From X to MaXXXine: Ranking the X Trilogy from Blue Movies to Bloody Murder
It’s a rare feat for modern horror to pull off a full-blown trilogy, but director Ti West managed it with The X Trilogy — and he did it in style. Set across decades and dripping with genre flair, the series gave Mia Goth a double shot at horror glory, playing two wildly different characters with a level of commitment that should scare the hell out of any awards committee.
What started as a grimy love letter to 1970s and 80s slasher cinema (X) quickly morphed into something more ambitious with the technicolor madness of Pearl, before diving headfirst into neon-drenched chaos in MaXXXine. Throw in themes of sex, stardom, psychosis, and a few very stabby elderly folks, and you’ve got one of the most unique modern horror trilogies out there.
We’ve seen other rankings floating around, and yeah — we disagree with most of them. So strap on (pun fully intended), and join us as we rank X, Pearl, and MaXXXine from worst (still good, don’t panic) to absolute best.
3. Pearl (2022)
Now listen, we know some of you are going to be outraged that Pearl comes in third. Some of you will be screaming into your technicolour pillows that it’s the “most artistic” or “emotionally devastating” or “Mia Goth gives the performance of her career.” And yes, you’re right… but also, calm down. It’s still a great movie, we just think the other two bring more to the party.
Written over Zoom (as all the best pandemic ideas were), Ti West and Mia Goth stayed behind after wrapping X, dusted off their vintage filter and decided to go full Wizard of Oz meets Psycho. Pearl is a young dreamer with stars in her eyes and murder in her heart. While her husband’s off at war, she’s stuck on the farm with her overbearing German mother, her non-verbal father who keeps wheezing in the corner, and a barn full of ducks that really should know better. She falls for the local projectionist (played by future Superman David Corenswet) and things start to unravel from there. And by “unravel,” we mean she goes full Texan Carrie with a pitchfork.
The thing is, Pearl isn’t really a horror movie for much of its runtime. It’s a slow-burn character study dressed up in glittery Technicolor, which makes it look like Disney’s Bambi right before Bambi starts slaughtering the forest. There are moments of brilliance here — that 8-minute monologue, the terrifying smile during the credits, the uncomfortably tense dinner scene — but compared to the chaos and carnage of the other two films, this one just feels a bit… tame.
Still, we’d rather watch Pearl do a deranged dance number with a pitchfork than sit through 90 percent of modern horror output. So yeah, it’s good. But not the best.
2. MaXXXine (2024)
After X and Pearl earned Ti West and Mia Goth a whole new cult following (and probably some fan tattoos of pitchforks and porno lighting), the hype for MaXXXine was through the roof. Everyone wanted to know what happened to Maxine Mynx — the final girl with a VHS dream and a shotgun scream. Well, wonder no more.
We catch up with Maxine in 1980s Los Angeles, a city drenched in neon, cocaine, and the lingering smell of broken dreams. She’s survived a farmhouse massacre and left behind the world of skin flicks to pursue real fame. Not the “dirty video shelf behind the curtain at Blockbuster” kind of fame — we’re talking actual Hollywood. She auditions for a new horror movie and lands the part, which should be her big break. But instead of lights, camera, Oscar… we get lights, camera, murder.
You see, someone’s out there killing off adult film stars. Not cool. Even worse, a sleazy private investigator with connections to a mysterious benefactor is following Maxine and seems to know all about what happened on that farm with the shotgun, the Pearl, and the preacher on the telly. There’s glitz, gore, and more celebrity cameos than a season of The Love Boat. We even get a detour to the Bates Motel for good measure — because why not throw in a little Hitchcock with your synth soundtrack?
MaXXXine is a solid thriller with stylish visuals, brutal kills, and enough sleaze to make Basic Instinct blush. It’s more mystery than horror, with a little less emotional punch than Pearl, and not quite as fun as X. But seeing Maxine claw her way to the top through blood, sweat, and shoulder pads is a wild ride — and we’re here for it.
1. X (2022)
The one that started it all — though whether it was ever meant to launch a trilogy, or Ti West just got bitten by the “arthouse horror with boobs and blood” bug mid-edit, who knows? What we do know is that X came out of nowhere and absolutely ruled.
Set in 1979, it follows a ragtag group of porn stars and film crew who rent out a guesthouse on a remote Texas farm to shoot their next masterpiece — “The Farmer’s Daughters,” of course. Think Debbie Does Dallas meets The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. What could possibly go wrong? Well, everything, obviously.
Unbeknownst to them, the property’s elderly owners — including a very peculiar woman named Pearl (also played by Mia Goth in some of the most disturbing prosthetics since Mrs. Doubtfire) — are not exactly thrilled about the activities going on in their backyard barn. Cue pitchforks, shotguns, gators, and one incredibly uncomfortable night of geriatric lust-fuelled murder.
X is pure retro horror joy. It looks, sounds, and feels like a lost 80s video nasty, complete with sleazy synths, grimy film grain, and some of the best “Oh damn, they really did that” kills in years. Ti West somehow channels both Boogie Nights and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in one go — and yes, it works.
This was also the film that turned Mia Goth into a modern scream queen and cemented her as a genre icon. She’s incredible as both Maxine — the ambitious adult star chasing fame — and as the repressed, murderous Pearl. Add in a pre-Wednesday Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, and Kid Cudi (yes, really), and you’ve got a cast that’s way better than a film like this has any right to have.
It’s scary, stylish, sexy, and has all the blood and boobs you’d want from a proper slasher. It felt fresh and filthy in all the right ways, and honestly? It made us fall in love with slashers all over again.
