Ti West expands the world of X with a Technicolor origin story that traces the early life of its central antagonist.

Released in 2022, Pearl functions as both a prequel and a tonal counterpart to Ti West’s earlier slasher X. Where the first film confined its violence to a single night in 1970s Texas, this follow-up ventures back to 1918 and the rural Texas farm that shaped the character known only as Pearl. The result is a period piece that blends saturated visuals with psychological decay, delivering a portrait of ambition curdled into something far darker.

From Farm to Frame

The story opens on the isolated homestead where Pearl lives with her stern German immigrant mother and ailing father. While the rest of the world contends with the final months of the First World War and the Spanish flu pandemic, Pearl dreams of Hollywood stardom and escape from the daily grind of farm labour. Her longing manifests in private dance routines and furtive trips to the local cinema, each excursion widening the gap between her fantasies and her reality. West and co-writer Mia Goth construct these early scenes with deliberate restraint, allowing the audience to register Pearl’s isolation before the first violent rupture occurs.

Visual Language and Period Detail

Shot on 35 mm with an emphasis on primary colours, the film deliberately evokes the look of late silent-era and early Technicolor productions. Production designer Malcolm Sonner and cinematographer Eliot Rockett fill the farmhouse interiors with gingham, floral wallpaper and hand-painted signage that feel both nostalgic and slightly off-kilter. The same palette that celebrates Pearl’s dance sequences later stains the aftermath of her crimes, turning domestic objects into instruments of horror. This controlled use of colour becomes one of the film’s most effective tools for signalling psychological shifts without relying on conventional jump scares.

Director in the Spotlight

Ti West began his career in the early 2000s with micro-budget features that revived classic horror structures. The House of the Devil (2009) demonstrated his ability to sustain tension across long, dialogue-light stretches, while The Innkeepers (2011) refined his interest in haunted spaces and unreliable protagonists. After a period working in television and on anthology projects, West returned to features with X (2022), which he wrote, directed and edited. The decision to shoot Pearl back-to-back with X allowed the same crew to maintain visual continuity while shifting the temporal setting by more than half a century. His filmography also includes the revisionist western In a Valley of Violence (2016) and the found-footage experiment The Sacrament (2013), both of which reveal a consistent interest in characters whose private mythologies collide with brutal external realities.

Actor in the Spotlight

Mia Goth had already appeared in several genre projects, including the 2015 reboot of The Human Centipede and Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, before landing the dual role of Maxine and Pearl. For Pearl she performed the majority of her own choreography, working with a movement coach to recreate the stiff yet expressive style of early 20th-century screen dance. Goth also co-wrote the screenplay, contributing dialogue that captures Pearl’s oscillating registers of childlike wonder and sudden rage. The performance earned widespread praise for its physical commitment and vocal range, particularly in the extended monologue delivered to a scarecrow in the film’s final act.

Production Realities

Because Pearl was filmed immediately after X on the same Texas locations, the production reused several standing sets while constructing new interiors for the 1918 farmhouse. The compressed schedule required Goth to transition between the two characters within days, a process she later described as emotionally taxing. Practical effects supervisor Josh Russell handled the film’s more graphic moments with a combination of prosthetics and blood rigs calibrated to the brighter colour scheme. Composer Tyler Bates returned from X, this time incorporating a small string ensemble to underscore the period setting without lapsing into pastiche.

Themes of Ambition and Confinement

At its core, Pearl examines the cost of denied artistic expression. Pearl’s mother represents a generation that survived hardship by suppressing desire, while Pearl herself refuses that bargain. The film never excuses her subsequent violence; instead it traces how repeated rejection and enforced domesticity erode her already fragile sense of self. The pandemic backdrop adds a layer of historical resonance, reminding viewers that isolation and mortality were not abstract concepts in 1918. West avoids overt allegory, yet the parallels with contemporary experiences of lockdown and frustrated ambition remain legible.

Legacy and Influence

Since its release, Pearl has been cited in discussions of elevated horror and the renewed interest in period-set genre films. Its success helped secure financing for the third instalment, MaXXXine, which continues the story into 1980s Los Angeles. The film also prompted renewed appreciation for Mia Goth’s range, positioning her as a leading figure in contemporary horror. Critics have noted that Pearl demonstrates how prequels can function as character studies rather than simple origin stories, influencing subsequent projects that revisit familiar monsters through earlier timelines.

Conclusion

Pearl stands as a rare example of a horror prequel that deepens rather than dilutes its source material. By relocating the violence to 1918 and foregrounding the psychological formation of its antagonist, Ti West and Mia Goth have created a work that rewards both fans of X and viewers encountering the character for the first time. Its vivid aesthetic and unflinching portrait of ambition remain potent long after the final frame.

Bibliography

West, T. (2022) Pearl. A24.

Goth, M. and West, T. (2022) ‘Interview: Mia Goth and Ti West on Pearl’, Filmmaker Magazine, 16 September.

Rockett, E. (2022) ‘Shooting Pearl on 35 mm’, American Cinematographer, October issue.

Dyer, R. (2022) ‘Pearl review’, Variety, 11 September.

Harvey, D. (2023) Contemporary Horror Cinema: Prequels and Origins. London: Wallflower Press.

Brophy, P. (2022) ‘Colour and Cruelty in Pearl’, Sight and Sound, December issue.

IMDb (2024) ‘Pearl (2022) – Full Cast and Crew’. Available at: https://www.imdb.com (Accessed: 12 January 2025).

Rotten Tomatoes (2024) ‘Pearl – Tomatometer and Audience Score’. Available at: https://www.rottentomatoes.com (Accessed: 12 January 2025).

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