X, Pearl, and MaXXXine Are Ready for Their Close-Up and So Is the Body Count
Mia Goth takes the Hollywood dream to some very disturbing places in Ti West's horror trilogy, now streaming free on Tubi.
Hollywood has been telling people to follow their dreams for generations. Work hard, believe in yourself, never take no for an answer. All very inspirational advice until someone decides the last part is a personal challenge. Mia Goth, please step forward.
Ti West's X trilogy takes the familiar dream of becoming a star and gives it a makeover that would send most Hollywood publicists into early retirement. Across X (2022), Pearl (2022), and MaXXXine (2024), the filmmaker explores the darker side of ambition through two women whose hunger for fame refuses to take a back seat. The catch? Goth portrays both of them, and neither is particularly interested in following the industry's usual rules.
Each movie also has its own personality. We're talking a 1970s slasher with questionable filming locations, a Technicolor-inspired nightmare that makes the American dream look deeply suspicious, and an '80s Hollywood thriller where getting your big break might be the least dangerous part of the job. Different decades, different flavors of horror, and one actress who clearly understood what it meant to commit to a role.
Watching the trilogy together is practically an invitation to become your own horror detective. The stories leave connections, character parallels, and little details worth revisiting, while Pearl's now-iconic “I'm a star!” moment is only one of the many reasons Mia Goth has become such a memorable presence in modern horror. All three movies are available to stream free on Tubi, making spooky season an excellent excuse to catch the entire trilogy. Terror on Tubi has even more nightmares waiting for anyone whose Halloween watchlist could use a little extra chaos.
One recommendation before the cameras start rolling: watch the movies in release order, starting with X, followed by Pearl and MaXXXine. The timeline may jump around, but the surprises are worth experiencing the way audiences originally discovered them. A quick heads-up before we step onto the set, though: light spoilers for the X trilogy are ahead.
Now, somebody get Mia Goth her flowers. Preferably without checking the body count first.
X
A group of aspiring filmmakers, a secluded Texas farmhouse, and an elderly couple who probably should've been asked a few more questions before anyone signed the rental agreement. What could possibly go wrong?
Set in 1979, X follows a small film crew hoping to make their mark in the adult entertainment industry. Among them is Maxine Minx, an ambitious performer portrayed by Mia Goth, whose dreams of stardom have taken her to a remote property owned by Howard and Pearl. Unfortunately, their hosts aren't quite prepared for the production happening on their land, and the crew's big career opportunity takes a rather gruesome detour.
Ti West gives the movie the grimy atmosphere of a classic '70s slasher, complete with creeping tension, gruesome surprises, and a cast of characters whose vacation rental choices deserve serious scrutiny. Goth's Maxine has enough determination to make even the most hopeless situation feel like another obstacle between her and stardom. Meanwhile, Pearl and Howard prove that the most dangerous people on a horror movie set aren't always the ones holding the cameras.
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Pearl: An X-Traordinary Origin Story
Pearl has a dream, a fabulous imagination, and zero patience for anyone who suggests she should be realistic. Someone get this girl an audition before the situation gets worse.
Traveling back to 1918, Pearl introduces a younger version of the mysterious woman audiences encountered in X. Stuck on her family's isolated farm, Pearl dreams of escaping her responsibilities and becoming a glamorous performer on the big screen. Mia Goth returns to the role, this time stepping into the spotlight as a young woman whose frustrations, fantasies, and desperate need for attention threaten to consume everything around her.
West trades the grimy slasher atmosphere of X for a colorful, old-Hollywood-inspired nightmare that looks like a musical and behaves like a psychological horror movie. Goth makes Pearl both heartbreakingly vulnerable and completely unpredictable, especially when her dreams collide with reality. Her now-famous “I'm a star!” declaration is memorable enough, but watching the emotions behind it unravel is where the real horror lives. Hollywood hasn't invented a rejection letter strong enough to prepare for her response.
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MaXXXine
Maxine Minx survived the events of X, made it to Hollywood, and has absolutely no intention of letting her past ruin her future. Unfortunately, Los Angeles has a funny way of making everyone's business public.
The trilogy heads into 1985 with MaXXXine, where Goth's ambitious survivor is determined to leave adult films behind and establish herself as a legitimate Hollywood actress. A promising opportunity could finally put her name in lights, but a mysterious figure with knowledge of her past threatens to turn her big break into another nightmare. Meanwhile, the city is already on edge over a series of brutal murders connected to the Night Stalker.
Neon lights, sleazy Hollywood personalities, and an unmistakably '80s crime-thriller atmosphere give MaXXXine its own identity. Goth's determined final girl refuses to let anyone stand between her and the spotlight, putting her in good company with the horror heroines we celebrated in our guide to Final Girls who refuse to go down without a fight. Elizabeth Debicki, Kevin Bacon, and Giancarlo Esposito make the Hollywood scene even more unpredictable, with characters who give Maxine plenty of reasons to watch her back. Between the mystery surrounding Maxine's past and the dangers lurking around her future, this is one career move that probably deserves a second opinion.
The Walk of Fame has seen plenty of stars. Maxine would prefer not to become another Hollywood cautionary tale.
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