HALLOWEEN HORROR: MaXXXine (2024)

It's 1985 and having survived the slaughter of her friends by the geriatric killer Pearl, tough-as-nails Maxine Minx (another stand-out performance from Mia Goth) has made it to Tinseltown and is already a big name in the "adult film industry".

But the aspiring superstar wants mainstream recognition, and is looking to get it through her first starring role in horror sequel, The Puritan II.

However, even as Hollywood is gripped with fear of the "Night Stalker" serial killer, a series of elaborate, seemingly Satanic, murders are also taking place in the city.

A pair of homicide detectives, the sincere Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and the over-zealous Torres (Bobby Cannavale) realise all the victims are connected to Maxine in some way.

Maxine is also being pursued by a sleazy private eye, John Labat (Kevin Bacon), who is trying to force her to meet with his mysterious client, who knows an awful lot about her backstory.

The anonymous client, it soon becomes obvious (to the audience), is also very directly connected to the murders of Maxine's friends and acquaintances.

More murder mystery thriller - and very on-the-nose metaphor for the meat grinder nature of the film industry - than out-and-out horror, MaXXXine is the third entry in writer/director Ti West's X franchise, again emphasising its star's charisma and engaging acting chops.

The character development of coke-snorting, gun-totting Maxine is fantastic; driven by her overwhelming desire for fame and not to turn out like Pearl, she is the 'monster' of the story, swimming in a sea of lesser monsters.

Primarily self-reliant, driven to succeed at all costs, Maxine is assisted in her quest by part-time boyfriend, and video store owner, Leon (Moses Sumney) and her resourceful agent Teddy Night Esq (the man, the legend Giancarlo Esposito).

While the 100-minute movie certainly isn't devoid of horror and gore, the shift in focus to thriller means this is the weakest of the three films.

Besides a couple of graphically violent close-ups (honestly, these are cheap shocks), MaXXXine simply lacks the quality memorable moments of the previous films in the franchise.

However, propelled forward by a stellar cast, twists, homages to other flicks, and throwbacks to X and Pearl, MaXXXine still packs a punch, is never dull or stupid, and holds your attention from start-to-finish.

HALLOWEEN HORROR: Pearl (2022)

After what feels like an age, the long-awaited prequel to Ti West's ultraviolent X, Pearl has arrived here in UK homes.

But the wait was most definitely worth it. Pearl is a tour de force character piece, with the phenomenally charismatic Mia Goth a genuine force of nature as the titular lead.

As her husband (Alistair Sewell) is away fighting in The Great War, mentally unbalanced Pearl has to stay on the isolated family farm in rural Texas, with her parents.

With the farmhands gone to the war, Pearl has to take her care of her severely-disabled, wheelchair-bound father (Matthew Sunderland) while also helping to keep the farm running with depleting livestock and finances.

All under the harsh gaze and strict rules of her domineering mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright).

The closest Pearl has to a real friend is her sister-in-law, Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro), but even she only knows the 'surface Pearl', the hardworking farmgirl, rather than the 'real Pearl'.

Pearl lives in a fantasy world, dreaming of a life as a dancer on the silver screen, her escape from being trapped by circumstance on the farm.

Her life starts to change when she befriends the charming, Bohemian projectionist (David Corenswet), who runs the cinema in the nearby town.

She shares with him the news that Mitsy has told her about an upcoming audition for a travelling dance troupe, and he encourages her to pursue her dreams.

Naturally, Pearl's mother is having none of this, not only will she not allow Pearl to abandon her essential chores at home, but Ruth knows the 'real Pearl' and believes it is best for her daughter to stay where she is.

Matters escalate and rapidly get out of hand as Pearl's barely-suppressed rage surfaces, farm implements are employed incorrectly and people start to die in a gruesome fashion. 

As the prequel to X, Pearl is a contained study of a rapidly crumbling psyche, delivered with unparalleled gusto by the wholly convincing - and totally unnerving - Mia Goth.

Mia co-wrote the film with director Ti West, and it shows how deeply she understands the main character, and why nobody else could have played her.

More than just a prequel though, Pearl is the origin story of a messed-up serial killer that perfectly foreshadows the horrors that would go down decades later (in X), while working perfectly well on their own to create a fully-rounded slasher.

Slipping between fantasy and reality, Pearl is a blend of Psycho and The Wizard of Oz, complete with a couple of deranged dance numbers, some hypnotically disturbing monologues, and the most terrifying rictus smile since The Man Who Laughs.

Pearl is one of those films that gets under your skin and scratches away at your brain, a movie that will stay with you for a long time. While the main plot is minimal, the story and character at the heart of Pearl have a lasting quality that makes for great cinema.

The concluding part of the X trilogy, MaXXXine follows the sole survivor (Mia Goth) of the events in X as she tries to make a name for herself in the adult film industry of 1980's Los Angeles. It is expected to be released early next year.

HALLOWEEN HORROR: X (2022)

It's 1979 and a group of eager young filmmakers from Houston - fuelled by drugs, horniness, and dreams of making big bucks - head out to shoot a porno (The Farmer's Daughter) in rural Texas, to try and cash in on the emerging home video market.

They've rented a guest house in the grounds of an isolated farm owned by an old couple, Pearl (Mia Goth)  and Howard (Stephen Ure), who both appear to be several hundred years old.

Unfortunately, as you might expect from a horror film, especially one released on the A24 label, all is not as it seems.

Pearl is grieving the loss of her youth, and Howard believes he is no longer able to satisfy her, but the old woman finds herself attracted to one of the actresses, Maxine Minx (also Mia Goth), and when she catches a glimpse of the adult movie being shot her frail grip on sanity slips.

As soon as you see the A24 logo pop up you know you're in for a wild ride, and writer/director Ti West's X certainly delivers.

In much the same way as A24's Midsommar, Ari Aster's rural shocker from 2019, was a modern reworking of The Wicker Man, so X is a reworking of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (although certainly not a remake), with a heavy side-order of Psycho for good measure.

But that's also part of the artifice of the movie, as it's constantly dabbling in clever juxtapositions, foreshadowing and downright misdirection, as Ti West clearly knows what his audience is expecting and likes to mess with those expectations.

In fact, after a brief intro of the police rolling up to the brutal murder scene at the farmhouse, the story flashes back a day to fill us in on how events got there.

Almost a full hour passes - of the 105 minute movie - before the real violence begins, but from then on it's pretty relentless right up to when the credits start rolling.

Pearl may look as weak and feeble as Grandpa from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but she strikes from the shadows with the element of surprise, like a psychotic ninja.

Conversely, Howard doesn't hold to no stereotypical slasher movie rules and is quite happy blasting away with his shotgun.

The first part of X is primarily concerned with Maxine, Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson Hole (Scott Mescudi) making The Farmer's Daughter with producer Wayne Gilroy (Martin Henderon), and cameraman RJ Nichols (Owen Campbell) and his girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who is acting as sound engineer.

Given this set-up, unsurprisingly there's a plenty of bare female chests on display - and a brief male appendage in shadow - but before you start to think that this is a real porno, the nudity switches very quickly from The Deuce to The Shining.

The adult movie-shoot-within-the movie is interwoven with discussions on the nature of film versus reality, while much play is made of future star Maxine's "x-factor" that makes her desirable to everyone, and this segues into the murderous couple's motivations, which are explored through the narrative of the latter part of X.

A prequel, Pearl, was shot back-to-back with X, co-written by Mia Goth and Ti West, set in 1918. This film will see Goth reprieve her role as the titular Pearl and fill in some of the character's killer backstory. 

IT'S ALIVE!!!

First Trailer for Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein

Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein is on Netflix this November. Starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, with Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz.

Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro adapts Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

The Secret Of Marrowbone (2017)

Escaping their abusive father in England, a young family using the name Marrowbone relocates to America, to start their lives afresh in the mother's isolated childhood home - which has been unoccupied for 30 years.

Soon after arriving, the children - Jack (George MacKay), Billy (Stranger Things' Charlie Heaton), Jane (Mia Goth), and Sam (Matthew Stagg) - meet Allie (Anya Taylor-Joy), who lives on a neighbouring farm, and a firm friendship is forged over the summer.

Unfortunately, after the summer, the mother falls ill, and having told the children to stay secluded until Jack turns 21 (to avoid being separated by the authorities), she dies.

The Marrowbone family cuts itself off from the nearby town, and Jack now only gets to see Allie infrequently, when he leaves the home to buy supplies or to steal precious moments with his beloved.

However, the family's skeevy lawyer, Tom Porter (Kyle Soller), who also has the hots for Allie, senses something is afoot at the Marrowbone house and, driven by his desire to woo Allie (despite her making it clear he's barking up the wrong tree), pries into the mysterious family's life... with disastrous consequences.

Having failed to make it to the cinema at the weekend to get my required dose of Anya Taylor-Joy goodness in Glass, I turned to this seemingly overlooked psychological horror-cum-family drama from the other year.

Thematically it reminded me strongly of Ian McEwan's 1978 novel The Cement Garden - which has had a lasting impact on me since I read it about three decades ago - with its similar focus on an adultless family living in hyperreal isolation, with elements of Psycho and Lovecraftian horror (but not the cosmic monsters and weird cults kind) mixed in for good measure.

Although set in the late '60s (the 1969 Moon landing is being shown on a TV in a store in town), the Marrowbone kids are carving out a very Waltons-esque existence of tatty dungarees and Spartan living conditions.

For two-thirds of the movie, Marrowbone feels like an enormous Gothic tease, eschewing jump-scares entirely in favour of continually heightening its atmosphere and tension, building - seemingly -  to a climax that never comes, suggesting ghosts and weirdness when none are truly evident.

That is, until the plot twists unravel thick and fast at the turning point that throws us headlong into the final act.

To be honest, if you've watched enough movies in your life, the revelations aren't that original, which is probably why this film hasn't received the interest it perhaps deserves.

However, they are handled deftly by writer/director Sergio G Sánchez, who brings out top-notch performances from all of his cast.

As with many clever films, once you know the "secret" of Marrowbone there's a strong urge to watch the film again to see how it all works.

And that can't be a bad thing.