This article contains spoilers for "MaXXXine."
Writer/director Ti West trilogy of films starring Mia Goth — "X," "Pearl," and now "MaXXXine" — are, first and foremost, a solid trio of character-based horror films. Taken at face value, they tell an eerie, sexy, and violent cautionary tale about two women, Pearl and Maxine (both played by Goth), whose ambitions for stardom lead them to commit sinful acts.
Taken metaphorically, however, the films have a ton to say about the history of cinema itself, with a particular focus on the tense relationship between prurience and art that's existed within the medium since its inception. Horror movies and pornographic films have long been associated with each other, and West draws on that connection to explore the effects cinema has on everything from standards of youth and beauty -- particularly when it comes to women -- as well as the American Dream of going from rags to riches.
Writer/director Ti West trilogy of films starring Mia Goth — "X," "Pearl," and now "MaXXXine" — are, first and foremost, a solid trio of character-based horror films. Taken at face value, they tell an eerie, sexy, and violent cautionary tale about two women, Pearl and Maxine (both played by Goth), whose ambitions for stardom lead them to commit sinful acts.
Taken metaphorically, however, the films have a ton to say about the history of cinema itself, with a particular focus on the tense relationship between prurience and art that's existed within the medium since its inception. Horror movies and pornographic films have long been associated with each other, and West draws on that connection to explore the effects cinema has on everything from standards of youth and beauty -- particularly when it comes to women -- as well as the American Dream of going from rags to riches.
- 7/5/2024
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
Stars: Steve Railsback, Bai Ling, Susan Priver, Robert Miano, Silvia Spross, Kelli Maroney, Lew Temple, Robert Rhine, James MacPherson, Scott Vogel, Brandon Kirk, Kristi McHugh, Cheryl Cipriano | Written and Directed by Chad Ferrin
Night Caller opens with visions of a murder underneath the main credits before Clementine an operator for Jade Mei’s gets a call from the man she saw in the visions before he commits the crime for real.
And that murder serves notice to viewers that this isn’t going to be a Scream or Blumhouse style mainstream horror film. There are repeated gory closeups of a large knife entering the victim’s body. A shift of camera angle to some not so explicit shots that suggest the knife is getting shoved somewhere else. And the ranting killer taking the somehow still living woman’s scalp as a souvenir.
Less than ten minutes in and writer/director...
Night Caller opens with visions of a murder underneath the main credits before Clementine an operator for Jade Mei’s gets a call from the man she saw in the visions before he commits the crime for real.
And that murder serves notice to viewers that this isn’t going to be a Scream or Blumhouse style mainstream horror film. There are repeated gory closeups of a large knife entering the victim’s body. A shift of camera angle to some not so explicit shots that suggest the knife is getting shoved somewhere else. And the ranting killer taking the somehow still living woman’s scalp as a souvenir.
Less than ten minutes in and writer/director...
- 5/26/2022
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
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