MaXXXine

As someone who has not seen X, but did see (and love) Pearl I was excited to see MaXXXine. I thought Mia Goth was absolutely robbed in awards season for Pearl, it was truly one of my favorite horror movies that I have ever seen. I expect that X and MaXXXine can’t be that different in quality (she said hopefully). It has taken me all year to get to something that was released in July, but I fell way behind on movies so here we go.

Mia Goth is such an incredible actress, I really think she has amazing range she just really loves horror films. I think she is elevating them and making people realize that horror is just as difficult and legitimate as drama. It often uses the same skills as an actor. I really hated Infinity Pool but that was a writing problem not a her problem.

Loving that it is immediately commenting on the 80s and its media scare. All media was coming for your kids. Rock music led to devil worship and Dungeons and Dragons was evil. Incredible backdrop for this story honestly.

And of course she snorts cocaine…very very time period accurate. I love it.

I love that MaXXXine really believes in what the horror genre can for her, she sees it as a legitimate genre. Because this is clearly how Mia Goth feels about the horror genre and I just think it's important for people to hear both in and out of fiction.

This film's antagonist seems to be tied directly to X, which I haven’t seen, but the film is doing a pretty good job of catching me up.

I love the mystery, we never see the serial killer's face. The scene where the video store guy dies is so cinematically right out of an 80s slasher film it was brilliantly shot. This film is really well structured and well researched.

All of her friends are dropping dead, and she's still covering for a few murders herself. I love the scene of her running through the studio lot, watching the setting change every few seconds was an extremely creative and visually interesting way to shoot a chase scene.

Kevin Bacon is sufficiently creepy in this movie. My girl is always one step ahead of him. Damn she’s awesome.

OH MY GOD IT'S HER DAD. That’s actually insane. What an amazing reveal. Her preacher dad is leading the charge against Hollywood because his precious daughter became a pornstar. Wow. That was such a well written reveal, I am actually in awe.

I love any and all 4th wall breaks at the end of these movies. Mia Goth just does them so damn well.

Love the cutting lines of coke with her SAG card, that’s just funny.

God this movie is just as good as Pearl was. I really need to go watch X now. Mia Goth is, of course, phenomenal. She is one of my favorite actresses right now, I really would love to see her in something other than a horror movie. That said, I love that she is working so hard to remind people what horror can and should be. I really hope she gets her flowers soon. The Substance is getting some good buzz this awards season and that is a huge win for the genre but we really can’t overlook our latest scream queen. I think MaXXXine earns a really lovely 9/10 just because I think Pearl edged it out by a narrow margin because of that closing monologue. Will definitely be watching again, and discussing the trilogy as a whole.