Ti West and Mia Goth follow up to 2022’s X and Pearl is a sexy thriller titled MaXXXine. Set in the 1980’s Los Angeles, the film follows Maxine Minx as she attempts to make the leap from porn to mainstream films. After Maxine lands the lead role in The Puritan II, people close to her are found dead with a satanic brand burned into their skin. This is the same time the Night Stalker is terrorizing the L.A area. Citizens and some police are attributing these murders to him. Homicide detectives Williams (Michele Monaghan) and Torres (Bobby Cannavale) believe Maxine is hiding something and continue to question her about the murders.

Meanwhile, Maxine has a mysterious stalker (dressed in leather) following her and lurking in the shadows (literally). Maxine is also given a VHS tape letting her know someone is aware of the past she’s running from.

With this film also being written and directed by Ti West, it feels like X and Pearl at times feeling similarly to their slasher/period piece film vibes. Ti West does a fantastic job capturing the fashion, feel, and lo-fi look of the 1980’s. He even captures the “satanic panic” feeling that hovered over the 80’s and infused them into the storytelling.

The big difference in this installment is how bloody it is. It gets very bloody and disgusting at times. Early in the film, Maxine is threatened in an alley by a street performer. He meets a shocking fate…let’s just say the situation doesn’t end well for that young man. As the body count piles up, so does the blood and gore.

The film isn’t all carnage and kills, there are a lot of laughs in this dark twisted tale. Most of them come courtesy of Kevin Bacon as John Labat. His character spends most of the film getting beat up, but it’s funny every time.

One thing the film makes abundantly clear, Mia Goth isn’t a rising star in Hollywood; she’s catapulting her way to the top. Her performance is what makes this psychotic thriller work so well. During Maxine’s audition for The Puritan II, she delivers a chilling monologue. It’s clear in that scene that Mia is going to be a big movie star, sooner than later.

MaXXXine is a great installment in Ti West’s trilogy of time period terror films. It’s not a hardcore horror film, if that’s what you’re expecting, but it is a fantastic thriller with some gruesome kills and spills. It’s surprisingly funny and entertaining despite the dark subject matter.  I don’t know what Mia Goth and Ti West are doing next, but they can’t keep making these films for as long as they’d like.

Grade: B+