Mia Goth Shines in the Grisly Conclusion to Ti West’s Horror Trilogy

The third film in Ti West’s X trilogy, MaXXXine, confirms what we already suspected after X and Pearl: that Mia Goth is a one-off – a gifted genre actor with an unnervingly intense screen presence who is at ease with shape-shifting character work. And while MaXXXine is the weakest of the three films, Goth is well worth the price of admission, if only for the chilling, almost reptilian glaze of ambition in her eyes as she pursues her career dream.

The fluorescent mid-80s setting of MaXXXine

The film unfolds in the fluorescent mid-80s, six years after the messy events of X, and follows porn actor Maxine Minx (Goth) as she makes her jump into mainstream cinema, in a horror movie directed by the demanding Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki). Maxine will let nothing stand in her way, be it a shady private detective (Kevin Bacon, gloriously seedy and unsavoury) or the serial killer who stalks the Hollywood Hills.

“Goth excels as porn star and aspiring actor Maxine Minx, who makes the leap to horror movies as a killer stalks the Hollywood Hills in this predictable end to the X series”

Gore addicts will be sated – the prosthetics and makeup are robustly grisly – but the story feels rather too glib and predictable to be fully satisfying. Despite this, Goth’s performance is a highlight, and her character’s determination to succeed in the cutthroat world of Hollywood is both captivating and unsettling.

The Hollywood Hills, where the serial killer stalks

In the end, MaXXXine is a fitting conclusion to the X trilogy, even if it doesn’t quite live up to the standards set by its predecessors. With Goth’s chilling performance and the film’s gruesome special effects, it’s a must-see for horror fans.

Mia Goth as Maxine Minx