Ti West's Pearl / Maxxxine

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Trailer just came out for Ti West's prequel to X.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Is there any word that quickens the pulse of a movie lover like "prequel"?

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

Could be fun.

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

Too soon.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Too soon.

I think they were made back to back during Covid when he didn't have much else going on.

[ShawnP5 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ShawnP5]

I didn't hate it, so I guess that's something?
It's not as "fun" as X, and there's more monologue than actual horror, but Mia Goth is pretty charming and there are a few fun gory shots to keep you interested in what eventually went on a longer runtime than should have been.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

There's a third movie coming.

https://www.gamesradar.com/ti-west-m...logy-maxxxine/

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Cover art for the pending Lionsgate Blu-ray release.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Here's the full press release:

Street Date: 11/15/22
Blu-ray™ (+ DVD + Digital) SRP: $39.99
DVD SRP: $29.96

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Mia Goth reprises her iconic villain in Pearl, arriving on Blu-ray™ (+ DVD + Digital) and DVD November 15 from A24 and Lionsgate. Co-written by Ti West (X, The Innkeepers, The Sacrament, The House of the Devil) and Mia Goth in her feature film writing debut, Pearl will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.99 for Blu-ray (+ DVD + Digital) and $29.96 for DVD. Consumers can also buy an exclusive Blu-ray package at Walmart featuring new artwork.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS
Filmmaker Ti West returns with another chapter from the twisted world of X in this astonishing follow-up to the year’s most acclaimed horror film. Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl’s ambitions, temptations, and repressions all collide in the stunning, Technicolor-inspired origin story of X’s iconic villain.

CAST
Mia Goth X, A Cure for Wellness, Suspiria
David Corenswet We Own This City, Hollywood, TV’s “The Politician”
Tandi Wright Jack the Giant Slayer, TV’s “The Returned,” “Nothing Trivial”
Matthew Sunderland Out of the Blue, The Nightingale, The Little Death
Emma Jenkins-Purro TV’s “The Brokenwood Mysteries”

BLU-RAY / DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
• “Time After Time” Featurette
• “Coming Out of Her Shell: The Creation of Pearl” Featurette
• Teaser Trailer
• Theatrical Trailer

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Year of Production: 2022
Title Copyright: Pearl © 2022 Origin Picture Show LLC. Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2022 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Type: New Release
Rating: R for some strong violence, gore, strong sexual content and graphic nudity
Genre: Horror
Closed-Captioned: N/A
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Feature Run Time: 102 Minutes
Blu-ray Format: 1080p High Definition 16x9 (2.39:1) Presentation
Blu-ray Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio™
DVD Format: 16x9 (2.39:1) Presentation
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Audio

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Trailer for Maxxxine just came out!

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

I like the poster.

[ChicGandil Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ChicGandil]

Looking forward to this. Like the idea of riffing on the sleazy neon 80's Angel/Vice Squad aesthetic. Hopefully it all comes together.

[BW Haggar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BW Haggar]

Yeah, likewise.

I only recently caught up with 'X', and really enjoyed it simply as a straightforward, well made horror movie.

'Pearl' however didn't really float my boat, simply because the setting and storyline didn't much appeal, and it was all just... a lot less fun.

This one however promises to be TONS O' FUN, so expectations are high!

[BW Haggar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BW Haggar]

So, has anyone else caught up with ‘Maxxxine’ yet?

I enjoyed it plenty, and it’s difficult to imagine anyone reading this failing to get a kick out of it on some level in the view of the setting / subject matter, but… somehow I still managed to emerge feeling vaguely disappointed.

Like, I mean, I guess it’s a case of a film fully delivering on the promise of its premise (‘Vice Squad’/‘Stripped To Kill’ styled ‘80s LA sleaze, gory black-gloved slashings and a contant barrage of porn/horror/old time Hollywood/heavy metal in-jokes infesting every shot & line of dialogue)… but at the same time, it never quite manages to rise above expectations to deliver something truly memorable, and/or to get me bouncing off the walls in coke-addled glee in quite the way I’d hoped.

I’d imagine Ti West was looking to win comparisons to ‘Dressed To Kill’-era Brian De Palma here, but it’s telling that his borrowings seem entirely superficial (split screen shots FFS, ‘Frankie goes To Hollywood’ on the soundtrack, incessant references to ‘Psycho’..), whilst the film otherwise captures precious little of De Palma’s stylistic / technical mastery (which is a shame, as I’ve always thought of West as a very gifted filmmaker). I mean, sure, it's well-made and looks cool, but it never really soars into the "OMFG, this is amazing.." realm where overloaded/amped up films like this should ideally dwell.

Whereas West’s earlier horror films have all been carefully structured & paced, balancing prolonged build-ups with satisfying pay-offs, ‘Maxxxine’ instead just feels formless and chaotic, piling scenes up with no particular rhyme nor reason - which suits the ‘hang out movie’ type aesthetic, but also means that the story-telling is never as engaging as it should be. Various plot details start to seem totally absurd/pointless as soon as you take a minute to think back over them post-screening, and instead of building up any real suspense, the movie basically just stumbles hap-hazardly towards a conclusion which was obvious/inevitable right from the opening frames.

Which again is a shame, because there’s still a ton of good stuff to enjoy here - a few fantastic set pieces, way-out gore gags, all those LOL-worthy cultural references, some fun performances, and (more-so perhaps than in the two preceding films) the character Mia Goth creates here is a super-cool, endearingly psychotic protagonist whose antics I could happily watch for hours.

For a few minutes there in fact, I was thinking the film might be heading off in a wonderfully twisted “everyone in this story is basically a psychopath” type direction, but then they keep introducing sympathetic and relatable supporting characters, which blunted that ultra-cynical edge a bit, so… ehh.

Oh, and also: suffers from a really bad case of “too many endings” syndrome (an all too common complaint in contemporary cinema). Sort of feels like everyone on the set had their own idea for a PERFECT final shot… but instead of choosing the best one, they just did ‘em all and lined 'em up in sequence, thus keeping us hanging on for an addtional five minutes after the actual story ended.

But enough moaning! Please ignore what I’ve said above and go see it anyway. It’s a good time - mindless, tasteless po-mo genre movie fun of a kind which needs to be supported on the rare occasions it makes it into mainstream cinemas.

TL;DR version - ‘80s horror version of ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’, with all the pro and cons that implies.

[bgart13 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bgart13]

I’ve seen it twice and really, really enjoyed it. The giallo elements are a nice treat imo.