If anyone says that mainstream horror movies are all remakes, requels, prequels, and reboots, then please point them in the direction of Ti West’s X trilogy, which began with 2022’s X, followed by the prequel Pearl, and now the finale, Maxxxine, all starring Mia Goth in one banger of a performance after another. West manages to stick the landing and conclude the trilogy well, all while steeping the final entry in 1980s Hollywood, complete with cocaine and neon colors.

Comparing the trilogy’s entries really isn’t fair because each and every one stands on its own, and each is stylistically different. X is a bloody romp and tribute to 1970s grindhouse, while also serving as a commentary on voyeurism and audience. Pearl is a tragic character study and technicolor nightmare that has plenty of nods to the Wizard of Oz. Maxxxine, meanwhile, is a nod to the 1980s, video rental stores, and slashers, specifically Giallos.

Maxxxine opens years after the conclusion of X, and though you really don’t need to see the other films to make sense of the final entry, it’s beneficial to give X another watch because so much of the film calls back to that first entry. Set in 1985, the third entry finds Maxine Minx (Goth) in Hollywood. After carving out a very successful career for herself as a porn star, she wants to make the shift to more mainstream movies. It turns out that she lands a starring role in a horror movie that’s a sequel to a B movie called The Puritan, helmed by the very serious and demanding director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki). The filmmaker demands that Maxine get her head in the game and be willing to give her all for the film. Alongside the bloodshed, Bender wants to send a powerful message into the world, using the horror genre to do so. Some of the interactions between Maxine and the director are some of my favorite moments in the film, commentaries about art and the horror genre generally, as well as the difficulty of working with the mainstream studios, which too often stifle truly creative voices that go against the status quo.

The film set is besieged by Satanic Panic protestors who believe that everything from heavy metal to genre movies are the work of the devil. Meanwhile, there’s a killer on the loose called the Night Stalker who torments Maxine for what transpired in X, and he continually picks off young women who worked with the wannabe starlet in the porn industry. In fact, the black-gloved killer hires a private investigator, played by Kevin Bacon, to track Maxine down. Much of the film plays out like a murder mystery, though there are some gnarly and bloody kills that should satisfy horror hounds, though this film doesn’t have the grindhouse elements of X. It’s much tamer by comparison and more of a drama, too.

Yes, this film deals with Hollywood and Maxine’s aspirations as an actress, and like the other entries, it’s very much a love letter to filmmaking in general. It’s also about the weight of a character’s actions. As Bacon’s character warns Maxine, the past is about to catch up with her. She’s haunted by it, and she can’t outrun it. She has to learn to confront it. If she doesn’t do that, then her career and friends will suffer. This is a much more vulnerable Maxine compared to the first entry, again showing Goth’s versality as an actress. She’s rattled by the murders and notes and video tapes the killer leaves for her.

All of Ti West’s films are stylish, and Maxxxine is no different. This film is drenched in pastel and neon colors. The characters, including Maxine, have big hair and 80s outfits. This is a film, like the others, that really should be seen on a big screen, especially for some of the set designs, costumes, and Hollywood studio lots. There’s even a nod to the Bates Motel, again another reference to the fact the past always catches up with the present. It’s inescabale.

While I’m hesitant to say that Maxxxine is as good as Pearl or X, it’s a fitting conclusion to West’s trilogy. Goth’s character comes full circle and I can’t see any other way that this could have ended. Overall, West has made an outstanding horror trilogy that’s also very much his love letter to the process of filmmaking itself and different eras of Holllywood.

Maxxxine opens in theaters on Friday, July 5.