While the year 2024 has been largely disappointing for studio horror films, a handful of smaller titles have stood out with modest grosses that more than make up for their shoestring budgets. This weekend, director Ti West completed his trilogy of slasher horror movies with MaXXXine, which debuted inside the top five domestically with a franchise-best opening weekend haul. West’s trilogy spans over six decades, and stars the same actor — Mia Goth — across all three movies, which pay homage to different sub-genres of horror.

MaXXXine, a tribute to Brian De Palma’s lurid thrillers, opened to $6.7 million domestically this weekend, finishing fourth at the box office. The movie added another $1.1 million from overseas markets, for an early global total of $7.8 million. These films have historically skewed stateside, and will have turned a nice profit for A24 when the dust settles; each installment reportedly cost less than $10 million to produce.

The trilogy began in 2022 with X, West’s take on Texas Chainsaw Massacre-style horror, which grossed over $11 million domestically and more than $3 million from overseas markets, for a combined global haul of $15 million. He followed it up with Pearl, a Sirk-ian prequel set in the early 20th century, which grossed over $9 million domestically but under $1 million in overseas markets, for a combined global gross of $10 million. MaXXXine is set in the 1980s, and follows the central character from the first film as she tries to make it in a Hollywood grappling with the Night Stalker murders.

Is Ti West the Undisputed King of American Independent Horror?

In addition to their box office success, each installment has received positive reviews, which is very rare for the horror genre. X remains the top-rated film of the trilogy, with a “fresh” 94% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes; Pearl holds a 92% score. MaXXXine currently has a 75% RT rating, with Collider’s Emma Kiely describing it as “a loud, bombastic, sexy, bloody, and unapologetic farewell to one of the best horror trilogies of all time,” in her review.

Prior to MaXXXine’s release, the marketplace had seen a host of big-ticket horror misfires from major studios, while smaller-budget films such as Late Night with the Devil and Immaculate performed reasonably well. In a career spanning two decades, West has established himself as one of the most dependably inventive low-budget horror filmmakers around, with early hits such as The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers. It’s a testament to his indie spirit that even his franchise films are wholly original. Also starring Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon, MaXXXine is playing in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.