Ti West concludes his X trilogy by following Maxine Minx into the neon-lit world of 1980s Los Angeles adult cinema and serial murder.
MaXXXine arrives as the final chapter in Ti West’s trilogy that began with the 2022 slasher X and continued through the prequel Pearl. Released in July 2024, the film shifts the action from rural Texas to the porn industry of mid-1980s Hollywood, where survivor Maxine Minx pursues mainstream stardom while a killer stalks the city. West maintains the trilogy’s focus on performance, desire and violence, yet relocates the story to a period when videotape, moral panic and blockbuster ambition reshaped American culture.
From Farmhouse to Sunset Strip
The narrative opens six years after the events of X. Maxine has left the massacre behind and now auditions for legitimate roles while still working in adult films. A detective played by Michelle Monaghan investigates a series of murders that appear linked to Maxine’s past. The killer wears a mask resembling the old man from the original film, yet the threat expands beyond one location to encompass the entire city. West uses the change of setting to examine how trauma travels with the survivor rather than remaining fixed to a single house.
Production Design and Period Detail
Production designer Tyler Bates and the art department recreated 1985 Los Angeles through practical locations, vintage vehicles and authentic signage. The film avoids digital backdrops wherever possible, allowing the camera to linger on the textures of film stock, neon tubing and cassette tapes. Costume designer Michelle Laine dressed Goth in power-shouldered blazers and high-waisted jeans that reflect both the era’s mainstream fashion and the aspirational style of the adult industry at the time. These choices ground the horror in a recognisable historical moment rather than abstract stylisation.
Themes of Ambition and Exposure
Maxine’s drive for fame forms the emotional core. She auditions for a horror director portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito, delivering a monologue that reveals both her resilience and her willingness to exploit her own notoriety. The film questions whether survival alone constitutes success or whether public recognition is required to complete the transformation. West parallels this personal ambition with the broader cultural shift from theatrical pornography to home video, showing how performers navigated new distribution models and increased scrutiny from censors and activists.
Sound Design and Score
Composer Tyler Bates returns with a synth-heavy score that evokes both John Carpenter and the era’s pop soundtrack conventions. Diegetic music from car radios and club scenes blends with the original cues, creating a constant reminder of the period. Sound designer Chelsea Body emphasises the mechanical noises of film cameras and editing equipment, linking the act of watching with the act of being watched. The audio mix rewards theatrical playback, where the contrast between quiet tension and sudden violence registers most sharply.
Director in the Spotlight
Ti West began his career with micro-budget features such as The House of the Devil in 2009 and The Innkeepers in 2011. Both films demonstrated his interest in slow-burn suspense and 1970s and 1980s genre grammar. After a period working in television, West revived his theatrical profile with X, which he wrote, directed and edited. The project originated from a single image of an elderly couple confronting younger intruders, then expanded into a trilogy once Goth expressed interest in playing dual roles across the first two entries. West’s filmography now includes House of Darkness, Pearl, MaXXXine and the upcoming The Monster. His influences range from Dario Argento’s visual flair to the character-driven slashers of the early 1980s, yet he consistently prioritises performer psychology over jump-scare volume.
Comprehensive Filmography Highlights
West’s early shorts and features established a signature rhythm of long takes and withheld revelations. The Sacrament (2013) applied found-footage techniques to a Jonestown-inspired story. In a Valley of Violence (2016) paid tribute to spaghetti westerns. The X trilogy represents his most ambitious narrative experiment to date, linking three films through shared characters and escalating thematic scope. West also directs episodes of prestige horror series, bringing the same attention to period detail and performance that distinguishes his features.
Actor in the Spotlight
Mia Goth first gained attention in Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac and later appeared in Suspiria (2018). Her collaboration with West began on X, where she portrayed both the ambitious adult performer Maxine and the elderly Pearl. Goth performed many of her own stunts and contributed to the choreography of the film’s violent sequences. In MaXXXine she carries the central role alone, supported by an ensemble that includes Elizabeth Debicki, Bobby Cannavale and Kevin Bacon. Goth’s filmography also includes High Life, The Survivalist and the upcoming Frankenstein adaptation. Her performances consistently explore characters negotiating power through performance itself, a thread that reaches its clearest expression in the X trilogy.
Legacy and Influence
MaXXXine extends the recent cycle of self-aware slashers that includes Scream (2022) and Thanksgiving (2023). By anchoring its story in the specific cultural anxieties of 1985, the film demonstrates how period settings can sharpen rather than soften horror’s social commentary. Early box-office returns and streaming metrics indicate strong audience interest in completing the trilogy, suggesting that West’s approach to interconnected horror narratives has found a receptive market. The film’s practical effects and location work also reinforce the value of tangible production design in an era dominated by digital augmentation.
Bibliography
West, T. (2024) MaXXXine. Los Angeles: A24.
Collis, C. (2024) ‘Inside the making of Ti West’s X trilogy’, Entertainment Weekly, 5 July.
Debruge, P. (2024) ‘MaXXXine review’, Variety, 3 July.
Galloway, S. (2023) ‘Mia Goth on playing Maxine and Pearl’, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 December.
Macnab, G. (2024) ‘Ti West interview’, Screen International, 8 July.
Newman, K. (2024) ‘MaXXXine’, Empire, August issue.
Rotten Tomatoes (2024) MaXXXine Tomatometer and audience scores. Available at: https://www.rottentomatoes.com (Accessed: 15 July 2024).
Thompson, A. (2024) ‘How X became a trilogy’, IndieWire, 2 July.
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