This article contains mentions of rape and murder. It also contains SPOILERS for MaXXXine (2024).
Summary
The movieMaXXXinetakes inspiration from many other horror movies, creating an entertaining and well-rounded pastiche to the horror of the 1970s and 1980s.MaXXXineis the conclusion to A24 andTi West’s horror movie trilogy. The movie follows Maxine Minx, a porn actor who aspires to be a star in mainstream Hollywood movies. Unfortunately, when she gets her big break, her past catches up with her, leading to murders all around her.
Like the past two movies in theXtrilogy,MaXXXinepays respect to the horror genres that came before. Because the movie is set in 1985 Hollywood, it primarily focuses on horror films from this decade and the one before. Rather than 70s slashers or 50s technicolor,MaXXXinepays much more attention to exploitation horror, psychological thrillers, and noir.Ti West’s inspirations can be recognized through thematic, narrative, and scene parallels.
Where To Watch MaXXXine: Showtimes & Streaming Status
Mia Goth returns as Maxine Minx in the X sequel, and there are options for where to watch MaXXXine with theater showtimes or at home on streaming.
The most obvious horror movie that inspiredMaXXXineis the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock moviePsycho. This deviates from most of the movie’s other inspirations since Psycho doesn’t fall into the exploitation subcategory.Psychois a psychological thriller that centers on a woman named Marion Crane who stays at the Bates Hotel, run by the proprietor Norman Bates. InMaXXXine, Elizabeth Bender, the director of the in-universe horror moviePuritan II, takes Maxine Minx to the Psycho set, a landmark in horror history.
The film revisits this location twice. First, when she hallucinates Pearl in the window of Norman Bates’ house. Second, when she’s running away from John Labat. The Psycho set represents Maxine’s drive for lasting fame and notoriety. Additionally, while nothing bad happens during the scene,MaXXXineincludes a shower scene that uses many of the same lighting and angles asPsycho.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Ti West drew inspiration from the classic slasher horror movieThe Texas Chainsaw Massacrewhen creating the first movie in his trilogy,X. In the classic slasher movie, a group stops at a farmhouse and discovers murderous individuals next door. The group then gets slaughtered one by one at the hands of the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface. This parallels the storyline ofX, where the group goes to a farmhouse to shoot a porn film and discover the murderous couple next door, most notably Pearl.
Since the prequelPearlmade no reference toThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it seemed the trilogy left it behind in the first film. However,MaXXXinemakes a hilarious and direct reference to the movie with a quick and easy-to-miss moment.A newspaper about the murders inXdescribes the event as “the Texas pornstar massacre.”
MaXXXinemakes a direct and indirect homage to the Giallo movieThe Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage follows an American writer named Sam Dalmas, who sees an attack while visiting Rome and becomes obsessed with solving the string of murders related to the event. The direct inspiration can be seen whenever the serial killer is visible beforeMaXXXine’s ending. Like the villain inThe Bird with the Crystal Plumage,the 2024 movie’s villain wears a black coat and black leather gloves.
MaXXXine Review: Mia Goth Cements Her Stardom In Nearly Perfect Conclusion To A24’s Slasher Trilogy
There are complicated layers that Goth needs to bring to the surface, and she delivers a layered character who is equal parts victim and survivor.
MaXXXine’s less direct inspiration isThe Bird with the Crystal Plumage’s genre. Gaillos are Italian murder mystery movies that incorporate elements of slasher, thriller, horror, and eroticism. Ti West’s movie mirrors the balance of murder mystery and horror in Gaillos. The police officers and Maxine Minx both want to solve the brutal murders surrounding the titular main character.
7The Burning Hell (1974)
A Damaging Christian Propoganda Horror Movie
MaXXXine’s true crime referencesmade it seem like the Night Stalker was behind the murders surrounding Maxine Minx; however, it’s eventually revealed that her father, Earnest Miller, was behind the deaths. His motivations and backstories are connected to the real-life man Estus Pirkle and his horror documentary hybrid movieThe Burning Hell. Estus Pirkle was a cinematic evangelist who spread dangerous fire-and-brimstone Hell propaganda meant to scare people into changing their ways.He famously made horror movies showing sinners getting punished for their supposed sins.
Maxine Minx’s father parallels this motivation and personality. Earnest records all the murders he commits, purportedly after he offered the victims redemption, and they turned it down. He intends to make a movie with all the footage showing what happens to people who commit sins. The biggest difference betweenThe Burning Helland Earnest’s movie inMaXXXineis that Estus Pirkle didn’t really kill the victims in the movie.
Of all the major moviesMaXXXinedraws from,Scream 3is seemingly the only movie made in this millennium that Ti West used as inspiration. The thirdScreammovie takes place in Hollywood and follows Gale Weathers, Dwight Riley, and Sidney Prescott, who attempt to solve the mystery of who’s killing off the cast of the fictional movieStab 3. On a broader level,Scream 3andMaXXXinehave almost identical tones. They balance dark and twisted with the comedy on the verge of satire. Both movies also center on a murder mystery.
However, the two horror films include a more direct parallel,with Ti West’s film copying one scene from the predecessor.InScream 3, Sidney Prescott gets chased through the movie set that looks like her hometown.MaXXXinemirrors this by having Maxine Minx run through the Hollywood Studios backlot while being chased by John Labat.
5Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984)
A British Exploitation Slasher Movie
Ti West’sMaXXXinetakes inspiration from the 1984 exploitation slasher movieDon’t Open Till Christmasabout halfway through the film. InDon’t Open Till Christmas, a man wearing a grinning mask murders people dressed as Santa Claus in London during the holidays. Scotland Yards’ Chief Inspector Ian Harris and a mysterious reporter named Giles work together to try and solve the murders.MaXXXinewalks the line between a pastiche and an exploitation thriller, and the scene inspired byDon’t Open Till Christmaspushes the movie into the former category.
I Love This MaXXXine Quote That Perfectly Describes The Conclusion To Ti West’s Horror Trilogy
In the conclusion to Ti West’s X trilogy, the character Elizabeth Bender describes her movie The Puritan in a meta way that also describes MaXXXine.
InMaXXXine, the killer goes to a viewing booth to watch a sex worker dance and masturbate.This parallels theDon’t Open Till Christmasscene, where a Santa impersonator goes to a peep show, at which point the grinning masked man slaughters him. It’s a clear homage to the underrated ‘80s horror flick.
One of the most apparent movies that inspired Ti West when makingMaXXXineis the 1984 neo-noir erotic thriller Body Double, co-written, produced, and directed by Brian De Palma. InBody Double, a man named Jake Skully house-sits in Hollywood, where he watches a blonde woman through the window. When she’s murdered, he investigates the crime, bringing him into the city’s dark underbelly of drugs and the adult entertainment industry.
The most fundamental similarity betweenBody DoubleandMaXXXineis the fact that both movies include themes of voyeurism, sex work, and violence in Hollywood. However, there are other parallels as well.MaXXXineandBody Doubleuse gritty visuals, neon lighting, and the same color palette.Additionally, the kill scenes look remarkably alike in these two horror films. There are so many thematic, visual, and narrative similarities that it can’t be a coincidence. Ti West must have intentionally drawn fromBody Double.
3Hardcore (1979)
A Crime Thriller With Erotic Elements
Most of the time,MaXXXineuses homages for a single scene or character. However, the movie takes a different approach when it comes to the 1979 movieHardcore, directed by Paul Schrader.Ti West’s movie draws its basic premise from Schrader’s classic crime thriller. InHardcore, a religious Midwestern man named Jake Van Dorn goes to Hollywood to find his daughter Kristin, who he believes has been indoctrinated into sex work. It turns out that Jake Van Dorn and Kristin have very different values that conflict with one another inHardcore.
InMaXXXine, the televangelist Earnest Miller follows his daughter Maxine Minx to Hollywood to “save” her from what he perceives as evils, despite the fact that there’s nothing wrong with doing ethical and consensual sex work. In reality, Maxine and Earnest hold different values inMaXXXine, like that of Jake and Kristin inHardcore.
One movie thatMaXXXineuses for inspiration thematically and stylistically is the 1960 moviePeeping Tom. The classic thriller-horror film follows a serial killer who records his murders – especially targeting sex workers – for his own gratification.MaXXXineuses the same approach of showing someone with a video camera recording everything.The movie even looks through the camera at one point, similar toPeeping Tom. This meta filming approach provides a level of disconnect between the murders and the audiences, raising questions about how people engage with sex and violence.
On a broader level, bothMaXXXineandPeeping Tomfocus on voyeurism and exploitation. Each murder feels personal and targeted, even though the murderer doesn’t actually know any of his victims. The killers might look down on people who choose to use their bodies in a way that they view as exploitative, but they are engaging in just as much exploitation by making their movies.
1Ms. 45 (1981)
A Rape-Revenge Horror Movie
Though it isn’t the prevailing genre ofMaXXXine, the exploitation thriller pastiche takes some inspiration from rape revenge movies, specificallyMs. 45. The 1981 film follows a woman named Than who gets raped twice in one day, leading her to become a spree killer that targets men.Two main scenes in Ti West’s movie draw from the 1981 revenge horror – the alleyway and party scenes.InMs. 45, Thana’s first rape occurs in an alley when her masked attacker pulls out a gun.MaXXXinedraws on this while spinning the outcome.
Instead of Maxine Minx getting raped, she pulls a gun on him and forces him to perform fellatio on the gun barrel and steps on his scrotum. Later in the movie, the titular main character uses a party as a cover to plan John Labat’sbrutal murder inMaXXXine. This mirrorsMs. 45, where Thana attends a party as a cover for her plan to murder many men. Ultimately,MaXXXinewould have felt incomplete without a reference to the rape-revenge movies that were popular in the 80s.
