MaXXXine: Horror Without Horror
I would like to start this review by posing a question: what is horror without horror? If you are paying homage to classic horror films but do not include any horror in your film, is it still a horror movie. These are some of the questions I asked myself while watching MaXXXine, Ti West’s third film in the Maxine trilogy that centers around a girl named, you guessed it, Maxine. Maxine is a resourceful and determined woman who navigates the sultry, seedy world of late-century pornography and avoids sex-depraved killers on her way to stardom. To summarize, a quote that she repeats throughout the series is “I will not accept a life I do not deserve”.
Let’s return to the first film in this series for a moment. X was released in 2022, and there is a lot to like about the film. Pornstars getting slaughtered in rural Texas while shooting film is a fantastic concept, answering the question – What if we put the Boogie Nights inside Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and then turned up the gore? It’s a pretty lean film that mixes two of America’s most popular film genres (Porn and Horror), and has genuine moments of suspense and some gnarly gore.
Pearl I was less excited about, mainly because I didn’t feel like a backstory was needed from the first film despite it being fun to watch. But it was well received by audiences, Mia Goth gives a great performance and there is enough blood, maggot covered body parts and rotting food to keep it interesting, albeit less bloody than its predecessor X.
That brings us to MaXXXine, which takes place in 1985 Los Angeles during the height of the Reagan era Moral Panic that was sweeping the nation. This movie has to be bloodier and more erotic than the first 2 films right? I mean, the title has 3 X’s in MaXXXine, so that means we’re turning up the temperature right? Well I hate to throw water on this low burning fire of a film, but a horror-slasher film that is absence of any horror or slashing is pretty disappointing.
Let’s start with what I did like about the film first. 1980s Los Angeles is a great set piece that provides all sorts of opportunities to experiment. The neon dripped streets mixed with the griminess of the back alleys add a faux gold texture to the film, danger lurking beneath the surface of pleasure. There are few moments of actual gore, but when they happen it’s refreshing to see the practical effects. The blood is giallo inspired; it’s bright red, syrupy, and by the gallon. We also see a would-be Buster Keaton impersonating mugger get his balls stomped on by Maxine, which I had to check my own parts after seeing to make sure they were still intact. There are some entertaining over-the-top performances in this movie, most notably Kevin Bacon as Jon Labat. He’s Benoit Blanc, if Benoit Blanc had a cocaine problem, enjoyed strip clubs and owed money to every bookie east of the Mississippi River. Finally, there are a lot of homages to classic Hollywood films that are a good bit of fun as a good chunk of the film takes place on Universal Studios. They drive by the Bates Motel, Jon confronts Maxine in front of a saloon on the empty set of a western, and there’s a few other nods to classic films and genres sprinkled in there. On the surface level, there’s a lot of boxes being checked on the way to a satisfying horror movie.
But look past the surface you’ll see a movie that is missing the key ingredient to a horror movie, and that’s the actual horror itself. There is never a moment of any real tension or fear, the movie is actually too plot driven as seems more interested in jumping to the next piece of exposition rather than building any suspense. The big reveal of the film is very predictable, if you’ve seen X then the twist is pretty obvious a third of the way through. If you haven’t seen X, then the twist just feels inevitable. Most of the deaths the audience just sees the bodies, we don’t actually get to see the acts themselves. The moments of blood and gore are few and far in-between. Mia Goth does a good job holding the screen when the film is focused on her, but her character also doesn’t have a lot to do except stone-wall the police when they ask for her help. So to summarize, it’s a horror movie without any real moments of fear, it’s a slasher movie with very little slashing, and it’s a mystery movies where the mystery is very thinly veiled and way too easy to predict.
So if the film is missing all these components, then what is this movie? It’s a movie about a pornstar who is running away from her religious upbringing. There’s a lot of homages and references to the time period, but ultimately it’s about a girl confronting her past. And that’s fine if you want to tell that story, but that’s not really what I signed on for when this film was marketed. That is my main criticism of this series; the films have been so focused on the lore of Maxine that they have progressively moved farther from the concepts that interested me in X back in 2022. Maybe I’m a little bit twisted, but I came to see pornstars get stabbed (In more ways than one), not explore a woman’s complicated relationship with her religious father.
So what is horror without horror? A disappointment, to say the least.
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