Maxine Minx always knew she was going to be a star. Her father did, too, but that’s another story in itself.

Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) sees Maxine’s star power. Tasked with directing The Puritan II, Bender has auteurist aspirations and stakes the success of her movie, and possibly her career, on casting Maxine (Mia Goth) in a crucial role.

The producers don’t want Maxine. Maxine is an adult film star, a popular one who is constantly getting recognized wherever she goes, and they’re afraid casting an honest-to-goodness sex worker in their sexy, schlocky, satanic-possession horror flick might upset the moral majority. The year is 1985. Ronald Reagan is in his second term, protestors pepper the streets of Hollywood and condemn the studios for corrupting the nation with filth, news anchors stoke the flames of Satan worship and the rise of the occult, and the Night Stalker terrorizes the city of Los Angeles. Hooray for Hollywood.

MaXXXine, written and directed by Ti West, does an excellent job of immersing viewers in the milieu. West sets the scene via TV news reports, all cut together like one terrible stream of consciousness, but the overall tone is bolstered by the seedy porn shops of Hollywood Boulevard, the neon-soaked VHS rental stores, and the brilliant sunshine of Los Angeles in the afternoon. It wouldn’t be a stretch to compare MaXXXine with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, except there’s more gore.

Violence follows Maxine everywhere she goes, from a street performer packing a knife in a back alley to the Night Stalker, who may or may not be leaving Maxine unmarked packages. Maxine is always moving from one threatening scenario to the next. Nothing unusual for her, nothing she can’t handle. It’s part of her past, you might say.

MaXXXine is the third installment in an unusual trilogy of slasher movies exploring the burning desire to become a star in the 1970s, the 1910s, and now the 1980s. In X, an independent film crew rents what they think is a vacant farmhouse to shoot a porno, only to discover the owners are home, and they’re really pissed off at the passion all those naked young bodies exhibit. In Pearl, a young girl yearns to leave the ho-hum life on the farm and head off to Hollywood, only to be waylaid by the killer inside. And in MaXXXine, the terror stalking Maxine might actually make her the star she always wanted to be.

And in all three, Goth plays Maxine and Pearl, old and young, innocent and experienced. She’s the reason these movies work. West is an intriguing filmmaker with plenty on the mind, but without the heart and soul Goth brings to the roles, the insights might be too shallow and obvious.

There’s a gag running through MaXXXine where everyone, even Detective Torres (Bobby Cannavale), tasked with solving the case of the Night Stalker, wants to be in pictures. It’s funny because it’s somewhat true—especially if you’ve lived in Los Angeles for any amount of time—but it’s low-hanging fruit. It also only applies to one type of Angeleno and not the millions upon millions who live and work in the sprawling city with no intention or direction to stardom.

But MaXXXine isn’t trying to go there, so neither shall I. Instead, West and Goth aim to give viewers a good time with a little bit of grit, something to chew on, and a whole lot of gooey gore. They succeed.

MaXXXine(2024)
Written and directed by Ti West
Produced by Mia Goth, Jacob Jaffke, Harrison Kreiss, Kevin Turen, Ti West
Starring: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Giancarlo Esposito, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Prast, Kevin Bacon, Zachary Mooren
A24, Rated R, Running time 104 minutes, Opens July 5, 2025

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