Well, “elevated” horror’s most unlikely franchise full o’fuckin’ is getting its big Fourth-of-July send-off later this year, and we’ve decided to pause and reflect on the circumstances that lead us to Ti West’s MaXXXine getting the summer blockbuster treatment (and if you don’t think this is on that level, just wait until people start seeing Civil War in IMAX this weekend). Who would have figured that X, a salacious little porn-themed slasher would have wrought all of this? X is a good time — good kills, dumb plot, swell cast, nothing really to write home about — and Pearl was some period-piece shot-calling that wound up blooping its way to the pitcher’s mound when West thought he’d hit it into the upper decks past the outfield. Outside of a fearless performance from Mia Goth (who really does bring everything she has to these movies), there wasn’t much to write home about — “Wizard of Oz but tWiStEd” isn’t exactly a novel logline.
At least MaXXXine is going to bring us up to the home video era, as evidenced by this trailer. It looks like a lot of the newfound budget for these flicks went straight to picking up a stronger supporting cast, with Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Monaghan, Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito and Kevin Bacon among the new faces in the glitzy and gritty world of Porn Valley. As mentioned before, A24 dropped a trailer earlier on Monday in advance to it being attached to screenings of Civil War this week, and it’s a pretty solid little number.
Peep it:
Here’s a very short synopsis:
“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 (Jesus Christ, that title formatting) will hit theaters on July 5. Yeah, if you can believe it, A24 is making this into Despicable Me 4 counterprogramming. It’s a bold move, Cotton; let’s see if they can pull it off.