Maxxxine, the third in Director Ti West’s slasher
trilogy which began with X and Pearl, is a
devilish send-up of slasher films. Though his previous two were much more
horrific, Maxxxine surrounds itself with period details from the 1980’s
including the big hair, big shoulders and the big story of the day – an actual
serial killer. Namely, Richard Ramirez, the infamous Night Stalker, who
slashed his way through the lives of 13 California residents in 1984 and
1985.
In West’s latest, it’s
1959 when we first see a young Maxxine (Charley Rowan McCain), and she’s dancing
her little heart out for Daddy, reciting “I will not accept a life I do not
deserve.” Flash forward to 1985, Mia Goth’s Maxxine ‘Minx’, as she
now calls herself, has left her past buried in the dirt of the Texas home she
escaped in X. Or so she desperately wants to believe.
Credited as Executive
Producer on Pearl, Goth has upped her game to Producer on Maxxxine.
And she’s surrounded herself with a cast of recognizable faces including
Elizabeth Debicki, Giancarlo Esposito, Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale,
who is having a hell of a big summer between this release and Ezra.
Let’s not forget Halsey, who plays Tabby Martin, a close personal friend of
Maxxine and another player in the adult film industry. Let’s just say
that particular designation, friend to Maxx, is not something to be cherished,
as all of her friends keep turning up dead.
Maxxine, who has been
starring in porn films for a few years now, has finally gotten her big break in
a 'legit' horror film. Yes. Maxxine is a film about a woman with a killer
past, now starring in a horror film, while another slasher roams the streets of
her neighborhood in real time. Satanic references abound, down to the
PMRC, that’s the Parents Music Resource Center for those who weren’t around
then, looking for what they deemed 'smut' and devil worship in the music
industry. There’s even a quick newsreel shot of Twisted Sister’s Dee
Snider, testifying before a Senatorial committee.
Maxxine is being stalked
by someone, and that someone has hired John Labat (Kevin Bacon) to track her
down and put a scare into her. Is that someone also responsible for some
of the deaths being attributed to the Night Stalker? Once Labat appears
on the scene, Maxxine’s memory starts regurgitating some of the deadly scenes
she thought she left behind in that small Texas town. Even her excessive
use of cocaine can’t sweep the memories away. And the closer her personal
stalker gets, the worse her nightmares become.
Her waking hell gets so
bad, so distracting, it may cause her to lose the grip on her Hollywood dream
and become a nightmare she can’t escape. The film’s Director,
Elizabeth Bender (Debicki), who herself climbed the rickety ladder of Hollywood
success, tells her to get her head straight before she loses the role.
Which puts an even bigger scare into her than any stalker could.
And we all know that
what Maxxine wants, Maxxine gets, no matter who stands in her way.
I think you'll agree that the
interspersing of real and surreal newsclips in the film, and the club tunes from the era when Frankie told us all to just Relax, add much to the
ambiance of the film. So, relax. Maxxxine’s got it all figured out.
Tell friend
