4K Review Double Bill: Pearl and Maxxxine!

I am a big fan of Second Sight. Their recent release of The Blair Witch Project is glorious. As a huge Ti West fan, and Mia Goth fan, and X fan, I was very excited to see that Second Sight would be putting out Pearl and Maxxxine in 4K. But no X… I know it’s due to rights, or lack thereof, but as the second and third films don’t stand alone at all – was this a waste of time? Or would the standard, and a revisit of both films, blow me away enough to make me forget all about X?

A quick contextualising catch-up for everyone. In X, the first film in the trilogy, Mia Goth’s Maxine Minx is a 70s pornstar who has to fight for her life against an old lady slasher who bumps off the rest of a porn film being shot on her farm’s cast and crew.

Pearl is the 20s prequel follow-up to X, shot back-to-back with the first film, that sees Mia Goth play a young Pearl (the homicidal old lady). We get to see how Pearl becomes a maniac and Mia Goth memes her heart out.

Maxxxine is the 80s sequel to X, and sees pornstar Maxine in Hollywood transitioning from hardcore to horror, but once again stalked by a killer.

In the cinema, I preferred Pearl. But, watching at home, I definitely noticed the huge pacing issues. There are some very long slow stretches, and those amazing long dialogue scenes stripped of the surprise at the audacity of it all in a first watch become patience-testing.

That is not to say I don’t like Pearl, but it was not as good as I remembered. Mia Goth is still amazing though, and with a bit of time and space since initial release you notice and love the campiness a lot more.

Disc wise, I had a check disc, so no box or booklet, but the audio and video were perfect. Goth’s hysteria sounded even better screaming out of my system than it did at the cinema, and the video encode beautifully captures all the glorious technicolour camp cult craziness.

Special features include: an Alexandra Heller-Nicholas commentary (love her), a Ti West interview, an interview with actress Tandi Wright (Pearl’s mother), interviews with both the DOP and the production designer, and a new video essay.

The disc could have been a 5 out of 5, but having no Mia Goth present in the extras is a hole too big to ignore.

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I felt as if I really should have rewatched my own copy of X before this, but thought it was too late, and ejected Pearl and put Maxxxine straight in. Writing this now, I missed a trick. Instead of rueing not watching X first, I could have watched it second and watched the trilogy in chronological order. That could have been cool. Never mind. Next time.

Theatrically, I was a bit disappointed with Maxxxine. It contained and touched on so many of my favourite things, but however you slice it, that third act reveal and denouement is a poor way to end things. I won’t spoil.

Still, the sleazy atmosphere, scenery chewing from a cast that includes Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, Elizabeth Debicki, and even a scene featuring the brilliant Sophie Thatcher, and seeing Maxine in her final form as a (literal) ball-busting, super-confident, punch-first-ask-questions-later scream queen is super fun.

It’s, for the most part, a simple story that could have worked better if it somehow ended with everyone coming together to help Maxine squash her problem, but with all the talk throughout of the Nightstalker, and all the giallo allusions, to end things that way with that reveal still doesn’t work and is still a lousy end to the trilogy.

Maxxxine is way more fun than Pearl, but still feels like a rushed mess, whereas Pearl is an acting tour de force hamstrung by flawed pacing. And both need X. Seeing both again back to back without it, really highlights how, as enjoyable as they are, they are both really spinoffs, and releasing them minus their keystone film feels inescapably lacking.

The video encodes Dolby Vision picks out every glimmer of neon on the filthy Hollywood Blvd pavement and, again, the Dolby Atmos through our home system rubbished the sound the local fleapit produced.

Extras come in the form of: a Bill Ackerman and Amanda Reyes commentary, another new interview with Ti West, a new interview with one of the film’s producers, again interviews with the DOP and production designer, a Cat Hughes video essay and a Q&A with Ti West.

Again, the lack of Goth in any of the extras is glaring and tops the disc getting a perfect score.

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The Pearl and Maxxxine 4K UHD Limited Edition Box Sets were released on 17 November, alongside Standard Editions.