A stylistic departure from the first two films in the series but a good movie to be sure. More along the lines of a drama thriller, “MAXXXINE” strays far from its slasher roots (not that there isn’t gore and death in this film as well). A solid wrap up to the series (though you really only needed to watch “X” prior to this movie to really get Maxine’s PTSD), and one of Mia Goth's stronger performances (and not just because she was a strong female lead).
TW Strobing Lights
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
We meet up with Maxine, now blonde, and she’s going to be making her silver screen debut! Just as soon as she figures out who is murdering all her friends… And who knows about everything that went down in the events of “X” (or so they think they do). Special guest appearances by Halsey as a private dancer (/corpse), Kevin Bacon as a seedy PI, Giancarlo Esposito as an equally seedy but incredibly endearing entertainment lawyer, and Bobby Cannavale as a failed actor (ha) turned detective (/corpse).
Right away there is a big shift in Maxine's demeanor compared to the first time we meet her. There may be a flicker of fear in her, but it burns out quickly under most situations. Maxine takes full control by either telling the casting directors they should cast her because she is a star, having a gun on hand when she almost got assaulted/murdered in the alley and turning the tables on him, lacing her keys in her fingers and punching out the PI following her…
Her humanity, failing as it may be, stretched thin by the life she has endured, seems intact. She is having PTSD from her adventures in “X” which are almost exclusively the cause of her fears (that and her past being discovered, possibly ruining her blossoming career). Enlisting the help of her trusty lawyer, Maxine gets Kevin Bacon to take a car ride he’ll never forget (honestly, he was just disappointed by the evening, crushed really). Maxine leaves that pesky murderer to herself though and heads up to just below the Hollywood sign, with the semi-hapless cops in tow.
After arriving at the death mansion, we are surprised to find none other than Maxine's Daddy Dearest, our good preacher man, has been the horrific murderer of every person in Maxi’s life. He says he wants to make her a star so he and his cult attempt an exorcism/ritual murder (depending on how fickle papa was feeling that evening) but the coppers come in just in time! Bullets abound but Big Papa sneaks off, the detectives tell Maxine to stay put but she is done being a victim.
Following the sound of gunshots and trail of blood, Maxine finds her pathetic pops lying on the ground and blows his bastard head off. Flash forward one month and she is living the good life, having fended off a murderer and being able to finish working on her movie. She says she doesn’t want the fame to end which could imply that she isn’t done killing (you know, the trauma begets trauma theory from the other movies in the series) BUT I think, due this being the last film in the trilogy, that this means Maxine just wants to keep acting now that she's made it onto the silver screen. She shouldn’t have to do anything to defend herself in the future (but she knows she is capable). They left it up for interpretation but I like to believe that Maxine was stronger than Pearl and is a survivor in more ways than one.
The mic stopped working during call me little sunshine and we killed our lungs but seeing the videos of everyone singing and even my own videos just make me so happy. Best experience of my life. And just everything from beginning to end the energy was just unbelievable
Also here's us singing imperium and then me screaming my lungs out with Kaisareon which made me lose my breath one minute into the ritual JDJSJSJS (I just raised my phone and watched everything and didn't realize how shaky and bad my recording is but I don't care I'm so happy this was my first concert)
Warning: It's really fucking loud and bass boosted