Every X Movie In Ti West’s Trilogy, Ranked Worst To Best

With the release of MaXXXine, Ti West’s X trilogy has come to a close, and here is every movie in the series ranked worst to best. Starting with X in 2022, Ti West’s horror trilogy took viewers on a decades-spanning journey that explored the horrors and violence that could come about from desires to attain fame, with the story of Maxine Minx and Pearl having a lot of interesting parallels. While each film in Ti West’s X trilogy is good, some are better than others, and here is a complete ranking of each one from worst to best.

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Ti West’s X horror trilogy is much more than a simple series of slasher films, as it is an interesting exploration of how film in its different forms has impacted the world throughout its history. Each film in Ti West’s X trilogy pays homage to a different era of film, and while X, Pearl, and MaXXXine are all tonally and narratively distinct from each other, this common theme and a few common characters link the trilogy together. MaXXXine wrapped up the story that was first kicked off in X, and now it’s time for a retrospective on which film was best.

3 MaXXXine

75% on Rotten Tomatoes

MaXXXine Film Poster

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ScreenRant logo 8/10 MaXXXine RHorrorCrime

In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx lands her big break, but her rise to stardom is jeopardized by a mysterious killer targeting starlets. As the body count rises, secrets from Maxine’s past threaten to surface, intertwining her quest for fame with a deadly game of survival.

Director Ti West Release Date July 5, 2024 Writers Ti West Cast Mia Goth , Elizabeth Debicki , Moses Sumney , Michelle Monaghan , Bobby Cannavale , Lily Collins , Halsey , Giancarlo Esposito Runtime 103 Minutes Main Genre Horror Expand

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MaXXXine is the third and final film in Ti West’s X trilogy, and out of the three films, it turned out to be the worst one. MaXXXine acts as a direct sequel to X, the first film in the series, with it following X protagonist Maxine Minx as she heads to Hollywood in an attempt to continue her pursuit of stardom. After scoring a major role in a highly-anticipated sequel, Maxine’s past comes back to haunt her, with a shadowy figure and a PI seemingly threatening to expose her role in the massacre on Howard and Pearl’s farm to the world.

Select Ti West Filmography

2009

The House of the Devil

2009

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever

2011

The Innkeepers

2013

The Sacrament

2022

X

2022

Peark

2024

MaXXXine

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Like the other films in the X trilogy, MaXXXine is a homage to a specific period of film, with it being a tribute to the video nasties and direct-to-video horror B-movies of the 1980s. This updated 1980s Los Angeles setting breathes a new life into the X trilogy, with the constant 80s music, neon lights, and crowded LA streets making MaXXXine feel much bigger than its predecessors. Moving away from the rural farm settings and focusing on the serial killers and porn industry of the 1980s was a great idea, with it making the first two acts of the film fantastic.

However, MaXXXine really falls apart in the final act, where it is revealed that the shadowy figure who has been trailing Maxine is actually her evangelical father who was first teased in X. This twist ending is completely unbelievable, as he then kidnaps Maxine and brings her to his religious cult where they hope to make a movie that purportedly features a real-life exorcism. While this could have been an interesting commentary on the Satanic Panic, the reveal and ensuing police shootout is far too goofy for MaXXXine, with it feeling jarringly different from the first hour of the film.

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Mia Goth as Pearl from Pearl and Mia Goth as Maxine Minx from MaXXXine Related MaXXXine’s Sharp Rotten Tomatoes Score Drop After X & Pearl’s 90% Successes Explained

MaXXXine is the third entry in Ti West’s X trilogy, but it may also be the worst of the three considering its drop in Rotten Tomatoes score.

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The themes of desiring fame and religious oppression are present in both X and Pearl, and while Maxine makes these issues much more integral parts of its story than its predecessor, it seems to have much less to say. In the attempt to mimic the violence and style of the 1980s B-horror movies that MaXXXine is homaging, it loses the soul of what made the first two X movies great. There isn’t much left to think about when the credits roll, as MaXXXine‘s commentary on the dark side of attaining fame has been explored so many times before.

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If MaXXXine‘s third act had lived up to the first two, the new setting, fast pace, and grander scale could have led to it being just as good as its predecessors in the X trilogy. However, the climax and resolution of the film was a real disappointment, leaving a lot to be desired from the final moments of the X trilogy. In an attempt to tie MaXXXine‘s story back into the reveal of Maxine’s religious upbringing from the ending of X, MaXXXine completely falls apart, with it adding too much camp to the one aspect of the X trilogy that should have been played straight.

2 X

94% on Rotten Tomatoes

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ScreenRant logo 7/10 X RHorror

Director Ti West presents X, a horror slasher film set in 1979 in rural Texas that follows a group of amateur filmmakers attempting to shoot a pornographic film. When the group gets further along in the film, and the elderly homeowners take notice, they slowly realize they’ve drawn their formerly gracious hosts’ ire – and jealously.

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*Availability in US Director Ti West Release Date March 18, 2022 Studio(s) A24 Distributor(s) A24 Writers Ti West Cast Martin Henderson , Mia Goth , Jenna Ortega , Stephen Ure , Scott Mescudi , Brittany Snow , Owen Campbell Runtime 105 minutes Budget $1 million Expand

Ti West’s X was the first film in the X trilogy, and it is what kicked off the events that lead to the prequel film Pearl and the sequel film MaXXXine. X follows a small adult film crew who travels to a farm in rural Texas, not telling farm owners Howard and Pearl about their intentions to shoot a pornographic film while they are there. After learning about what is truly going down, the elderly couple picks off the adult film crew one by one, with a massive amount of dead bodies piling up by the end of X‘s massacre.

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X
was clearly influenced heavily by
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

X is the most traditional horror film in Ti West’s X trilogy, with it clearly being inspired by the early slashers of the 1970s. X was clearly influenced heavily by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with the story of a group of young adults finding a rural farmhouse only to be picked off by a strange family being shared by both films. However, this isn’t a bad thing, as the grounded and smaller-scale horror story was a breath of fresh air, acting as a throwback among many more complex and higher-stakes mainstream horror flicks.

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The strongest part of X is its cast of characters, as unlike many other slasher films, each member of the main cast is a memorable addition with something interesting going on. Despite most of the characters in X‘s cast ending up dead by the end of the movie, they are still beloved, with additions like Jenna Ortega’s Lorraine, Brittany Snow’s Bobby-Lynne, Scott Mescudi’s Jackson Hole, and the rest of the characters being a ton of fun. The main cast of X is much bigger than the subsequent two films, with it being the strongest roster of the trilogy.

Mia Goth in MaXXXine Related MaXXXine Ending Explained

The ending of MaXXXine serves as a fitting if quietly ambiguous finale to the X trilogy, even while leaving room open for further sequel expansion.

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Like many other early slasher films that inspired X, X heavily focuses on themes of sexuality, especially that of its female characters. X is more blatant in its exploration of this topic than some other popular films that have tackled it, as the killers Howard and Pearl are textually punishing the adult film crew for their engagement in sex and the creation of pornographic films. This concept reaches a peak when it is revealed that Maxine comes from a conservative religious upbringing, a masterful setup that is kneecapped in MaXXXine‘s ending.

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Due to the nature of X being the first film in Ti West’s X trilogy, it is a little more stylistically generic than its two follow-ups. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as being a straightforward slasher with strong characters is all X needed to be in order to be remembered as a great modern horror film. X is made better by its follow-ups, expanding on the world, themes, and characters in a way that makes X even better on a rewatch.

1 Pearl

92% on Rotten Tomatoes

Pearl Movie Poster New

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ScreenRant logo 4/10 Pearl RHorror

Pearl, a prequel to the film X, follows the story of a young woman named Pearl residing on a secluded farm during the early 20th century. Directed by Ti West, this psychological horror explores Pearl’s descent into madness, delving into her troubled psyche and the haunting circumstances that surround her. Starring Mia Goth, the film provides a chilling backdrop and a character study of ambition and isolation gone awry.

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*Availability in US Director Ti West Release Date September 16, 2022 Studio(s) A24 Distributor(s) A24 Writers Ti West , Mia Goth Cast Mia Goth , David Corenswet , Tandi Wright , Matthew Sunderland , Emma Jenkins-Purro Runtime 102 minutes Budget $1 million Expand

Of the three films in Ti West’s X trilogy, the second film Pearl was the most controversial upon its initial release, but it has turned out to be the best of the three. Pearl acts as a prequel to X, with it being set in 1918 and following a much younger version of the female killer from X. In the film, Pearl wants nothing more than to escape her secluded farm and become a star, although her repressive surroundings cause her desires to break out in much more terrifying and violent ways.

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Although Pearl is a semi-generic killer with some humanity in X, she is transformed into the strongest character from throughout the trilogy in Pearl. Pearl perfectly sets up the woman that the titular protagonist becomes in the first film, with her desires for fame and an escape from her surroundings paralleling that of X and MaXXXine protagonist Maxine Minx. Mia Goth plays both Pearl and Maxine in the X trilogy, with this brilliant casting choice creating an even stronger thematic tie between the two characters.

Mia Goth played both Maxine Minx and Pearl in the
X
movie trilogy.

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Compared to X and MaXXXine, Pearl is the most stylistically unique of the three films, with it not being a direct homage to a specific genre of horror. Instead, Pearl mimics the style of early Technicolor films and beloved family classics like The Wizard of Oz, although the violence and horror elements create a unique blend of styles and genres that can’t be found anywhere else. This is what makes Pearl so special, as it creates a new form of uncomfortably cheery horror that would be incredibly difficult to get to work with nearly any other story.

Mia Goth’s performance as Pearl is the most impressive performance in the trilogy, as the entire film rides on her take on a cheery farmgirl who wishes to be a star. Mia Goth’s performance in Pearl’s eight-minute monologue at the end of the film is absolutely incredible, with it easily being the best scene in the entire trilogy. Despite her being a crazed murderer, Mia Goth still manages to make the audience feel bad for Pearl, something that carries over into X.

Although Pearl is the least traditional horror film, it is the best entry in Ti West’s X trilogy, with it most likely to remain the most iconic of the three years down the road. Pearl is one of the best entries in the filmographies of Ti West and Mia Goth, and it acts as one of the best franchise prequels ever. While MaXXXine and X are still really good films, they can’t compare to how great Pearl is.

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What’s Next For The Cast & Crew Of The X Trilogy

Close

Ti West had been directing throwback horror movies for years before he ever made his X trilogy. His highlights include the Satanic Panic horror movie House of the Devil and the extremely fun sequel, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Since finishing up with the X trilogy, West took a break from movies to direct the music video for Justin Timberlake’s “No Angels.” While he has no movies set up that he has mentioned, he did say that he has an idea for the fourth movie for the trilogy (via Entertainment Weekly):

“I do have one idea that plays into these movies that could maybe happen. I don’t know if it’ll be next. It might be. We’ll see. I’ll say that, if there’s more to be done in this
X
franchise, it’s certainly not what people are expecting it to be. It’s not just picking up again a few years later and whatever. It’s different in the way that
Pearl
was an unexpected departure. It’s another unexpected departure.”

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However, he also said it won’t involve Maxine, meaning Mia Goth will probably move on unless Ti West develops a new character for her to play. However, Goth will take her X fame and move on to work with one of the world’s best directors. She has signed on to appear in Guillermo del Toro’s horror movie Frankenstein. The movie is a love letter to one of Del Toro’s biggest inspirations and will adapt the original Mary Shelley novel. Goth’s character remains a mystery. Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi will play Frankenstein and his monster.

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