Editorials
Mia Goth in the 1980s: 10 Things We Hope to See in ‘MaXXXine’
For the first-ever franchise in A24 history, Ti West recently wrapped production on his third film in his X and Pearl universe trilogy, the sky-highly anticipated MaXXXine.
With a stacked cast boasting the likes of Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Kevin Bacon, Lily Collins, Michelle Monaghan, Giancarlo Esposito, and Bobby Cannavale and, of course, the mega return of Mia Goth to reprise her role as Maxine Minx, the film will follow the titular character as she chases showbiz life in Los Angeles circa 1985, where production also took place last month. (No word on an official release date yet.) Keeping plot details under lock and key, very little is known about the upcoming film, therefore, so much can be speculated about it.
Here are 10 possibilities, theories, and things we’d love to see in the upcoming MaXXXine. After all, we deserve nice things. We have cosmopolitan taste.
1) An Homage to Kevin Bacon’s Horror Roots
‘Friday the 13th’
While Kevin Bacon has starred in several horror films in the last few decades, including Tremors, Stir of Echoes, You Should Have Left, and the recent They/Them, none have made him more memorable than his debut in Friday the 13th— thanks in large part to the film’s goriest on-screen death of Bacon’s horror career. While MaXXXine has not yet been confirmed to be another slasher like its filmic siblings X and Pearl, how cool would it be to witness a death scene with his character that pays homage to Jack Burrell’s grisly arrow-through-the-throat death in Friday the 13th? The casting choice of Bacon as a private detective is an interesting one, as his character could be set up as either a hero to helping solve the crimes/murders taking place or a slayed victim himself in the crosshairs.
2) Further Explained Connection Between Pearl and Maxine
We’re unsure what exactly Ti West has up his sleeve, in terms of how these two characters are connected for trilogy purposes (and we know if Pearl was looking up from Hell, she’d be jealously fuming at Maxine’s success), but perhaps we’ll get to see the parallels between Pearl and Maxine’s similar struggles with obtaining fame and fortune— the same “X factor” elderly Pearl saw in Maxine when she encounters her in X that she also believed she once had in her youth. Based on some paparazzi shots of the MaXXXine set, Maxine seems to have gotten way further in Hollywood than Pearl ever dreamed, as Mia Goth was pictured surrounded by adorning fans while in character— but at what cost? Perhaps Maxine pulls a Showgirls move and breaks some legs of the girls who are her competition, just like Pearl axing her sister-in-law (although we doubt she’ll serve as the antagonist of her own story). An appearance from Pearl could even stem from a PTSD nightmare or a hallucination on Maxine’s part. Not to mention, Maxine is now a blonde— and we know how Pearl feels about blondes.
3) Daddy Issues: The Return of Maxine’s Estranged Preacher Dad
There’s a strong possibility that the minor subplot of Maxine’s judgmental, evangelical preacher father shown prominently on the Texas TVs in X will be better explained within MaXXXine. Does her dad track her down in Los Angeles, disapprove of her career/lifestyle, and wreak havoc upon her life? Does he perhaps even become a killer, along with his cult of like-minded church disciples, hunting her and her L.A. friends down? Regardless, without necessarily venturing into cheesy flashback territory, learning more about their father-daughter dynamic and how it shaped Maxine seems imperative to the story, especially the origin of “I will not accept I life I do not deserve” that Maxine reclaims from him.
4) Be Kind, Rewind: The Boom of VHS Culture
While X is constructed by independent auteur filmmaking of the ’70s and Pearl captures the idolization of glitzy, glamorous Classic Hollywood cinema, MaXXXine will reportedly examine the heart of ’80s physical media, aka the VHS boom— as is apparent on the film’s title card released by A24 in recent months and a tease from West himself. Before their demises, the gang in X hoped to cash in on the upcoming home video train technology with their auteur porn movie, and, as the film’s only survivor, Maxine will be the only character to have seen it through and discover what actually happened to their home movie aka what the cops refer to as “one goddamn, fucked up horror picture.” Perhaps the discovery of it helps Maxine get famous in the first place. The timing couldn’t be better, as VHS nostalgia and the hobby of collecting amongst horror fans has reached peak popularity in recent years. The cover art, the appeal of stumbling upon a hidden gem– we want to be transported back to the days of West Coast Video, Blockbuster, and Rogers Video. By 1985 (the year MaXXXine will take place in), video stores were EVERYWHERE.
5) Ti West Multiverse: Ties to The House of the Devil
‘The House of the Devil’
In a recent BTS pic, Halsey was seen covered in dirt, with a pentagram sketched into her back shoulder while in character— which immediately brings to mind the third act of West’s beloved breakout, 2009’s The House of the Devil, as Jocelin Donahue’s Samantha awakens to find herself in the center of a ritual with a pentagram beneath her body. Could Maxine and Halsey’s character fall victim to a similar lunar eclipse ritual? Perhaps they even make sacrifices or join a pagan cult to gain the fame they so desire a la 2014’s Starry Eyes? West touches upon Satanic Panic and “stranger danger” fears that were prevalent in the early Reagan era in House, but perhaps he’ll explore themes of censorship and the “Keeping America’s Children Safe” campaign that plagued the mid-80s even further in MaXXXine. This theory would also make sense if Maxine’s dad came into the picture, as the conservative preacher man could want to deprogram Maxine from the devil that is Hollywood, or so he may think.
6) Inspiration From Sleazy (in a Good Way) ’80s Movies
‘Maniac’
Amongst many things, the 1980s were the decade of greed, capitalism, and especially excess, but the underbelly of that lifestyle is reflected within the grittier, sleazier (and this is not a bad thing) films being made at that time that weren’t afraid of sex, nudity, and general perversion, such as Fear City, Ten to Midnight, Maniac, The New York Ripper, Pieces, Toolbox Murders, Troma films, and the countless parade of Friday the 13th slasher ripoffs. While X features rare post-2000s sex scenes and both real and prosthetic nudity (and one explicit shot of post-climaxing evidence), West still manages to shoot the scenes tastefully, aiming to convey a sense of indie arthouse flair on behalf of the film’s director character RJ, and also reflecting West’s respect for his actors and audience. Perhaps MaXXXine will allow West the freedom to push the envelope further, as the plot is said to “deal with the dangerous world of underground filmmaking,” according to The Hollywood Reporter— not to mention the dangers of the porn industry during that time period, immediately after the “Golden Age of Porn,” which ended in 1984. From the sounds of that minor plot detail, sounds like the anti-love letter to Hollywood film Star 80 could be a great precursor watch ahead of MaXXXine. At the very least, we think we can rely on West giving us gruesome, gratuitous gore and deaths.
7) Bobby Cannavale Doing What He Does Best
“The Watcher”
Speaking of sleazy, Bobby Cannavale, whose credits include Netflix’s The Watcher, Boardwalk Empire, Annie, and Sex and the City— all of which he plays shady characters or sleazeballs to varying degrees— will reportedly play an LAPD detective, according to THR. Before this news broke, and based on Cannavale’s track record of past roles, his casting announcement screamed “scummy porn producer,” like a worse version of Martin Henderson’s Wayne in X. But, as MaXXXine is shaping up to possibly be more of a procedural/serial killer thriller/giallo-esque hybrid movie, we would love to see Cannavale doing what he does best and play a shady, corrupt cop with secrets. Few police districts can be as challenging as working in or around 1980s Hollywood, and we could absolutely see Cannavale nail the role as a jaded detective working with the killer. Either West casted Cannavale against type, and his character will surprise us all as a do-good detective working diligently to solve the string of Hollywood murders…or we’ll get Bobby as a dirty, menacing Will Dormer-from-Insomnia kind of role. (We’re hoping for the latter.)
8) Correlation with The Night Stalker
Serial killer Richard Ramirez aka “The Night Stalker” terrorized Los Angeles from 1984-1985, killing at least 13 people and was convicted of five attempted murders, amongst several other crimes. While we have a feeling Ti West has written a more creative killer for the film, a possible appearance or link to the infamous serial killer isn’t implausible. Going back to the pentagram on Halsey’s character, Ramirez— who declared his love for Satan and flashed a pentagram to jurors during his trial— was known to sketch pentagrams on his victims’ walls, mirrors, and, yes, into his victims’ skin post-murder sometimes.
9) Excellent ’80s Aesthetic and Soundtrack
We’ve seen West tackle the early ’80s aesthetic in The House of the Devil, but we’ve never seen his vision of the excess of mid-’80s Hollywood culture. While House relied on muted, earthy toned-cinematography and soft hits like The Fixx’s “One Thing Leads to Another,” we’d love West to implement colorful cinematography, flashy/bright costumes, and edgier hair metal hits like Van Halen’s “Panama,” New Wave classics like Dead or Alive’s “Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” or Goth gems like The Sisters of Mercy’s “Neverland” that dominated 1985. Animotion’s “Obsession” is already featured in the film’s ambiguous teaser. Oh, and even more cocaine featured, since we already know Maxine loves the white stuff, as witnessed in X.
10) Maxine: The Final Girl (Again)
With the help of Mia Goth’s sublime performances as both characters, Pearl has cemented herself as the scarcely seen female slasher villain, while Maxine has become one of the most adored final girls of the modern era in just one year post-release. With West’s knowledge and appreciation for specific commentary on filmic trends of the decades in which his movies are set in, he may incorporate meta commentary on the “Golden Age” of slasher films, which would be prime for his 1985 backdrop. By that year, the Friday franchise was on its fifth entry, A Nightmare on Elm Street was massive, and the squeaky-clean Alices, Ginnys, and Nancys were dominant. But what does it mean to be a final girl that isn’t so straight-laced and virginal, within a slasher franchise that is completely disinterested in the conservatism that many of those other films based their values on? Maybe Maxine attempts to profit on her experiences in X by starring in a slasher film about the massacre while a serial killer is simultaneously on the loose during the making of the film— anything is possible.
MaXXXine may not even categorically fit so neatly into just the slasher subgenre box per se, but as long as Maxine Minx makes it to the end, no matter how battered and bloodied, her reign as a newly supreme, modern final girl will remain.
Soon after the New Hollywood generation took over the entertainment industry, they started having children. And more than any filmmakers that came before—they were terrified. Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), Eraserhead (1977), The Brood (1979), The Shining (1980), Possession (1981), and many others all deal, at least in part, with the fears of becoming or being a parent. What if my child turns out to be a monster? is corrupted by some evil force? or turns out to be the fucking Antichrist? What if I screw them up somehow, or can’t help them, or even go insane and try to kill them? Horror has always been at its best when exploring relatable fears through extreme circumstances. A prime example of this is Larry Cohen’s 1974 monster-baby movie It’s Alive, which explores the not only the rollercoaster of emotions that any parent experiences when confronted with the difficulties of raising a child, but long-standing questions of who or what is at fault when something goes horribly wrong.
Cohen begins making his underlying points early in the film as Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) discusses the state of the world with a group of expectant fathers in a hospital waiting room. They discuss the “overabundance of lead” in foods and the environment, smog, and pesticides that only serve to produce roaches that are “bigger, stronger, and harder to kill.” Frank comments that this is “quite a world to bring a kid into.” This has long been a discussion point among people when trying to decide whether to have kids or not. I’ve had many conversations with friends who have said they feel it’s irresponsible to bring children into such a violent, broken, and dangerous world, and I certainly don’t begrudge them this. My wife and I did decide to have children but that doesn’t mean that it’s been easy.
Immediately following this scene comes It’s Alive’s most famous sequence in which Frank’s wife Lenore (Sharon Farrell) is the only person left alive in her delivery room, the doctors clawed and bitten to death by her mutant baby, which has escaped. “What does my baby look like!? What’s wrong with my baby!?” she screams as nurses wheel her frantically into a recovery room. The evening that had begun with such joy and excitement at the birth of their second child turned into a nightmare. This is tough for me to write, but on some level, I can relate to this whiplash of emotion. When my second child was born, they came about five weeks early. I’ll use the pronouns “they/them” for privacy reasons when referring to my kids. Our oldest was still very young and went to stay with my parents and we sped off to the hospital where my wife was taken into an operating room for an emergency c-section. I was able to carry our newborn into the NICU (natal intensive care unit) where I was assured that this was routine for all premature births. The nurses assured me there was nothing to worry about and the baby looked big and healthy. I headed to where my wife was taken to recover to grab a few winks assuming that everything was fine. Well, when I awoke, I headed back over to the NICU to find that my child was not where I left them. The nurse found me and told me that the baby’s lungs were underdeveloped, and they had to put them in a special room connected to oxygen tubes and wires to monitor their vitals.
It’s difficult to express the fear that overwhelmed me in those moments. Everything turned out okay, but it took a while and I’m convinced to this day that their anxiety struggles spring from these first weeks of life. As our children grew, we learned that two of the three were on the spectrum and that anxiety, depression, ADHD, and OCD were also playing a part in their lives. Parents, at least speaking for myself, can’t help but blame themselves for the struggles their children face. The “if only” questions creep in and easily overcome the voices that assure us that it really has nothing to do with us. In the film, Lenore says, “maybe it’s all the pills I’ve been taking that brought this on.” Frank muses aloud about how he used to think that Frankenstein was the monster, but when he got older realized he was the one that made the monster. The aptly named Frank is wondering if his baby’s mutation is his fault, if he created the monster that is terrorizing Los Angeles. I have made plenty of “if only” statements about myself over the years. “If only I hadn’t had to work so much, if only I had been around more when they were little.” Mothers may ask themselves, “did I have a drink, too much coffee, or a cigarette before I knew I was pregnant? Was I too stressed out during the pregnancy?” In other words, most parents can’t help but wonder if it’s all their fault.
At one point in the film, Frank goes to the elementary school where his baby has been sighted and is escorted through the halls by police. He overhears someone comment about “screwed up genes,” which brings about age-old questions of nature vs. nurture. Despite the voices around him from doctors and detectives that say, “we know this isn’t your fault,” Frank can’t help but think it is, and that the people who try to tell him it isn’t really think it’s his fault too. There is no doubt that there is a hereditary element to the kinds of mental illness struggles that my children and I deal with. But, and it’s a bit but, good parenting goes a long way in helping children deal with these struggles. Kids need to know they’re not alone, a good parent can provide that, perhaps especially parents that can relate to the same kinds of struggles. The question of nature vs. nurture will likely never be entirely answered but I think there’s more than a good chance that “both/and” is the case. Around the midpoint of the film, Frank agrees to disown the child and sign it over for medical experimentation if caught or killed. Lenore and the older son Chris (Daniel Holzman) seek to nurture and teach the baby, feeling that it is not a monster, but a member of the family.
It’s Alive takes these ideas to an even greater degree in the fact that the Davis Baby really is a monster, a mutant with claws and fangs that murders and eats people. The late ’60s and early ’70s also saw the rise in mass murderers and serial killers which heightened the nature vs. nurture debate. Obviously, these people were not literal monsters but human beings that came from human parents, but something had gone horribly wrong. Often the upbringing of these killers clearly led in part to their antisocial behavior, but this isn’t always the case. It’s Alive asks “what if a ‘monster’ comes from a good home?” In this case is it society, environmental factors, or is it the lead, smog, and pesticides? It is almost impossible to know, but the ending of the film underscores an uncomfortable truth—even monsters have parents.
As the film enters its third act, Frank joins the hunt for his child through the Los Angeles sewers and into the L.A. River. He is armed with a rifle and ready to kill on sight, having divorced himself from any relationship to the child. Then Frank finds his baby crying in the sewers and his fatherly instincts take over. With tears in his eyes, he speaks words of comfort and wraps his son in his coat. He holds him close, pats and rocks him, and whispers that everything is going to be okay. People often wonder how the parents of those who perform heinous acts can sit in court, shed tears, and defend them. I think it’s a complex issue. I’m sure that these parents know that their child has done something evil, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still their baby. Your child is a piece of yourself formed into a whole new human being. Disowning them would be like cutting off a limb, no matter what they may have done. It doesn’t erase an evil act, far from it, but I can understand the pain of a parent in that situation. I think It’s Alive does an exceptional job placing its audience in that situation.
Despite the serious issues and ideas being examined in the film, It’s Alive is far from a dour affair. At heart, it is still a monster movie and filled with a sense of fun and a great deal of pitch-black humor. In one of its more memorable moments, a milkman is sucked into the rear compartment of his truck as red blood mingles with the white milk from smashed bottles leaking out the back of the truck and streaming down the street. Just after Frank agrees to join the hunt for his baby, the film cuts to the back of an ice cream truck with the words “STOP CHILDREN” emblazoned on it. It’s a movie filled with great kills, a mutant baby—created by make-up effects master Rick Baker early in his career, and plenty of action—and all in a PG rated movie! I’m telling you, the ’70s were wild. It just also happens to have some thoughtful ideas behind it as well.
Which was Larry Cohen’s specialty. Cohen made all kinds of movies, but his most enduring have been his horror films and all of them tackle the social issues and fears of the time they were made. God Told Me To (1976), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), and The Stuff (1985) are all great examples of his socially aware, low-budget, exploitation filmmaking with a brain and It’s Alive certainly fits right in with that group. Cohen would go on to write and direct two sequels, It Lives Again (aka It’s Alive 2) in 1978 and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive in 1987 and is credited as a co-writer on the 2008 remake. All these films explore the ideas of parental responsibility in light of the various concerns of the times they were made including abortion rights and AIDS.
Fifty years after It’s Alive was initially released, it has only become more relevant in the ensuing years. Fears surrounding parenthood have been with us since the beginning of time but as the years pass the reasons for these fears only seem to become more and more profound. In today’s world the conversation of the fathers in the waiting room could be expanded to hormones and genetic modifications in food, terrorism, climate change, school and other mass shootings, and other threats that were unknown or at least less of a concern fifty years ago. Perhaps the fearmongering conspiracy theories about chemtrails and vaccines would be mentioned as well, though in a more satirical fashion, as fears some expectant parents encounter while endlessly doomscrolling Facebook or Twitter. Speaking for myself, despite the struggles, the fears, and the sadness that sometimes comes with having children, it’s been worth it. The joys ultimately outweigh all of that, but I understand the terror too. Becoming a parent is no easy choice, nor should it be. But as I look back, I can say that I’m glad we made the choice we did.
I wonder if Frank and Lenore can say the same thing.
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