Pearl and Howard (Stephen Ure) in X, or her father Ernest (Simon Prast) in MaXXXine.
With Scorsese celebrating X as West's trilogy comes to a close, all three films are sure to receive renewed interest. While West has never hidden his intent of a deeper exploration of the film industry throughout the trilogy, Scorsese's analysis may leave viewers who missed the deeper subtext of the feature with a greater appreciation of the feature. Furthermore, with West having unpacked ever-changing horror in Hollywood through X, many may be left wondering whether West will turn his lens to a new subject with his next feature.
MaXXXine is currently in theaters, while X and Pearl are available to stream on Paramount+.
Director Ti West presents X, a horror slasher film set in 1979 in rural Texas that follows a group of amateur filmmakers attempting to shoot a pornographic film. When the group gets further along in the film, and the elderly homeowners take notice, they slowly realize they've drawn their formerly gracious hosts' ire - and jealously.