Maxxxine is not just a homage to exploitation thrillers – it is one

“We are what we pretend to be. Therefore we must be careful what we pretend to be.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Mother’s Night

Your Wests Maxxxinethe third film of the horror trilogy West began with 2022 X And pearlincludes an early scene in which a man’s bare scrotum is dramatically shoved under a stiletto heel and then crushed underfoot. It’s a close-up, presumably done with practical effects and anatomical accuracy, that induces squirming. There’s a lot of screaming, of course. It’s the kind of shot that’s meant to make audiences squirm, wince, cross their legs protectively – and possibly laugh, because it’s so grotesquely over the top. And it’s the kind of moment that makes thoughtful genre fans wonder where exactly the line is between an exploitation film homage and outright exploitation.

Maxxxine is a film full of references, like X And pearl before. All three films are a homage to earlier eras of cinema: Xtakes place in 1979 and is visually and narratively a reminiscence of the slashers of the 70s, especially The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. pearlis set in 1918 and is based on classic musicals of the 1950s and Disney films. And Maxxxine, is set in 1985 and is visually and narratively strongly influenced by horror thrillers of the 80s – especially Brian De Palma’s Body doublealthough sex-soaked revenge dramas like Abel Ferrara’s Woman 45 also get their consent.

But where X is more interested in characters and the philosophies of fame, sex and pornography than films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre

And pearl is not a musical or a family-friendly film, there is no significant difference between Maxxxine and the kind of sleazy, slobbering, violence-filled films he is referring to. (Although there is a big difference between this and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psychowhich West repeatedly quotes in his recordings and sets throughout the trilogy.) The film does not feel ironic or satirical, nor does it feel like a profound analysis or commentary. It is the first of the three films that could actually be considered a new entry in the genre it refers to.

This change is not a positive step. Maxxxine is sharper, slicker, faster and more direct than the other two films in the series, and certainly entertaining for those who can stomach its deliberately challenging, boundary-pushing bloodshed. But this time it feels like West has become, as Kurt Vonnegut would put it, what he once only pretended to be. This is not just a matter of taxonomy, irrelevant to everyone except bean counters and librarians trying to figure out which shelf to put Maxxxine continues. It affects the story in a frustrating way.

This chapter of history finds X Survivor Maxine Minx (Mia Goth, the anchor of the trilogy) lives in Hollywood, working in adult films and in a strip club while auditioning for studio films and trying to break into the mainstream. She gets her chance from director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki, who looks more like a Robert Palmer Girls than ever before), an iconoclastic director whose horror film The Puritan gave her a breakthrough in a bigger budget film Puritans IIMaxine is cast in the lead role, but her big moment is threatened by a series of distractions, some of which could end both her life and her career.

A local serial killer is at work, the “Night Stalker,” targeting young, attractive women like Maxine. Avuncular, slimy detective John Labat (Kevin Bacon, gobbling up any scenery within reach and making it look delicious) attempts to blackmail her on behalf of a secret client by threatening to betray her to Texas law enforcement as the only person who knows what happened during the events of. X. As cold and controlled as Maxine appears, she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has harrowing flashbacks after these events. And a couple of LA cops (Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan) are also pursuing her because they suspect she knows something about how two of her colleagues were tortured, branded with pentagrams, murdered and thrown into a nearby pond.

The storyline of Night Stalker was inspired by a notorious rapist and murderer in real lifeand the details of the torture victims that were disposed of in public are a reminder of one of the most horrific and memorable crimes in Los Angeles, the Murder of the Black Dahlia. But the visual and narrative treatment of all these storylines is pure exploitation film. The story certainly contains a fair amount of violence against men, from the rape-movie-like scrotum-piercing moment to a few unforgettable, gruesome deaths. But Maxxxine spends far more time showing women being threatened, harassed and commodified, being stalked, stared at and judged by male sexual predators, being tied up and tortured and dumped naked in public.

It’s all familiar enough to blend into one another, no matter how abruptly and aggressively West cuts between his close-ups of tortured female corpses. What makes the story a story is Maxine’s reaction to living in this kind of oversexualized, raw environment – and Maxxxine often lets her down. West writes her as a ruthless, wild survivor who would do anything for fame, but then repeatedly takes her fate out of her hands and leaves it to other people instead. He gives her a touch of vulnerability with these flashbacks to her past traumas, but casually drops this part of the narrative once it was useful to inject a few sudden shocks into the film.

Above all, Maxxxine never really fills in the gaps that would make Maxine more than a flashpoint for various kinds of lurid violence. She doesn’t escape her problems through particularly smart or surprising choices. She confronts the film’s ultimate predator, but in a way that only reveals more information about him, not her. The film’s climax puts her on the sidelines. And the buildup to that climax is full of sequences that are meant to feel cool, edgy, horrific, or exciting on their own, but with no sense that they’re part of any development or progression. Things happen to and around Maxine – horrible, disgusting, exploitative things – but the script seems more interested in those things than in her.

X And pearl both have their flaws, but both let goth characters (Maxine in the first case, former fame-obsessive Pearl in the second) talk at length about who they are and what they want. In both cases, these sequences are queasy, fascinating and memorable. And they’re part of what makes this trilogy tick, alongside the memorable splashes of graphic violence and the strange, black humor that permeates all three films. Maxxxine literally silences Goth at the crucial moment, allowing West to focus more on the bloody chaos than on what she has to say.

And that leaves Maxxxine feels unbalanced compared to the other two films, as if it’s not so much about the main character but rather how much filthy grotesquerie West can pile on screen. It’s more focused on satisfying the audience’s presumed hunger for sex, blood, and rape than fulfilling any specific story arc for Maxine herself. That kind of focus on transgression and titillation defined the films West channels this time around. But up until now, this series has only felt like West was nodding to his influences while achieving his own discreet goals. With Maxxxineit’s more like it’s trying to supplant them without bringing anything new to the table other than better effects and a bigger budget.

Maxxxine will be in theaters on July 5th.