Okay, so Maxxxine will be difficult to discuss in my usual format here, but I’ll give it the old college try. Ti West is quite a stylist when it comes to horror movies. Friends recommended X a couple years back, and then it was revealed that it would be part of a trilogy, with Pearl coming next. I’d seen these two and knew that I would watch Maxxxine when it came out. More than just closure, these films all make heavy and obvious use of religion. So much so that an extended piece could be written on that aspect alone. I’ll try to restrain myself here. Maxxxine is a direct sequel to X (Pearl was a prequel), following Maxine as an actress trying to break through in Hollywood. Following the death of her X-rated film colleagues, she found an agent and has been trying to be cast in a horror film. The movie starts with a home movie shot by her evangelist father advising her never to give up.
Just as Maxine wins the horror film role, a number of her friends in the adult entertainment industry are murdered. Maxine refuses to assist the police, even when her best friend, who runs a video store, becomes a victim. A private investigator is following her and she has him killed. Those who saw X know she killed Pearl, and she’s willing to do as her daddy said, whatever it takes. She decides to go to the PI’s client to try to stop the murders. She discovers the man behind the violence is her father, who has learned about her X-rated work and believes she has a demon. He has been killing her friends to lure her in and is about to brand her as a follower of Satan when the police arrive and a shootout occurs.
The publicity doesn’t hurt Maxine’s career prospects, even though she ends up killing her own father. The movie is commentary on movie-making, fame, and Hollywood, as well as the potential evils wrought by religion. My usual critique of the portrayal of religion applies. Although Maxine’s father is made out to be a fundamentalist, when his plot is revealed it actually portrays him wearing a cassock. He’s also shooting a snuff film to demonstrate the Devil’s doings. A real fundamentalist wouldn’t wear such Catholic getup. Many films that portray fundamentalists clearly don’t understand what separates them from other Christian denominations. The entire X-trilogy is based on religion and how its constraints lead to horror. There’s a lot to unpack here, even with the occasional gaff.
