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With a variety of films headed to Max next month, movie lovers won’t have to venture far in order to find something worth watching in February. Whether viewers want to laugh, cry, or lose themselves inside a fantasy world, Max has something for them. Next month might include Valentine’s Day, but that certainly doesn’t mean romance movies will be the only option.

While there will be plenty of romantic comedies for fans of love, Max also has various action, drama, horror, and fantasy films scheduled to arrive in February. No matter what audiences are in the mood to watch, they’re likely to find at least one film worth their while. As always, Max’s extensive catalog of must-watch movies continues to expand in February.

'We Live in Time' Stream on February 7

Written by Nick Payne and directed by John Crowley, We Live in Time...

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Netflix is one of the best places to find the best movies and TV shows you can watch on any streaming service. Every month, it adds hundreds of new titles to its content library, but with that, there are also some titles that have got to go. So, today, we are here to tell you about the best film you should watch before it leaves Netflix in February 2025.

Plus One (February 1) Credit – Rlje Films

Plus One is a romantic comedy film co-written and co-directed by Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer. The 2019 film follows Ben King and Alice Mori, two young friends who attend multiple weddings together but they soon fall for each other. Plus One stars Jack Quaid, Maya Erskine, Beck Bennett, Rosalind Chao, Perrey Reeves, and Ed Begley Jr.

Fast Five (February 11) Credit – Universal Pictures

Fast Five...

Few female villains in the history of horror have been so beguiling as Pearl (Mia Goth). We first meet this dancing murderess in the twilight days of her life as she slaughters the cast and crew of a low-budget porno in Ti West’s X. The second film in this feminist trilogy takes us all the way back to Pearl’s own youth when she too was a would-be starlet hoping to make it in Hollywood.

The stylish Pearl explores the limitations placed on women in the early 1900s while giving us the origin story of a vicious predator. Tim Waggoner continues his novelization of West’s trilogy by playing with the motivations and backstories of this doomed cast of characters. Waggoner’s literary adaptation of X allows us to peer into Pearl’s mind, explaining her practice of targeting victims for her own sexual pleasure. His Pearl adaptation provides...

Quick Links Each Movie in the Trilogy Explores the Movie Business I Will Not Accept a Life I Do Not Deserve Ti Wests Direction How Is MaXXXine Related to the X Series? Pearl reveals the origin story of X's famous villain, Pearl, offering a deep dive into her character and motivations. Each film in the trilogy explores the movie business, intertwining elements of historical events and the rise of motion pictures. Ti West's direction showcases his evolution as a director, with long sequences of tension, sophisticated camera movements, and beautiful visuals.

Pearl is Ti Wests origin story of the now famous villain of the hit early 2022 slasher film X. This villain, Pearl, was the subject of much conversation and speculation about her beginnings when X premiered in March 2022. Not long after, we got to see what brought this character to her breaking point. The first installment to Ti Wests...

Pearl, the prequel to X and MaXXXine, will premiere on Netflix on August 1, showcasing Mia Goth's chilling performance as a young woman on a haunted farm. The film delves into Pearl's descent into madness, exploring her isolated life on a Texas farm and her unsettling transformation into a psychopathic killer. Mia Goth shines as a modern Scream Queen in Ti West's trilogy, delivering a mesmerizing performance that captivates audiences with its mysterious and unpredictable charm.

Pearl, the prequel to X and MaXXXine, will stream on Netflix starting next week, on August 1. The announcement was made by the streamer, which took to X to post a photo of the titular character of Ti West's prequel in what is known as the X trilogy. Pearl is the second installment that worked as a prequel to expand on the character played by Mia Goth in X, who sliced and diced the...

Ti Wests slasher film Pearl, the highly acclaimed second installment of A24's X trilogy, is set to debut on Netflix screens nationwide on August 1, 2024.

Netflix announced the film's arrival on its official account, using Pearl's iconic line in a post that stated, "She's A Star. Pearl is comin' to Netflix on August 1."

Related X, Pearl, and MaXXXines Connection, Explained

A24's X trilogy is one of the horror genre's biggest success stories and MaXXine, Pearl, and X all relate in a unique way.

She's A Star. Pearl is comin' to Netflix August 1. pic.twitter.com/EroBn7BRe8 Netflix (@netflix) July 23, 2024

After collaborating on X, Ti West started working on a prequel script inspired by Mia Goth's character. Filming began right after the first movie in New Zealand, using sets from X and crews experienced from Avatar: The Way of Water, with strict Covid-19 safety measures in place.

Pearl...

Writer and director Ti Wests 2022 feature Pearl is making its way to streaming giant Netflix very soon. The film is the second installment in Wests slasher trilogy, acting as a prequel to 2022s X and 2024s MaXXXine, which is currently showing in cinemas. Pearl stars scream queen Mia Goth as the eponymous character, alongside Emma Jenkins-Purro, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Alistair Sewell, and Matthew Sunderland in supporting roles. Upon its release, Pearl became a firm favourite amongst fans of horror and slashers, receiving a Tomatometer score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The highly anticipated third film in Ti West‘s X trilogy, MaXXXine is finally here, and the fans of the franchise are loving it. With a setting of the 80s when the real-life Night Stalker murders took place, the final film in the X trilogy follows the story of Maxine Minx as she finally gets her big break into the film industry, but when a mysterious serial killer begins to kill the starlets of Hollywood, Maxine’s future in the City of Angels comes into danger. MaXXXine stars Mia Goth in the lead role with Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Lily Collins, Sophie Thatcher, Moses Sumney, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Giancarlo Esposito, Chloe Farnworth, and Bobby Cannavale starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the glitz, glamour, murder, and mystery in MaXXXine, here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Pearl (Prime Video) Credit – A24

Pearl is the second film...

How to watch the X Slasher Franchise in release and chronological order. (Photo Credit – Instagram)

The X film series is surely one of the most acclaimed slasher film franchises of contemporary times. With its blend of horror, thrill, and sultry scenes, the intertwined story of Maxine and Pearl truly stands out. Written and directed by Ti West, and starring Mia Goth in the lead, the film series follows an adult film star being chased by a serial killer.

The franchise is relatively fresh, with its inception in 2022; however, it already comprises three exciting films, including a prequel and a sequel. Moreover, two of the films were released in the same year, which makes the timeline of the series a bit complicated for first-time watchers. So, here are all the details you need about how you can watch the X slasher film franchise in release order, as well as in chronological order.

Spoiler Warning: This story discusses plot details from “X” and “Pearl.”

Maxine f——ing Minx is ready to take ‘1980s Hollywood, so get ready to hear “I’m a star!” one more time as the third and final installment in Ti West’s horror trilogy hits theaters on July 5.

“MaXXXine” centers around an adult film star and aspiring actress named Maxine (Mia Goth) who finally makes it big with her first feature film. She’s the only survivor of the massacre that took place in the trilogy’s opener, “X,” but now, she’s the target of another killer—the Night Stalker. With Maxine and her friends’ lives in danger yet again, the horror of her past begins to unravel.

Before heading to the theaters for “MaXXXine,” here’s what you need to know from West’s past films:

“X” (2022)

The first two films in the trilogy were shot back-to-back...

Pearl, the highly acclaimed prequel to Ti West’s X, is a hauntingly beautiful exploration of ambition, madness, and the darker side of the American Dream. Released mere months after its predecessor, Pearl dives deep into the backstory of its titular character, offering audiences a glimpse into the origins of the sinister figure they met in X.

Set in 1918, the film transports us to a world ravaged by the Spanish flu pandemic and the aftermath of World War I. The film’s protagonist, Pearl (Mia Goth), is a young woman living on a remote farm with her strict German mother (Tandi Wright) and her paralysed father (Matthew Sunderland). Her husband, Howard, is away fighting in the war. Pearl dreams of escaping her monotonous life to become a movie star, an aspiration fueled by the films she obsessively watches and the fantasies she concocts while performing for the farm animals.

West...

A24 has revealed the official trailer and poster for MaXXXine, which is the final installment of the X trilogy following X and Pearl. The slasher film was written and directed by Ti West.

The movie stars Mia Goth, who reprises her role as Maxine (and also serves as producer) alongside Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, and Lily Collins, with Giancarlo Esposito and Kevin Bacon.

Her dream was to be a star… but Hollywood can be a killer. In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx 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.

MaXXXine is scheduled to open in theaters on July 5, 2024. The film is not yet rated, though both X and Pearl received an R rating.

Released in 2022, X stars Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow,...

Ti West's 2022 horror film "Pearl" takes place in 1918 in a particularly remote region of Texas. Pearl (Mia Goth) lives on a secluded farm with her cold and abusive mother (Tandi Wright) and her paralyzed father (Matthew Sunderland) who requires constant care. Pearl longs for escape, seeing her farm-bound home as the ultimate prison. She can only taste the world of the big city's glamor through glimpses of silent movies she's able to catch at the miles-away movie house. Pearl's mother berates her for wasting money on movies, and Pearl is often punished for seeing them, but it's all she can dream about. Pearl's dreams of escape are encouraged by the theater's kindly projectionist (David Corenswet), who lets her in the movies for free. Pearl is also incredibly sexually repressed and begins having a brief, secret affair with the projectionist. The two of them watch the 1915 film "A Free Ride,...

It’s a hell of time for the Y chromosome set in the New Zealand apocalyptic disaster comedy, Creamerie. Season one of this wickedly fun series presented a clever premise: A virus has decimated all the men on Earth — except one, the secretly discovered and hunky Bobby, played by Jay Ryan of TV’s Beauty and the Beast. Three New Zealand female dairy farmers, Alex (Ally Zue), Jamie (JJ Fong), and Phillipa/Pip (Perlina Lau) find Bobby, and together, this motley crew soon discover that everything they’ve believed to be true may not be entirely true at all.

Apparently, Bobby isn’t the only man left on the planet. This effects the estrogen parade, of course, as the women must evade Lane (Tandi Wright), the ominous matriarch of Wellness, the group that has been monitoring a tricky repopulation plan with its semen lottery — hey, it pays to have kept those sperm banks around.

The hit New Zealand apocalypse comedy Creamerie is coming back, and we have an exclusive season two clip! “Scheduled to land on commissioning broadcaster Tvnz’s Tvnz+ today and on Hulu this Saturday, July 15 in the US, Creamerie drops audiences into a world where men have been supposedly wiped out by a mysterious plague, and follows three friends who now run a dairy farm under the watchful eye of Wellness, the local governing body. You can check out our exclusive clip from Creamerie season two above.

Creamerie picks up after a virus plague that decimated men around the globe, and follows three female dairy farmers from New Zealand, Alex, Jamie, and Pip, who accidentally run into the last surviving male on the planet... or is he? An organization called Wellness now runs their community and controls repopulation via lottery, using semen saved from old sperm banks. The friends' lives are...

A new video series called Modern Horror Movie Talk recently made its premiere on the Arrow in the Head Show YouTube channel, and with each episode of this show we’ll be joining host Tyler Nichols as he covers all new horror releases, the latest horror movie news, and new horror trailers. Films discussed in previous episodes of Modern Horror Movie Talk include Cocaine Bear, Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, The Pope’s Exorcist (a couple times!), the newly released entry in the Children of the Corn franchise, The Blackening, Scream VI, 65, Infinity Pool, Terrifier 2, Knock at the Cabin, Renfield, Evil Dead Rise, Gerald’s Game, Apostle, and It Follows. Now, for the twelfth episode, Tyler is joined by special guests Lance Vlcek and Mike Conway to discuss director Ti West’s X (watch it at This Link) prequel Pearl (watch that one Here). To find out what they had to say about it,...

‘Pearl’, ‘Allelujah’ and ‘Winners’ are also out this weekend.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods is leading the charge this week at the UK-Ireland box office, opening in 654 sites across the UK and Ireland for Warner Bros.

Star Zachary Levi returns as the hapless crime fighter, with director David F. Sandberg also back for the DC sequel. The 2019 original, Shazam!, topped the box office in its opening weekend in April 2019, taking £4m debut from 603 sites – an average of £6,634.

Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu round out the cast for the sequel, as two Greek gods who want control over planet Earth.

Pathe...

‘Pearl’, ‘Allelujah’ and ‘Winners’ are also out this weekend.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods is leading the charge this week at the UK-Ireland box office, opening in 654 sites across the UK and Ireland for Warner Bros.

Star Zachary Levi returns as the hapless crime fighter, with director David F. Sandberg also back for the DC sequel. The 2019 original, Shazam!, topped the box office in its opening weekend in April 2019, taking £4m debut from 603 sites – an average of £6,634.

Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu round out the cast for the sequel, as two Greek gods who want control over planet Earth.

Pathe...

Ti West’s X, released last year, was a Seventies-set slasher about pornographers working on the sly in a remote Texan farmhouse. It was a pleasingly nasty work, if limited by its questionable reliance on treating the ageing body as a source of repulsion. Pearl is its (far superior) prequel, a film written in two weeks by director Ti West and his star Mia Goth, shot in total secrecy and scrawled in bloodied guts and impotent rage. It is a wholly different beast – a tragicomic portrait of a woman so unable to process the falsity of her daydreams that it drives her to murder and mayhem.

In X, Goth played a wannabe pornstar named Maxine and, under layers of prosthetics, an elderly woman named Pearl who craved and resented Maxine’s youth. This film, set in 1918, sees the young Pearl living on the same farmstead featured in X. She is the daughter of immigrant parents,...

Two performers defined horror in 2022: Jenna Ortega and Mia Goth. No others quite compare to the sheer emotional brawn both actors brought to the screen. While they have each been working for years in various TV and film roles, the stars aligned over the last 12 months to catapult them into the stratosphere. From Goth’s stunning turn in Pearl to Ortega’s career-making performance as Wednesday Addams, the breadth of work on display is unmatched. Their magnetism is unequivocal. They have a talent of outlining full-bodied characters with bright definition and intention. Together, they make a tour de force of talent that leaps beyond the horror world.

Goth, who previously appeared in 2018’s Suspiria remake, guns for magnificence with year-topping performances in X and Pearl. Playing two drastically dissimilar roles, a bombshell sex pot in one and a mentally deranged killer in the other, Goth manages to cultivate two...

A subtle pattern emerged when reflecting upon the year’s standout horror moments and performances: it’s been one hell of a year for knockout monologues. A monologue relays vital information about the story or the character relaying it and supports its central themes, but there’s an art form to its delivery. Some of the most unforgettable performances of 2022 belonged to actors that delivered uncanny, showstopping monologues that glued us to our seats and left us in rapturous awe.

Writer/Director Andrew Semans’s Resurrection explored the psychological toll of abuse via dread-soaked horror. Rebecca Hall stars as Margaret, a savvy career woman with a sturdy head on her shoulders. She’s single-handedly raised an independent teen, Abbie (Grace Kaufman), on the cusp of leaving the nest for college. But Margaret’s carefully assembled life begins to untangle from her grasp when David (Tim Roth), a menacing man from her distant past,...

It is the second feature in the horror franchise, following on from ‘X’.

Universal Pictures Content Group has snapped up all international rights to Ti West’s Pearl from A24.

The feature is the second in the horror franchise that kicked off with X, and will be followed by the recently announced third film, MaXXXine.

Pearl had its world premiere at Venice and also played at Toronto and Sitges.

Pearl sees Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Matthew Sunderland, Tandi Wright and Emma Jenkins-Purro star in the origin story of the murderous titular character, played by Goth. Trapped on her family’s isolated farm,...

When our own JimmyO interviewed director Ti West and star Mia Goth about their X (watch it at This Link) prequel Pearl (watch that one Here), West said that he and Goth crafted the script for Pearl together while he was spending two weeks in quarantine before he could start working on X in New Zealand. They would discuss the story and the Pearl character over FaceTime, then work on the script. During an appearance at the Savannah College of Art and Design during the 25th Scad Savannah Film Festival, Goth talked more about the scripting process – and revealed that the creepy smile Pearl gives at the end of the film was something West just thought of when they were on set that day.

If you have watched Pearl – and you should, as both JimmyO and Martin Scorsese recommend it – you’ll surely remember the moment where Goth delivers a...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Pearl,” a horror film by filmmaker Ti West that is a prequel to last year’s “X”. “Pearl” is set at the same farm as “X,” and tells the story of the old woman from that film. “Pearl” is currently in theaters.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Mia Goth portrays the title character, a dreamy farm girl in 1918 who desires to dance and eventually be in the fledgling movie industry. This is constantly squelched by her stern German mother (Tandi Wright) who resents caring for her invalid father (Matthew Sunderland). But Pearl will not be denied, and sneaks into town to watch more movies, where she hears of a dance audition and is mesmerized by a local projectionist (David Corenswet). There are obstacles in the way, and Pearl will knock them down.

”Pearl” is currently in theaters, including Chicago’s Music Box Theater, click...

This article contains major spoilers for "Pearl."

Ti West blew audiences away with his 1970s-era slasher film "X," which saw Mia Goth in a dual role as budding adult film starlet Maxine Minx, and donning extensive prosthetics to play the psycho-biddy hagsploitation villain of Pearl. Shortly after "X" was becoming an early contender for one of the best horror releases of the year, West and A24 announced that they had already shot a secret prequel film titled "Pearl," which would again star Goth as the youthful version of her elderly character in "X."

As fantastic as Goth had been in films like "X," "Suspiria," and "Emma," her turn as the young and ambitious Pearl is a tour de force, with even cinematic legend Martin Scorsese singing her praises. Goth is featured in every scene in "Pearl," which means the movie lives and dies by the success of her work. Fortunately,...

Martin Scorsese got a little too scared by Ti West’s “Pearl,” the A24-backed “X” prequel starring Mia Goth. In a review sent to A24 and published by /Film, Scorsese called “Pearl” a “deeply disturbing” horror movie that is “mesmerizing” and “wild.” West and Goth co-wrote the prequel, which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

“Ti West’s movies have a kind of energy that is so rare these days, powered by a pure, undiluted love for cinema,” Scorsese said. “You feel it in every frame. A prequel to ‘X’ made in a diametrically opposite cinematic register (think ’50s Scope color melodramas), ‘Pearl’ makes for a wild, mesmerizing, deeply — and I mean deeply — disturbing 102 minutes. West and his muse and creative partner Mia Goth really know how to toy with their audience… before they plunge the knife into our chests and start twisting.”

Scorsese added, “I was enthralled,...

Ti West's new psychological horror film "Pearl" is out in theaters, and it's definitely worth a watch. It's about a sweet young woman named Pearl (Mia Goth) who wants to be a famous actress, and she'll stop at nothing to make that happen. If Pearl was growing up today she'd probably rise to fame as a chaotic TikTok star, but unfortunately she's stuck in 1918: There's still a pandemic going on, but there's not even any internet to help pass the time. Can you really blame her for going a little off the rails?

The obvious parallel that comes to mind with "Pearl" is the beloved classic "The Wizard of Oz." Not only did Ti West embrace the vibrant technicolor look of the old movie, but Pearl's motivations are remarkably similar to Dorothy's: She wants to get off this miserable old farm. Both movies also memorably feature a scarecrow,...

This article contains major spoilers for "Pearl."

The distinction of the greatest cinematic one-two punch of the year has to go to director Ti West. Not only did "X" reign as one of the best horror flicks of the year so far, but less than six months later, West had the colorful nightmare prequel known as "Pearl" ready for a theatrical release. Time will tell if it gains traction over its predecessor, but as it stands, "Pearl" is an absolute blast.

Where "X" was a tremendously entertaining ode to its '70s exploitation roots, "Pearl," on the other hand, is an unhinged beast all its own, emulating a bloody concoction of "Psycho," "Cinderella," and "The Wizard of Oz." Mia Goth is a ferocious presence who eats up the screen at every available opportunity. While we've already become acquainted with her "X" character, the much younger Pearl is a whole different experience.

Plot: The twisted prequel to Ti West’s X explores the early years of Pearl, a young woman obsessed with fame. So much so that she’d commit any act of violence to get what she desired.

Review: In March this year, filmmaker Ti West brought us the wildly entertaining slice of genre goodness, X (read our review Here). The film featured Mia Goth as a young woman named Maxine looking to be a porn star. And it also featured Ms. Goth as the older woman living in the location where the horrors occur. Recently, however, fans of the film discovered that a sequel/prequel was coming to theatres. That film is about Mia’s character, Pearl. Once again, Mia takes on the role of Pearl, but this time in her younger years. Not only did we, as audience members, collectively discover that X had a prequel shot directly after,...

Ti West thrilled me with this year’s fright flick, X. Yet, I was more than a little curious about how good a sequel could possibly be only released a few months later that same year. Thankfully, the prequel Pearl is a delightfully creepy follow-up (read our review). Once again featuring Mia Goth, the latest examines the early years of her character Pearl, with a stunning leading performance. Mia is incredible here, and frankly, so is the rest of the cast. And now, fans of X can check out what West and company have cooked up with the latest. The film also features impressive performances from David Corenswet, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Matthew Sunderland, and Tandi Wright.

We recently sat down for a Zoom conversation with the filmmaker behind the madness, Ti West, as well as the film’s stars, Mia Goth and David Corenswet. I asked both Ti and Mia about...

The scares continue in A24's new horror movie "Pearl," a prequel to "X," which was released earlier this year. In "X," a group of young people, including Maxine - played by Mia Goth - try to film a pornographic movie on a farm inhabited by two old people, Howard (Stephen Ure) and Pearl. Pearl ultimately goes on a killing spree and takes out the visitors one by one, until Maxine kills her and flees from the farm. After the movie was released, director Ti West announced that a prequel that would serve as an "origin story" for Pearl had also been secretly filmed.

The new movie, released Sept. 16, was clearly influenced by Technicolor movies of yesteryear, like "Mary Poppins" and "The Wizard of Oz." In the film, Pearl is intent on leaving her parents' suffocating farm and starting a new life as a Hollywood star. But the iron grip of her mother,...

Writer/director Ti West returns to the macabre universe he created in X (2022) with the follow-up/origin story, Pearl starring Mia Goth as the sublimely surreal and, well, psychotic titular character.

Longing to escape the confines of the family farm where she is forced to care for her invalid father (Matthew Sunderland) by an oppressive mother (Tandi Wright), young Pearl dreams of leaving home to pursue a dream of movie stardom. Unfortunately, her own inclinations and predilections lead her down a path best left less travelled.

Director West, working from a script by himself and star Goth, revels in the little quirky details that make Pearl’s character so unnerving and horrific, yet simultaneously sympathetic and likable. Likewise, Goth somehow manages to make Pearl somewhat sympathetic before springing her burgeoning psychosis on the audience, making it even more effective and disconcerting.

Mia Goth in “Pearl.”

Playing the grounding projectionist that...

Pearl, Ti West’s prequel to the 70s slasher-inspired X, is a far more claustrophobic study of psychological ruin and bodily decay than it is a gory exercise in picking off victims one by one. Unburdened by the heavy prosthetics and dual role that defined her performance in X, star and co-writer Mia Goth, that film’s de facto villain, gives a gloriously unsettling performance as the now titular character depicted during her early 20s in 1918. Pearl lives under the domineering thumb of her German mother Ruth (Tandi Wright), cares for her Spanish flu-stricken father (Matthew Sunderland) and desperately yearns for […]

The post “Emotional Heartbreak Can Be Dangerous”: Ti West on His Technicolor X Prequel Pearl first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

How certain films have decided to handle the pandemic has been fascinating. A film like "Three Thousand Years of Longing" reflects the world fairly accurately, where some people wear masks in public and others don't. "Confess, Fletch" makes an off-hand comment about the pandemic as to why Kyle MacLachlan's character doesn't shake hands. "Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn" conducts a PTA meeting outside to have open air circulation. Then there are the movies that use the pandemic to thematically link with their protagonists.

This is captured in Steven Soderbergh's crackerjack thriller "Kimi," where Zoë Kravitz's character is an agoraphobic person living in a time where going out in public is also a major health risk. So, when she does eventually have to leave her apartment and interact with people, the tension is unbearable. Venturing out into everyday society is now not something we take for granted.

One of the core tenets of American mythology is the "rags to riches" story, the idea that any anonymous individual can, through sheer ambition and force of will, achieve lasting success in life. Nowhere is this myth best utilized than in the numerous stories about people making it big in show business. Most films about this topic throw enough hardship at their protagonists to keep things feeling realistic, but they make sure to perpetuate the myth: most of these stories have a happy ending worthy of a fairy tale.

"Pearl" is a different kind of fairy tale, and its emotionally harrowing finale subversively looks like a Technicolor happy ending while being anything but. This shouldn't come as much surprise to those who saw "X," which was co-writer and director Ti West's initial installment in what we now know is a trilogy of films. In "X," star Mia Goth portrayed both that film's nubile lead,...

Pearl Review — Pearl (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Ti West, written by Mia Goth and Ti West and starring Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Alistair Sewell, Matthew Sunderland and Tandi Wright. Mia Goth takes campy acting to a new level in what could be called the definitive female American Psycho movie, [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Pearl (2022): Mia Goth is Excellent in Prequel to X but the New Film is Much Different in Style...

There are a lot of shocking moments strewn throughout Pearl. But maybe the most shocking thing about it, in a larger sense, is that it actually turned out to be better than the movie it sprang from.

During a mandatory quarantine in New Zealand prior to shooting X, Ti West and star Mia Goth fleshed out an origin story for Pearl, the murderous elderly woman in that movie played by a prosthetically aged-up Goth. Improbably, the outlines of those discussions became the script for Pearl. Shot in secret immediately following the filming of X, the prequel looks and sounds like no other horror movie you’ll see this year and features a jaw-dropping performance from Goth, whose psychotic grin will be burned into the back of audiences’ minds for a long time to come.

The movie is set in 1918, and West’s presentation feels appropriate to the setting, with rich...

So, it’s looking like 2022’s box office final returns will be dominated by a film that’s already nabbed a spot in the all-time “top ten” earners, that’s Top Gun: Maverick of course. Ah, but will the year be mainly known for one big sequel? No, perhaps not since a prequel did very very well, the last Gru/Minions outing while another did, hmm…not so well (Lightyear). But we’re about to get another prequel that’s not animated and it’s from a flick that was released just six months ago. And since its focus is on a character from the earlier film, it could also be considered a “spin-off”. Oh, that March film was titled simply X. And I have not seen it. So this puts one of my staunchest movie beliefs to the test: you shouldn’t have to see the original to enjoy (or not) a follow-up.

Ti West’s X prequel, Pearl, screened last night at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of its Midnight Madness lineup. The most shocking part, perhaps, is what came after the screening.

A quick VHS-style teaser popped up post credits to reveal a 1985 setting and a title card: MaXXXine. A third movie that’s coming soon from West and A24.

That’s right. We’ll see more of Maxine (Mia Goth) years after she survived the events of X.

While West remained tight-lipped about what we can expect from this upcoming sequel, he did say this: “What I can tell you is that we’re going to catch up with Maxine. And we’re going to find out what she’s up to. The way that X is a movie that is informed by and affected by independent exploitation auteur Americana and 1970s cinema, and Pearl is perhaps affected...

Click here to read the full article.

A24 and director Ti West have unveiled MaXXXine as the third film set in the world of their X slasher horror franchise.

The announcement was made last night at the Toronto Film Festival as part of the Midnight Madness program during a screening of Pearl at the Royal Alexander Theatre. West will write and direct MaXXXine, with Mia Goth reprising one of her two roles in X.

In the third installment, Maxine (Goth) after the events of X is the sole survivor continuing her journey towards fame as an actress in 1980s Los Angeles. Pearl, the sequel to X, world premiered in Venice and had its North American premiere in Toronto on Monday.

Goth, who played Pearl in West’s horror slasher X for A24, returned for Pearl to reveal the origins of her iconic villain character where she’s a starry-eyed farm...

Bloody Disgusting’s Pearl review is spoiler-free.

Writer/Director Ti West nestled his ode to independent, exploitation filmmaking into ‘70s set slasher X. For its prequel, West rewinds the clock much further to pay tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Mia Goth reprises her role as the repressed killer Pearl, this time exploring a much different, younger side. Pearl makes for a vastly different viewing experience thanks to its drastic shifts in style, tone, and cinematic influences, but with enough connective tissue to enrich its predecessor.

Set in 1918, Pearl longs to get away from her family’s farm. Her husband is away at war. She lives with her strict German mother (Tandi Wright) and is forced to care for her sickly father (Matthew Sunderland). Pearl is a dreamer, though; she spends her time shirking responsibilities, sneaking off to the movies, or dancing around the barn and at home. After...

Stars: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro | Written by Ti West, Mia Goth | Directed by Ti West

Mia Goth reprises her role as Pearl in Ti West’s prequel to this year’s X, co-written with Goth while on lockdown during production, and shot on the same New Zealand locations. Combining a fabulous visual aesthetic with a delightfully unhinged central performance and some spectacular gore moments, this is an unabashed genre treat that’s full of surprises.

Pearl takes place in 1918, some 60 years before the events of X, in which the members of a porn shoot at a remote farmhouse were menaced by a horny old lady. As the rest of the world deals with the tail end of WWI and the global outbreak of Spanish Flu, 20-something Pearl (Goth) is forced to work on her family farm, where her duties include looking after her severely...

There is no human impulse stronger than the need to be loved. It's not something we can control, and that is simultaneously haunting and beautiful. When you're without it, it can become an addiction, a constant struggle to find the feeling of joy in having that kind of mutual support — which is the driving force on Ti West's latest horror entry, "Pearl." It can affect everything you do and even make a killer out of you. What's more, the new film — West's second in over six years — uses the golden age of cinema as a framework through which to visually tell this fascinating and gripping slasher story, two styles that seemingly wouldn't mix. "Pearl" is an ambitious and bold work of horror that calls into question what it means to deserve love and the bad things we sometimes do to receive it.

"Pearl" continues the story of the villain of West's recent slasher,...

What’s the matter with Pearl? Plenty, as it turns out in Ti West’s terrifically enjoyable postscript to his spring release X, which saw a 1970s film crew fall brutally afoul of an elderly farmer and his wife while shooting a porno in their barn. Unusually for a horror film, X had the same actress — Mia Goth — as both the final kill (the farmer’s psychotic wife Pearl) and the final girl (sex-film starlet Maxine), and this intelligent, not to mention almost indecently hasty prequel explains the reasons.

Pearl, screening out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, is that rare horror franchise follow-up that, while mindful of expectations from its predecessor’s core gore audience, has considered artful new ways to drill down into the essence of the original.

First, a quick digression into the appeal of X and Ti West’s films in general: West has an...

From the very first moments of Pearl, it's evident that filmmaker Ti West isn't looking to tread the same ground that he did with X, his previous effort. As the credits come up for his latest, it immediately whisks viewers back to that iconic time in Hollywood during the 1930s and ‘40s when filmmakers began embracing lavishly complete storytelling, the utilization of sound, technicolor as a means of heightening films with a stunning color palette, and other technological advancements that inspired moviegoers to head to their local theater on a weekly basis. Every frame of Pearl feels like it was made as a tribute to this phase of American cinema, but at the same time, it’s also infused with a wickedly subversive undercurrent of malice and perversion, making for a fascinating viewing experience.

In fact, if someone asked me the best way to summarize the approach of Pearl, the...

Something’s not quite right with Pearl, who wields a pitchfork less like a tool than a sex toy when tending the family farm. Such macabre behavior will come as no surprise to fans of Ti West’s “X,” who met the character in her advanced years, horny and homicidal, killing the amateur adult film crew staying on her property, then feeding their pieces to a grateful alligator. West wrapped that early-2022 horror offering with a trippy teaser for “Pearl,” a stand-alone origin story rendered in the style of a Douglas Sirk melodrama. The trailer suggested something practically avant-garde, with a dance scene, dream sequences and a super-saturated color scheme, but the reality is more mundane than A24 audiences have come to expect.

Whereas “X” unspooled like a backwater “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” homage with a lascivious Russ Meyer streak, this turns out to be a fairly straightforward cross between...

Venice film festival: This brilliant prequel to Goth and West’s previous collaboration, X, is a cine-fever dream set in the dying days of Spanish flu

The Venice film festival is springing some surprises on us, and one of the biggest and nicest has been the news that Mia Goth is an actual superstar: she is fiendishly good in this outrageous shocker from director Ti West, an origin-myth prequel to his previous film X, shot back-to-back on the same location. Goth starred in that one too, of course, but is now a co-writer on the followup; she takes her performance to the next level: Goth is now the Judy Garland of horror. Her work on the closing credits sequence alone deserves some kind of Golden Lion.

The film itself is terrifically accomplished and horribly gripping, with golden-age movie pastiche and dashes of Psycho and The Wizard of Oz. And anyone...

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Ti West’s wickedly entertaining X, released earlier this year, transplanted the small cast and crew of a low-rent 1970s Los Angeles porn production to Texas Chainsaw Massacre territory, then unleashed an unsuspected evil on them. Its film-within-a-film, bump-and-grindhouse gambit doubled the exploitation fun while subverting norms of female sexuality, upending the male gaze and resurrecting that most lurid throwback, the deranged nymphomaniacal hag. Rewinding six decades, Pearl stokes more dreams of stardom only to dismantle them pitilessly, meaning someone’s going to pay in blood.

If the resulting series of kills stints on imagination and lacks much of a genuine scare factor, the prequel’s retro stylings are a treat. The saturated colors of cinematographer Eliot Rockett’s visuals practically leap off the screen and the big surging sounds of Tyler Bates and Tim Williams’ old-school orchestral score signal high drama and danger from the start.

Well, it was certainly an economical choice. When Ti West made his return to horror filmmaking with this spring’s “X” — a gritty, grimy porn slasher that leaned hard on its ’70s vibe — the director behind such indie horror gems as “The House of the Devil” and “The Innkeepers” didn’t skimp on the blood and guts, offering up too much to (literally!) fill out just one film. While “X” boasted an eclectic and exciting cast, featuring everyone from Jenna Ortega and Brittany Snow to Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi and Martin Henderson, eagle-eyed audience members clued in early to its real casting trick: Mia Goth in a delightfully dark pair of different roles, including a particularly murderous one that buried her under gobs of old-age makeup.

Two for the price of one? Talk about indie ingenuity. But West went even further, not just casting a remarkable Goth in two roles,...

A24 will be giving director Ti West’s Pearl, a prequel to his film X (which was released earlier this year, and now you can watch it at This Link), a theatrical release on September 16th… and since I loved X, I’m hyped to check this one out. In anticipation of the film’s quickly approaching release date, a batch of new images from Pearl have shown up on the film’s IMDb page, and you can check them out at the bottom of this article.

X was set in 1979. Written by West and star Mia Goth, Pearl turns the clock back to 1918 to tell the following story:

Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl’s ambitions, temptations, and repressions all collide,...