Whoa. I liked this a lot more than X. The slasher elements are cut way back and we just get this descent into madness by our leading lady. Something is wrong with Pearl but we don’t know exactly what. It’s 1918 and instead of seeking mental health options (which were really bad back then anyway so that wouldn’t have done much good) her mother just coops her up in the farm doing farm work. Her husband is off fighting in WWI and has stopped replying to her letters for months so she fears the worst. The film is this look at small town life and how it eats away at young people. People with ambitions and dreams. Pearl wants to be a dancer on the big screen. She sneaks to the movies on the rare occasion she goes into town for supplies. She starts a tryst with the theater projectionist. She hears of a local audition to join a dancing troupe and fantasizes about getting out of this dead town. 

Her descent is really interesting because it feels more correlated to the suffocating farm life and her overbearing mother. The desperate need to get away and begin living your life, the life you want. But her mother just preaches that her current station in life is good enough and that seeking more is ungrateful and a bad thing. 

The film is constantly engaging and Mia Goth is fucking incredible as Pearl. I loved this. It’s so much more interesting than a slasher homage like X and focus on character above all else. Once the horror elements begin the film just takes off like a rocket and we get some tremendous moments from Mia Goth. The much lauded monologue is very good but I kinda adhered more to the final shot of her smile. Her smile that runs through the end credits for like three minutes. It’s fantastic. 

If you loved X I can see how this would feel like a step down but it also works in the exact opposite. Great work from Ti West and I am very excited to see what is brought to the table with MaxXxine.