X (2022), Pearl (2022)

X: Director: Ti West. Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow. 105 min. Rated R. Horror.

Pearl: Director: Ti West. Cast: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright. 103 min. Rated R. Horror.

• X is one of those films where from the very first Searchers-inspired frame (a dark room doorway opening to the horizon of a porch - in this case a blood-splattered porch), you know you're dealing with a great movie. After this introduction to the aftermath of a bloodbath in the house, with the chilling words of a priest preaching the Lord on TV in the background, we flash back to how this all happened, in 1979 - that most fun year in America. A group of young filmmakers embark in a van, under the sun, on a trip to a big house, owned by a creepy old couple, in a field in the middle of nowhere, with broken down cars in the vicinity (all obvious references to that other horror masterpiece, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), to film à la 70s vibes ... a porn movie. Although we know beforehand these youngsters will start getting killed off one by one in violent ways (like they used to in Camp Crystal Lake in Friday the 13th), it's the attention the movie pays to that old couple, particularly the old lady, whose name we're hinted to be Pearl, who longs the days she was young and pretty like these spoiled kids, that separates and elevates this from the usual gruesome horror genre of those years. And did I mention there are some truly scary moments here? Director Ti West shows that he knows (and loves) the medium, because X is that once-in-a-decade incredibly well-made horror movie.
• With Pearl, premiered this year a mere 6 months after the first movie, and set in 1918, we've already been primed that this will be the origin story of the old lady in X, that her husband is still fighting in one of those wars he was mentioned in X to survive from, and that she is waiting for her turn at acting superstardom. While not as scary as the first movie, the prequel continues X's simple love affair with cinema, this time in the form of bright colorful cinematography (as opposed to the dark gloom of X), multiple homages to the Golden Age of Hollywood, and Pearl's introduction to the hypnotism of watching something forbidden - on the screen. Not much of a surprise that legendary film director, historian and restoration artist, Martin Scorsese, has praised the movie. The shining light here is Mia Goth's portrayal as Pearl, with her long disturbing monologue towards the end revealing her descent into murderous insanity, and a final end-credits continuous close-up on her face, projecting a succession of contradictory emotions from a fractured mind.
• The third film of the trilogy, MaXXXine, is currently under development, and follows the story of Maxine from the first movie (played again by Mia Goth) and her acting career in the 80s.  

MoGo's rating (X): 9/10

Your rating: Enter here!

MoGo's rating (Pearl): 8/10

Your rating: Enter here!