To say that this year has been a really good year for independent horror films would be a huge understatement. With one of the best independent horror films to come out in the past few years being 2022's X a film that was so popular that a prequel was produced not long after X had finished filming and with both of those films being massive hits at the box office it was only about time that we returned to the world of X and well now two years later the sequel to X is now finally here and so the join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the film that sees Maxine Minx take on another slasher villain with the film in question being called simply just "MaXXXine" enjoy.
The plot of this film is several years after the events of X adult film star Maxine Minx finds herself auditioning for a role in a horror film while she also has to content with a new killer on the loose one that knows Maxine a little to well. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was n all honesty really good as the plot of this film does a good job of setting up where the Maxine character is in a way that feels true to who that character is as well as giving us a plot that whilst might have been alot more better off if it was made in the nineties was still fresh and different enough from all of the horror films that there that it can kind of get away with being a bit more dated in some respects with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is this films producer Mia Goth as Maxine Minx and Elizabeth Debicki as Elizabeth Bender. Also starring in this film is Moses Sumney as Leon , Michelle Monaghan as Det. Williams , Bobby Cannavale as Det. Torres , singer Halsey as Tabby Martin , Lily Collins as Molly Bennett , The Mandalorian star Giancarlo Esposito as Teddy Knight , Kevin Bacon as John Labat and Simon Prast as The Televangelist.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which considering who is starring in this film really isn't all that new nor surprising either alot of this films cast really do know how to turn in a really good performance and as was per-usual for this franchise that's exactly what we got with all of this films cast members turning in some really good performances it goes without saying tho that the true standout performer in this film is quite easily Mia Goth who is just a joy to watch in this film as she manages to portray the loneliness that a character like Maxine would have been feeling due to the events of X and still make her a likable character that you want to root for with the acting in this film really being helped by the fact that the script for this film is just so good that all this films cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this film.
What was unexpected is the fact that this film does portray the Hollywood film industry of the nineteen eighties in way that's true to how it most likely would have been. As the hollywood in this film is presented as a place that's where dreams are made of and where all you need is one lucky break to make it something which isn't in alot of horror films or films in general as alot of those films tell us that Hollywood is a place that's full to the brim of sleezy people and while yes that might have been true in the eighties as well it's not something that's focused on in this film as the Hollywood in this film is presented as a place that feels alot more real and lived in and while yes there are hints of that sleezy nature in this film it's not really something that's given a whole lot of focus on in this film with it being done really alot more in the background as we do get some of that sleezy nature with the more real Hollywood being at the forefront which is how it should be as it's something that really hasn't been seen before now.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!
This film does try to do the Scream type of slasher film by having a mystery surrounding who the main villain actually. However whereas that was built into the very DNA of the Scream films it was something that's never been in any of the X films and as a result of that is the fact that it really does come out nowhere with the actual mystery itself not being that well handled as the film really doesn't give you any clues to work out who the main killer of the film actually is and as a result of that is the fact that unless you've seen X then when it's revealed that the killer is Simon Prast's character who does actually get name here with the character officially being called Ernest Miller it really is something that does come out of nowhere and will leave you all scratching your heads as the film really doesn't give the us the audience any clues so that we can work it out for ourselfs heck there isn't even any suspects as to who the killer could have been either it's just something that is treated more as an afterthought with the film focusing more on it's slasher aspect and not really giving alot of care and attention to it's mystery aspect when the attention should have been fifty fifty with both aspects of the film getting alot of love and attention and not just one over the other.
Speaking of the Ernest Miller character while he is an interesting character the character himself is always going to be compared to Pearl just because of the fact that she was the better of the two characters. Where as with Ernest Miller even tho he did make alot of appearances in X he was more of a background character with him taking the spotlight if you will in this film and while the character does have some good reason for wanting to commit these crimes as he believes that Hollywood is turning people to sin and so uses perverse teachings to convince people that he's in the right and killing those that disagree with him to the point where he's basically formed a cult and while the revelation of Maxine being his daughter was a great addition to X it's not really something that's fully explored upon in this film which it really could have done just by having the two of them interact more and not have Maxine know that he's killing all of these people just yet as that could be something that develops both characters and it would have given us the audience some insight as to what Maxine's childhood was like growing up with a televangelist father and how that really made her want to bust out from his shadow be the star that she knows that she is as well as seeing how he reacted to her surviving the events of X and her wanting to be a star im her own right both of which are things that could have been explored in great detail in this film and yet for some strange reason there not but it;s quite clear that writer , editor , producer and director Ti West really does have a clear love for the slasher genre tho.
Interms of the newer character this film doesn't really fair all that well which does make sense as the side characters in both X and Pearl aren't really all that good either. However at the same time tho the makers of this film have had two years now to learn how to create good side characters and yet they really haven't and as a result of that is the fact that all of this films newer characters just come across very dimensional characters with the worst offender of this being Elizabeth Bender who just comes across as being the stereotypical unlikable boss type of character who has a few likable moments about them and really nothing more then that as we get to find out nothing about her and what makes her tick other then the fact that she's an artist ad that's really it and that's not enough to make her a interesting character and that wouldn't be a bad things if she only appeared in one or two scenes all throughout the film but she appears in quite alot of the film so much so that she pretty much has a slightly big role in the film and yet she's not given much there in the way of character with the same thing also being true for Leon who is pretty much just the stereotypical gay best friend that you'd expect to find in any romantic comedy who is also just a carbon copy of Randy Meeks from Scream as all he does is explain things to Maxine and that's really it.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty six minuets and two seconds. Which is the absolutely perfect running tie for this film to have as when you boil this films plot down to it's essentials this film has just the right amount of plot to really cover that amount of running time and to this films credit it really does make the absolutely best use of it's running time that it could have dine and while yes this film really would have been alot more better if it did have a slightly longer running time as that would then allow the makers of this film to give the characters some more actual character and it would allow us the audience the chance to see what Maxine's childhood was like and what her father Earnest's reaction to her surviving the events of X was like alot of those scenes would also be required to have been in the film from the script stage as that would be the best way to make sure that they don't bog down the plot of the film but I will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a slasher film that does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in al honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the kills in this film being just as fun and just as gory as they were in both X and Pearl heck it could even be argued that the kills in this film are even more gory then the kills that we got in both X and Pearl with the best kill in this film being either the death of Earnest himself who's gets his head shot clean of by Maxine using a shot gun or to a guy who straight up gets crushed to death in a car compactor which is just such a fun scene to see with it being also a really shocking kill as it's nothing some that you expect to see in a slasher film and yet it's something that also oddly works for this film as well and it makes all of the kills in this film well and truly standout out from all of the other kills in alot of other slasher films that are being released this year as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!
Overall while this film isn't really a good end to the X trilogy which given that Ti West is currently possibly developing a fourth film in the series does make sense it's also not as good as both X and Pearl where and instead feels like a weak end to a really strong trilogy of films in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official X Franchise fandom wiki page , the official Scream fandom wiki page , Tenor and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images really simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and really plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images really were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we really always do with really our one and really true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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