Starring Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon

Directed by Ti West

A24

In 1980s Hollywood, an adult film star finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.

Writer/director/editor Ti West concludes his trilogy after X (2022) and Pearl (2022) with another powerhouse performance from Mia Goth as Maxine Minx.

A gory love letter to Hollywood, Brian DePalma, Italian Giallo and 80s grindhouse, this is a movie that wears its references proudly on its sleeve, and for a retro horror buff like me it ticks all the right boxes in all the right places.

It’s six years since the carnage at a Texas farmhouse where Maxine barely escaped with her life (see X) and she’s now trying to break out of adult movies into more mainstream productions. This is under the shadow of the murderous ‘Night Stalker’ and the protests of satanic panic.

And then Kevin Bacon arrives and hams it up (ahem!) in a fruity performance as a private detective. His client has asked him to track down Maxine, and it looks like her involvement in the Texas murders is in danger of derailing her acting career. A wonderful supporting cast includes Elizabeth Debicki as a horror movie director, Giancarlo Esposito as an agent, Lily Collins as scream queen and Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Canavale as detectives.

If, like me, you love seeing the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles and looking behind the scenes of how movies are made, you’ll lap up West’s movie. Goth is an absolute force of nature, and if you don’t laugh out loud at the resolution of a scene where she’s cornered in an alleyway, then this really isn’t for you.

Verdict: I think that X just edges it as the best in this trilogy, but MaXXXine is close behind. Shocking, gory fun for connoisseurs of old school horror. 9/10

Nick Joy