Maxxxine (2024) – I’m A Star…?

Released: 11th July
Seen: 14th July

In March of 2022, the world was introduced to Maxine Minx in a little horror film called X. The film revolved around a group of people making a porno film on a farm that they were renting from an elderly couple – an elderly couple that would go on to murder most of the people making that film except for final girl Maxine Minx. X was a fascinating film, combining a classic 1970s-era slasher film with the rise of Porno-Chic that was occurring around that era thanks to films like Deep Throat or The Devil in Miss Jones and contained one of the most fascinating slasher villains in the form of Pearl, an elderly woman who resented the sexual freedom of the young people who were on her farm. Something else that set X apart was a post-credits scene that revealed that not only would there be another film in this setting, but that it had already been filmed and would be released 6 months later. 

That film was Pearl, a prequel that looked to the classic technicolour films for their visual aesthetic and old stag films for their point of reference in the exploitation genre and combined those to create a unique character study of Pearl, a character study that was so fascinating it basically cemented Mia Goth as an icon of the horror genre and had many people demanding she get an Oscar for her performance (something that was never going to happen because the only thing that the Academy hates more than horror films is “Giving Glenn Close the awards she is entitled to”). Pearl was another truly great film and it also came with a promise that the people behind it were in production for another film in the franchise, one called Maxxxine that would move the action up to the 80s and follow Maxine Minx again… and god damn it, they dropped the ball hard on this one.

Maxxxine picks things up in 1985, where Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) is slowly gaining the fame she desperately desired thanks to her work in pornographic films but she’s trying to move into the mainstream by auditioning for a role in the upcoming horror film The Puritan II. Upon landing the role, Maxine puts all her energy into being the best performer possible for the role, things seem to be improving but unfortunately, Maxine is living in Los Angeles in 1985 around the time of the Night Stalker murders, and it just happens that a bunch of Maxine’s friends are being mysteriously brutally murdered and branded with satanic symbols. It looks like Maxine has to deal with another murderer who is going to get between her and stardom and Maxine just will not tolerate that so she’s going to have to do whatever she can to survive and beat the evil that’s chasing her.

In terms of what Maxxxine does that’s positive, it keeps up the franchise tradition of playing in an era of film and showing the link between the mainstream of the time and the sexploitation world that lingers below. Since it’s the 80s that means the film revels in the sleaze and grime of 80s peep shows and the boom period of VHS pornography while also playing around with video nasties or the classic Shot on Video horror films that were everywhere in the 80s. The visuals borrow from the nastiest, cheapest horror films you could imagine, but also borrow some visual flair from the likes of Argento or DePalma. There are so many little moments that feel like they’re acknowledging this wonderful era of cinema that it’s quite fun to spot them all. As a celebration of the wild 80s era of horror and porn, it’s got a fair amount going for it but then you have to judge Maxxxine as its own story and that’s where problems come in.

Let’s just open with the big one… Maxine Minx is not an interesting character. Mia Goth portrays her fantastically, she has occasionally got some enjoyable moments (Her punching the shit out of the private investigator that’s stalking her comes to mind) but for the most part, she’s kind of a nothing character. The people around her are certainly something special, be it her friends who are still working in the sex industry or the guy who runs the video store that’s right by her apartment but Maxine herself doesn’t exactly have that much to do here. That’s not for a lack of trying on Mia Goth’s part, Mia gives the role everything she has in the tank and you can see it on her face the entire time but no matter what Mia does, Maxine will never be interesting. Pearl was interesting, Pearl was downright fascinating and had enough character to carry several films but Maxine just doesn’t. It’s hard to care about Maxine when she has nothing to her character that’s worth grabbing onto, at least not in this movie. She’s not as sympathetic as she was back in X and she’s nowhere near as fascinating as Pearl was.

Now you might recall earlier on in the review I pointed out that this film takes place around the time of the famous Night Stalker murders, a real series of murders that happened in the mid-80s. Now, one might think if the Night Stalker is being mentioned repeatedly throughout a film (including using actual news footage from the time about the actual murders) that it might factor into the story in some way… NOPE. Not in any way that was truly essential anyway. It’s used because the main murders of our story are ‘copycats’ of what the Night Stalker did… except they aren’t because it’s a very different kind of murder, but it all plays into the satanic panic theme that is an element of this film (we repeatedly see people protesting the horror film Maxine is starring in because it’s satanic, it’s also part of the grand finale). Now, maybe I’m a little precious here but it seems kind of fucked up to put the real-life murders of over 15 people and the real-life rapes of over 11 people as background dressing in your horror film for no damn reason. It wasn’t needed for the grand finale, Richard Ramirez isn’t an actual character in the film (and thank goodness he wasn’t, we didn’t need that), it’s just kind of pointless when the actual final reveal could’ve used the time dedicated to reminding us about the Night Stalker to bring up the actual villain of the movie.

Without spoiling anything specific, the worst part of this film is that final act when the killer (who for most of the film has been doing a ton of great Giallo references whenever we’ve seen them) is revealed and we learn why they’re doing everything. The grand reveal of the killer’s face had me going “Who?” because it was someone who we hadn’t seen in any substantial way since X and they didn’t set them up that well in this movie. It’s also just a hammy performance that normally I would enjoy, but it doesn’t fit in this film, creating an entire scene that feels like it’s trying to say something grand about censorship and the state of cinema at the time but ends up just being kind of off-putting and weird in a bad way. It’s also an ending where Maxine doesn’t have to do anything, continuing her arc as a character with minimal actual agency or interesting elements.

Now, even factoring in everything I have said, Maxxxine is still enjoyable enough. A cheesy 80s pastiche that celebrates the VHS boom and the sleaze of peep shows will always be enjoyable if they can nail the visual aesthetic correctly and it helps that Ti West is a great director who can do just that. As a slasher film, it has its moments, some of the kills fill that need that any good slasher needs to fill and there are at least a few genuinely intense sequences that will get your blood pumping. If this film were to be judged on its own with no knowledge of the franchise it was part of then it would be considered a fine horror film with a slight slip at the end but that’s not how this film is going to be judged because it is pointedly part of a trilogy. The only reason it even exists in the form that it exists in is as a continuation of the story that was set out in X and Pearl, and when you have those two films as your lead-in, this is a massive step down from those dizzying heights. On a visual level, it absolutely does what those films did well in how it plays with the era-specific references but as a story it’s just not quite there, with an ending that honestly just feels flat. It’s not the worst, but it is the worst that this franchise has done so far and I do hope that if the rumoured 4th film happens that they course correct as quickly as possible.