“MaXXXine”, Ti West’s urban, sexy, violent and tight-lipped thriller

A thriller tinged with satanism in Hollywood, “MaXXXine” is the third feature film by Ti West, a long-time workaholic of the TV series.

MaXXXinemore than a sequel to Ti West’s previous film, Xis a variation of it. He reprises his character of Maxine (or Pearl), a porn star shooting her first non-erotic film, persecuted by a serial killer. We are in the middle of a genre film, with graphic horror and gore, of the best vein, on screens Wednesday July 31.

Los Angeles, 1985: porn star Maxine Minx is about to star in her first “normal” film. But she doesn’t count on a puritanical serial killer who engraves Satanic fingerprints on his savagely tortured and mutilated victims. Maxine is in his sights and those around her are his prey.

Sulphurous as you want, the pitch is well served by its director Ti West, author of the screenplay, whose subject overlaps his previous films. We find his actress Mia Goth, from his film Pearlwho co-signed the production with him. The central theme of the father is also found in both films. The three “X”s of MaXXXine refer to the highest level of public warning about the sexual and violent content of a film, according to the censorship. MaXXXine is prohibited for children under 12, Ti West’s previous film (X) was under 16.

MaXXXine reassures about the sustainability of quality adult fantasy cinema, here treated from a police angle. The investigation around the murders encroaches on the life and profession of Maxine (Mia Goth), with her surveillance by the police, her presence in the studios, the most secret places in Hollywood, which brings an exotic color, a touch documentary, to the genre.

The backdrop of the young woman dreaming of Hollywood fame, killed with horror, has its source in the story of the “black Daliah”, the surname of Elizabeth Short, found cut in two in a vacant lot in LA in 1947. The actress Maxine in the film, as the killer’s designated victim, evokes the Veronica Lake, Lana Turner and Katharine Hepburn of the 1940s. Ti West is clearly in love with his actress and with cinema. He plays with talent the mysteries of film noir, does not film for television, multiplying the scales of shots in a dynamic montage. He makes a thriller that is a little disturbing, like when fantastic cinema is at its best.

Gender : Thriller/Horror
Director: Ti West
Actors: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Giancarlo Esposito, Lily Collins, Halsey, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan
Country : UNITED STATES
Duration : 1h44
Exit : July 31 2024 (originally scheduled for August 28)
Distributer : Condor Distribution

Not allowed for children under 12 years

Synopsis : Los Angeles, in the years 1980. Adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally lands the role of her dreams. But as a mysterious killer stalks Hollywood starlets, bloody clues threaten to expose Maxine’s dark past.