The X trilogy is a showcase forMia Gothto be a final girl, a monster, and astar, but each chapter has also been unique with a change in tone from the last installment. 2022’sXis a classic slasher,Pearlfrom the same year is psychosexual horror, and 2024’sMaXXXineis a neo-noir/giallo. Along with how distinct each installment has been,the kills in theXtrilogyhave been consistently creative. The latest one heads into the 1980s where blood stains glitzy and sleazy Hollywood, but the best kill scene inMaXXXineisn’t what happens whenKevin Bacon’s smug private detective meets his end in a car crusher.The best death occurs when the movie taps into a key horror influence that is beautiful, violent, and tragic.
Leon Is One of the Few Men Maxine Can Trust
The ensemble cast ofMaXXXinedoesn’t all get character development compared toMia Goth’s aspiring starlet.Elizabeth Debecki’s passionate filmmaker is seen as ared herring for the killer, so she must stay enigmatic, andHalsey’s Tabby gets killed off before we spend much time with her. One co-star who fares better isMoses Sumneyas Leon. In this (apparent) final chapter of the horror trilogy, men are either leering at Maxine or want to harm her. Her agent Teddy (Giancarlo Esposito) is an exception, as isher close friend Leon, the soft-spoken movie nerd who owns an adult video storeand reads Fangoria in his downtime. The meta nature of Leon’s scenes placesMaXXXineintoScreamterritory, as his and Maxine’s first scene together has them list actresses who got their start in horror.
AlongsideJamie Lee CurtisandBrooke Shields, there will soon be “Maxine fucking Minx!” Like any good friend, Leon isn’t afraid to be truthful about the difficulties of a former adult film actress making it big in Hollywood, and their platonic relationship brings rare tender moments in an otherwise brutal movie against mostly female victims. Leon is a queer man, which helps Maxine feel more comfortable being around him, in contrast to how other men treat her.Sumney and Goth create a genuine, platonic chemistryin their short time before Leon ultimately becomes a target.
Leon’s Death Honors the Giallo Influences in ‘MaXXXine’
MaXXXineis a movie bursting with cinematic references, fromBrian De Palmato classic LA noir stories.Leon’s death scene is the best presentation ofMaXXXine’s Giallo influences, the Italian mystery-horror genre that boomed in the 1970s. The murderer pretending to be the Night Stalker has theiconic appearance of a black leather-clad giallo killer, keeping their identity hidden and being portrayed as a living shadow.When the killer targets Leon, it is a perfectly crafted sequence to honor the hyper-stylized films in thegiallogenre.
Over-the-top violence creates morbid and provocative artistry inDario Argento’s 1982 giallo filmTenebrae, where a chopped-off arm sprays blood across a white wall. We still see this in modern giallo movies likeKnife+Heartfrom 2018, in which murders are committed with a bladed dildo as the weapon of choice. InMaXXXine, the large knife Leon has been keeping by his side, possibly as protection from the recent murders around Hollywood, is used against him late one night in the video store that is bathed in green, yellow, and red lighting — until the red mixes with the blood spilled.
Mia Goth Uses Her Life as Inspiration in New ‘MaXXXine’ Bonus Content [Exclusive]
The A24 and Lionsgate film is now available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD.
Adding to the frenzied attack are inserts of Maxine in her nearby apartment, reading the script for “The Puritan II,” hitting the page with a highlighter that transitions back to the knife slicing and stabbing into Leon. The color, editing, and bloody effectsmake it a perfect homage to the giallo genre, and in the context of the trilogy, it’s as memorable as RJ’s death inXto “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” and the axe chase inPearl.Not only is Leon’s death the most stylish in the movie, but it personally devastates Maxine as she has just lost her last ally and confidante.
‘MaXXXine’ Has One of the Best Deaths in the Trilogy
WhileMaXXXineavoids focusing on violence against women, putting some distance between the audience and the horror of what they suffer, Leon’s death holds no punches. The killer’s hateful motive, based on religious fanaticism, extends to desecrating the body, ripping out Leon’s cross earring, and branding his forehead. The following morning,the police take out Leon’s body in a blood-drenched white cloth, publicly revealing his face in a crappy but effective move to get someone among the crowd to start talking about what she knows — a horrified Maxine.
When it comes to characters who deserve their vicious ends, the movie doesn’t hold back. Private detective John Labat (Bacon) is trapped in a car crusher as Maxine watches, and the river of blood leaking from the flattened vehicle is as memorable as thearrow through his throatin the originalFriday the 13th. During the climax, the killer, Maxine’s deranged father (Simon Prast), gets his head destroyed by his daughter after she confirms she “will not accept a life she does not deserve.“Out of the innocent victims and the villains who are taken out in various ways, the best kill goes to Leon for how it lives up to the giallo influence inMaXXXine.
In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally secures her big break. As she navigates her path to stardom, a mysterious killer begins targeting Hollywood starlets, leaving a trail of blood that threatens to expose her sinister past.
MaXXXineis streaming on Max.
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