Mia Goth R-Rated Summer Slasher Heads To Max
A24 has long been pairing with HBO’s streaming platform, Max, to bring audiences the best of its extensive catalog. It’s wonderful for subscribers to have movies like Alex Garland’s Civil War (which just arrived this week), Ari Aster’s Midsommar, and Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All at Once all in one place and, soon, another one of the studio’s hit productions will celebrate its Max debut. Fully delivering on the campy-thriller-horror vibes of the ‘80s, Ti West’s MaXXXine is set to arrive on the platform on October 18.
Led by Mia Goth in the titular role, MaXXXine is the third installment in the director’s slasher trilogy. While the movie does a solid job of explaining the background of how the character ended up in Los Angeles at the beginning of the movie, here’s a brief refresher.
The Third In The Trilogy
Ti West’s 2022 title, X, sets up the plot of MaXXXine, which takes place shortly before the events of the third movie. In it, audiences meet Maxine Minx, one of the actresses in an adult film shoot taking place on a rented piece of property. The cabin sits on a piece of farmland owned by a married couple, Pearl (Goth) and Howard (Stephen Ure), who end up being complete psychopaths and murder the entire group—save for Maxine.
Bodies Keep Dropping Around Maxine
With a pile of bodies littering the farm, Maxine takes off in Pearl and Howard’s truck and heads to Los Angeles to pursue her love of acting. It’s here that MaXXXine begins, with audiences catching up with the titular character and learning what she’s been up to since the second movie. Maxine has found success in Hollywood, managing to land what could be the gig that jump-starts her career, but she’s being stalked by a mysterious murderer who makes themself known by killing off her friends.
The Stacked Cast
Joining Mia Goth in MaXXXine is a stacked cast that includes the likes of Kevin Bacon (Footloose), Bobby Cannavale (The Watcher), Elizabeth Debicki (The Crown), Michelle Monaghan (Bad Monkey), Moses Sumney (Creed), Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), and popstar Halsey. The film is a true ode to all things Hollywood and the ‘80s as it takes audiences along to iconic cinematic landmarks like the house from Psycho and the Hollywood sign.
The Biggest One Yet
Mia Goth and Ti West have been building this horror trilogy over the last few years, with MaXXXine expected to be the franchise’s capper. However, because of a solid audience turnout and a global box office accumulation of $21 million, it’s always possible that there will be another chapter in the story of Maxine Minx. The film was met with largely positive reviews, currently holding a Certified Fresh rating of 73 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Coming to Max For Halloween
If you’ve already seen X and the prequel Pearl and plan to stream MaXXXine when it arrives on Max next month, it’s worth noting that the movie is very different from its predecessors. While the former two movies lean into the slasher aspect of the horror genre, the third installment feels almost more like a crime thriller with a few bigger scares along the way. Still, it’s definitely one you should add to your queue and check out when it arrives on Max on October 18.
