And, action. A few years back, Ti West and Mia Goth took the horror world by surprise – not with the fact that their slasher team-up X was excellent (West’s work has long been acclaimed), but with the news that, during its production, the pair had devised and shot an imminent prequel, the 1920s-set Pearl. Together, the two films made fascinating companion-pieces – each evoking different eras of filmmaking (X authentically 70s-scuzzy, Pearl going full early-Technicolour) without holding back on the gore, the scares, and some surprising melancholy undertones. Add in astonishing performances from Goth as both rising porn star Maxine Minx and psycho killer Pearl, and you had an instant double-whammy hit. Now, they’re about to cap it off with X sequel MaXXXine – taking Ms. Minx into 1980s Hollywood. Watch the trailer:
If you’ve caught up on X and Pearl already (which you really should, if you’ve got the stomach for it), this looks like a hugely exciting closing chapter – one firmly leaning into its 1985 setting, with a neon-lit Hollywood, blood-splattered VHS tapes, and a slasher plot that evokes the Satanic Panic fears of the era. And after – spoiler alert! – surviving the Farmer’s Daughter massacre in X, Maxine is ready to make it big in Hollywood and prove that she’s a star – even if that means stepping up from porn into schlocky horror sequels like ‘The Puritan II’. Beyond Goth, we see Elizabeth Debicki as The Puritan director Elizabeth Bender; Kevin Bacon as a private detective; Halsey as Maxine’s friend; and, yes, a brief glimpse of Goth as Pearl, standing in the window of the Psycho house on the Universal backlot. More, please!
MaXXXine is written and directed by West, and also stars Giancarlo Esposito, Bobby Cannavale, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, and Lily Collins. While it’s hitting US screens on 5 July (the same date seen on The Puritan II clapperboard in the trailer), Universal has it in the UK, and it'll hit our cinemas on 9 August – not too long after, hooray! And cut.