At last night's Midnight Madness premiere of Pearl, the audience was in for a big surprise when director Ti West and A24 announced that there would be a third installment in the horror franchise titledMaXXXine. The film is set to star actor Mia Goth, who will be reprising her role from the first film, X.
The first film in the series, X, premiered in March 2022. West's most recent film Pearl is a prequel to X and explores the origins of the titular character when she was a young woman in the early 20th century.
As reported by Deadline, the short teaser features an overhead shot of the famous Hollywood sign, redone to spell out the title MaXXXine. Set to the bombastic 1980s tune "Obsession" by Animotion, the teaser also reveals that the new film will be set in Los Angeles in 1985. Goth will reprise one of her roles from the first film X, which saw her portraying the sole survivor of a porn shoot-turned massacre in rural Texas. MaXXXine will follow Goth's character as she travels to Los Angeles to make it big as an actor. Not much else is known about the plot, but during the Q&A for Pearl, West said that the film will also focus on the emergence of VHS in the 1980s.
Set in 1979, X follows a group of young amateur pornographers who journey to a farm in rural Texas to shoot a raunchy film. Things take turn for the worse when their hosts, an elderly couple named Pearl and Howard, begin killing off the cast and crew one by one. Goth's character Maxine, an aspiring actress, is the sole survivor. Pearl, directed by West and co-written by Goth, made its North American debut last night at the Toronto International Film Festival, where West and Goth were in attendance along with actor David Cornswet.
Along with his new trilogy, West is known for directing horror films such as The Roost and The House of the Devil, and the found footage film, Sacrament. Goth is an English actress known for her roles in Lars Von Trier's two-part film Nymphomaniac as well as 2016's A Cure For Wellness and the romantic Jane Austen comedy Emma.
A24 is an independent production company known for producing dozens of films, including Best Picture winner Moonlight and the recent hit film Everything Everywhere All At Once. The company is also known for its unique horror films, including Ari Aster's Hereditary and more recently Alex Garland's 2022 horror film Men.
Pearl premieres in theaters on September 16th, 2022.
Source: Deadline