On July 4, the slasher-thriller MaXXXine hit Ukrainian theaters — the final installment in the X trilogy by horror auteur Ti West (X, Pearl) and indie studio A24.
MaXXXine follows Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), a porn star who survived a massacre on a Texas farm. 6 years have passed; it’s now 1985. The ambitious young woman teams up with shady talent agent Teddy Night (Giancarlo Esposito) and seizes every audition she can, hoping to break out of the adult film industry.
In some ways, it’s the perfect time — advertising, music videos, B-movies, and open casting calls are booming, searching for fresh faces. But in other ways, it’s a dangerous era — rock music fans are under constant suspicion of «satanism,» conservative Republicans are holding congressional hearings on the moral decline of the pop industry, and the media enthusiastically chronicles the exploits of the latest serial killer, fueling the rise of the now-trendy true crime genre.
Maxine’s talent catches the eye of horror director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki), who ignores pushy producers and religious picketers outside the studio to cast Miss Minx as the lead in her new film. But Maxine’s joy is short-lived — her past and her escape from the Texas farm are about to become public knowledge. And soon, those connected to her begin falling victim to the Night Stalker, the real-life serial killer who terrorized Los Angeles in 1985.
Skvot Mag sat down with director Ti West and actress Mia Goth to talk about the X trilogy, genre-blending, and the contradictions of 1980s America.
This is the final chapter of the X trilogy, with each film standing alone and vastly differing in style. Was that always the plan?
Ti West: Pretty much, yeah. The idea was to create a series of slasher-thrillers, each paying homage to different decades and classic A- and B-movie aesthetics. The films are loosely connected but don’t force viewers to watch the previous entries to understand the next.
We want to intrigue, not obligate — unlike most franchise films. The key to pulling this off was casting Mia — a modern-day scream queen. She has incredible range, but what makes her truly unique is her ability to play the same character with the same core traits across different stages of her life.
A scene from the movie MaXXXine (hereinafter)
Mia Goth: Such flattery! Honestly, though, we had only a vague idea of what the X trilogy would become. We didn’t even know if it would be a trilogy. While shooting X, the script for Pearl (Mia Goth became its co-author — editor's note) was born, and thanks to A24, we got the green light for Pearl before we even wrapped X.
That’s also when the idea for MaXXXine came about — there was no way we could leave Maxine Minx’s story unfinished. I trust the directors I work with, but I never expected Ti to fully deliver on his promise — every time, I find myself in an entirely different movie while playing the same character. It’s a truly unique experience.
How involved was A24 in the filmmaking process? What sets them apart from other studios?
Ti West: I built my career in indie film, so I never had to deal with the corporate suits from big studios, and my budgets allowed me to avoid excessive oversight. But MaXXXine was a much bigger swing — filming in L.A. today costs way more than it did in the ‘80s. A24 backed us in every decision. They offer guidance, help, and even persuasion when needed, but if they believe in a project, they work for the project, not for themselves. That’s why they’ve been so successful.
Mia Goth: I’ve worked on films where the studio controlled every little detail, and not all of their input was justified. But most of my career has been in auteur-driven cinema, and I’ve been fortunate to work with directors who embrace collaboration. We’ll see what the future holds.
Ti West: Well, yeah, you’ve got Marvel coming up. (Mia Goth has been cast as the antagonist in Blade — editor’s note).
Mia Goth: So far, they feel like a very big indie studio.
X paid tribute to ‘70s slashers with tiny budgets and rural settings, Pearl was a love letter to Technicolor classics, and MaXXXine is something else entirely. It’s been compared to Craven’s Scream and Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. How would you define it?
Ti West: It’s part horror-slasher — definitely drawing from Scream — part biting satire of show business, and part commentary on the contradictions of the Reagan era, which laid the groundwork for many of America’s modern struggles.
For keen-eyed viewers familiar with classic films, there are obvious nods not just to Psycho (the Bates Motel is one of MaXXXine’s locations — editor’s note), but also to specific ‘80s films. Think Brian De Palma’s Body Double and Michael Winner’s Death Wish II. If younger audiences discover those films after watching MaXXXine, that would be pretty damn cool.
What do you mean when you talk about the contradictions of the '80s?
Ti West: Oh, so much at once. The all-consuming consumerism that took off just as the American middle class began to shrink. The constant hypocrisy of conservatives — who are essentially their own kind of show business — yet desperately want to bring back the Hays Code whenever something doesn’t fit their agenda. This happened in the ‘80s, and it’s happening again now. These people crave attention, publicity, and media exposure. There’s none of the humility they claim to embody.
The Trump era pushed this to the extreme — they literally elected a reality TV star as president and want to do it again. And the roots of this go back to the ‘80s: attempts to censor musicians — first rock, then, a few years later, rap. Cinema, after a brief rebellious period in the ‘70s, once again became completely controlled by studios and corporate executives. It was the birth of the 24-hour media cycle, where people barely had time to process anything. I didn’t want MaXXXine to be preachy, but it was important to capture that atmosphere. There’s no direct politics in the film, but the vibe is there.
Mia, how do you feel about being called a scream queen and having so many genre projects in your filmography?
Mia Goth: It’s an incredible honor to be mentioned alongside Jamie Lee Curtis (the lead actress of Halloween — editor’s note). I try not to cling to labels and just feel grateful for the opportunities to work in genre films. Horror and thrillers have a deep, subconscious appeal — they tap into something primal. And the films that truly resonate are the ones that have that X-factor.
In our case, it’s this fascinating exploration of the nature of fame, set against an ongoing debate about whether smartphones have turned us all into narcissists. And it’s also a really effective nostalgia trip. The characters of Pearl and Maxine Minx — those are unique roles that simply couldn’t have existed outside of horror.