It used to be special when we got a reference to Dr. Moira MacTaggert or Mr. Sinister in a post-credits scene. It didn’t have to mean anything, just a cool reference, nothing more. And then the MCU teased the freaking Avengers after its credits. And that was cool and started to build their season arc. But as with all cool things in the 21st century, just because it was good once, doesn’t mean we won’t get sick of it after it becomes formula-ized and saturated. The one in the mid-credits teases the sequel or Big Bad. After credits is a lame joke. Every series or wanna-be-series gives us the same schtick over and over. But I got a jolt of the old days of something unexpected after the credits when I sat around in my theater after watching X earlier this year. And I didn’t know if I was more excited or disappointed when I found out they were teasing an actual movie. Not to mention one that would come out this same calendar year. Pearl is a real movie, and folks, it’s a good one.
X 1: Newer and Sexier
X did what most A24 horror movies do. For good, and for bad. It absolutely nailed an atmosphere and time period. It felt true to that time and somehow more authentic than the movies actually released in that era. There was swearing, and hyper violence that we’re un-afraid of in 2022, and sex. Oh lots and lots of sex. And then 5/6ths the way into the movie, there was a scene so subversive that it could ruin a movie for a normal audience. Usually involving naked people, but not in the cool way, a la Hereditary, The VVitch, and Midsommar.
There is a dreariness to Eggers‘ and Aster’s stuff. It has taken over the horror conversation in this movement in the genre that I don’t think West subscribes to. He shares their willingness to point the camera where it isn’t supposed to go, and he certainly knows how to find the despair in the situation, but it’s not as exploited as it is in other popular A24 offerings.
X Stood on its own. And then we got more.
X, for all its patience and theme, gets to a point where it matches its gloss and becomes a typical (in a good way) mid-70’s slasher. We go to the deserted ranch with a squad of horny young people and watch them get picked off one by one by the bad guy. Girl. Old lady.
I swear we’re getting to Pearl, but the one thing that is vital to understand from X is Mia Goth. She gets co-writing and co-producing credits on this one. In X she plays two roles. One of the young people visiting the farm AND the old lady in makeup doing the killing. Horror is never acknowledged by the academy, even in the technical awards that it is constantly innovating, but the makeup work in X is worthy of praise by someone. I guess me. I’ll praise it.
X 2: The Prequel
So the trailer for Pearl that played after X showed us that we are getting the youthful origins circa 1918 of the killer, played by Mia Goth, again, this time sans the wrinkles and muumuu.
It is definitely Mia Goth that takes the brunt of the work this time around. She plays the titular character and is rarely off screen. Above the line work in horror is somehow even less respected by the Oscars. But she turned in my favorite performance of the year so far. By far. There is subtle crazy-lurking-beneath-the-surface stuff and full blown ax-crazy acting too. The performance and whole movie really hinge on your tolerance for long take monologues. Right when the movie could go off the rails, it slows to a halt to let Goth freaking act. And I think it’s better for it.
Pearl is about more.
If X broached the subject of cycles in society and how we break or embrace who we are, then Pearl built upon it. In an overproduced age where five to ten people could get screenwriting credits on the worst improv comedy you’ve ever seen, Pearl stays small and stays focused.
Ti West and Mia Goth basically wrote Pearl while they were on Covid production breaks from X. They were already immersed in that world and came up with a new story. You can tell when Pearl is tackling similar themes, while being its own film.
And living on the same set! The farmhouse and location and barn all look the same from X except 60 years newer. When young Pearl sneaks out of the house at night we are taken on a tracking shot that almost perfectly mirrors a scene in X where people are running for their lives. Imagine a Halloween prequel where the Strodes are updating their bedrooms and first installing that slat closet door that you KNOW will someday be the site of one of the most iconic scenes in film. Or just watch Bates Motel. And West manages to shoot it in a subtle enough way that he is respecting his audience’s intelligence and not just giving fanservice. So stop watching Bates Motel after season 2.
X 3: Now Available to Own on Video Cassette
And this isn’t it for the next great Horror duo on the scene. My whole theater was disappointed when Pearl’s credits closed without a sniff at a next installment. But other screeners were luckier. After the credits, a drone shot rolls over the Hollywood sign now teasing MaXXXine. A new sequel playing on the homevideo craze of the 1980’s.
In 2021 Netflix released the Fear Street Trilogy all during one summer and each movie ended with a trailer for the next. I watched them last October (and reader, we are getting deliciously close to my favorite month of the year) and thought the references and lore building would have been stronger if they’d been spaced out. I didn’t need the “previously on Fear Street” opening to a movie that I watched the day before while binging. Pearl came to us quick, but as a treat, not a trick, and never talked down to its fans. In the past decade, horror has gotten classier and in some cases more respected critically than ever before. But this is the first elevated horror sequel. Prequel. And it proves that franchises, with the right care and creative vision, in 2022 can scare and garner critical acclaim at the same time.
Pearl is in theaters now, and honestly, X might be too. Check your local listings. They were both really great.