When Ti West made his return to horror movies with this spring's "X," a gritty, dirty porn slasher that leaned heavily into its '70s vibe, the director behind indie horror gems like "The House of the Devil" and "The Innkeepers". He ”he spared no blood and guts, offering too much to (literally!) complete a single film. While “X” featured an eclectic and exciting cast, with everyone from Jenna Ortega and Brittany Snow to Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi and Martin Henderson, eagle-eyed audience members caught on to its real trick early. cast: Mia Goth in a deliciously dark. couple of different roles, including a particularly murderous one that buried her under drops of age-old makeup.
Two for the price of one? Talk about independent ingenuity. But West went even further, casting not just a notable goth in two roles, but in two entire movies. Unfortunately, one is much better than the other, and as West and Goth attempt to reverse engineer the gory backstory of a psycho killer, they diminish both "X" and "Pearl" in the process.
Director: Ti West
Writers: Mia GothTi West
Stars: David Corenswet, Mia Goth, Emma Jenkins-Purro
Shortly after the film's SXSW premiere, West and Goth revealed that while they were making "X" in New Zealand during the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown, they had also made a prequel to "X" that focused on the origin story of the elders of Goth. character, Pearl. If "X" is West's love letter to '70s-era exploitation films and independent porn, "Pearl" is an unholy ode to Technicolor fairy tales and the corrosive power of Hollywood, even in his first incarnation. Set in 1918, towards the end of World War I and right in the midst of the Spanish flu epidemic that infected a third of the world's population, "Pearl" attempts to fill in the blanks in Pearl's backstory, a Convincing enough idea that he's soon at the mercy of a rickety script that owes "X" and is determined to be his thing.
We open on an idyllic Texas farmhouse, bright Technicolor, resplendent with color and promise. It's a far cry from the foreboding setting of "X," a dusty wasteland in which nothing but resentment seemed to grow. Pearl, last seen ("X" spoilers ahead, though no one should be reading "Pearl" without seeing its predecessor) scattered, broken, and mangled outside her house of horrors, cared for by the final girl Maxine (also, of course, goth), she is young and fresh again, full of hope in a world that we already know will not answer any of her dreams.
Before young Pearl can finish strutting around her room in a beautiful dress, the lights go out (literally and metaphorically) and we're suddenly thrust into the reality of her being: she's trapped on a miserable farm, her husband is serving his country in some hellish place, and his only company is his stern German mother (Tandi Wright) and a sick father (Matthew Sunderland). As we learned in "X," the young Pearl dreamed of stardom: a big movie buff, she was convinced she was destined for the spotlight, determined to somehow break into Hollywood through her dancing, that we're never quite Sure it's great or not, but "Pearl" makes it clear how out of reach that dream really is.
But what was within reach of the wild-eyed farm girl? Less explored than her dreams of stardom (but much more interesting) is Pearl's growing awareness that she might be losing her grip on reality, or at least that she's not experiencing reality like everyone else. In fact, she is different, but not the fun and funny type. Unease blooms in the film's first act, though much of it is due to West leaning too far toward winking and nodding at "X," lingering in places and spaces that served as death camps in the first. movie and lustfully searching for weapons that will, Decades later, killed many of the stars of "X."
But what about the stars and the history of "Pearl"? If the first act of the movie is bound to remind the audience of what he loved about "X," the final act of him strays too far to remind anyone why he loved the first movie and why he might love this second. . West has indicated that he is already hard at work on a third entry in the series, one that would be inspired by a different cinematic era and likely sew up the many loose ends left hanging from "Pearl," and he has a lot of work ahead of him. for him. It's a classic prequel problem, as West tries to balance the old with the new and falls short on both ends.
Watch Pearl 2022 Movie Official Trailer:
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