SPOILER ALERT: The following article contains crucial plot points of X all along. You might want to take care of the recent horror favorite if you haven’t already before reading all the dirty details below.
I don’t know about you, but it wasn’t until the credits started rolling on my first viewing of 2022 X — one of A24’s best horror films to date — when I realized that Mia Goth was actually playing two characters: up-and-coming adult movie star Maxine and unhinged senior citizen Pearl. Immediately I was puzzled as to writer and director Ti West’s intent behind this unusual double cast and at first assumed it was simply to reinforce the thoughtful themes of the otherwise macabre slasher of the seniors yearning for their youth and the divisive nature of generational gaps. However, as viewers would learn from a post-credits teaser, it was also a way to see Goth return for the film’s upcoming prequel.
The British actor resumes his eldest X character (with much less makeup this time) in the lead role of a new horror film that explores Pearl’s life years before the events of the 1979 horror film. In fact, Goth co-wrote the origin story script with West – which to me is very indicative of his commitment to the role and to making this new film a killer, character-driven experience. But let’s not rush before pearl hits theaters Friday, September 16, 2022, and instead get ready by taking a closer look at what we already know about the character.
Pearl grew up with dreams of stardom
After the X The actors (also including Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Owen Campbell and reigning Scream Queen Jenna Ortega) arrive at a farm in rural Texas owned by an elderly couple to secretly film a porno called The Farmer’s Daughters, Maxine shares a glass of lemonade with the hostess, Pearl. The already awkward moment gets stranger as Pearl longingly reveals her resemblance to the hopeful young starlet (besides being played by the same actor) having been an aspiring artist herself and, more specifically, a dancer.
We see glimpses of this stage of Pearl’s life in the trailer for her upcoming self-titled origin story, which shows her auditioning for what appears to be a stage play in front of a panel of casting directors. looking, as Wayne of Henderson also called in X, “X-factor”. The teaser also sees the character give it her all in elaborately choreographed dance numbers. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if those lavish scenes turn out to be a fantasy that further fuels his envious bloodlust…but more on that later.
Pearl is married to a World War I veteran
Before meeting Pearl in Xwe meet her husband, Howard — played by the Australian the Lord of the Rings star Stephen Ure, who, like Mia Goth as his on-screen wife, isn’t as old as his character. While he takes an immediate dislike to Wayne and the rest of his film crew – perhaps for no other reason than their youth – he manages to have some form of connection to Scott Mescudi’s character, Jackson, having both served in the army. While Jackson is a Vietnam War veteran, Howard can claim to have seen World Wars I and II with his own eyes.
We may be able to see the First World War through Howard’s eyes in pearlwhich is set in 1918 and features a younger version of the character played by Netflix’s Alistair Sewell The power of the dog cast. According to THR’s review, Howard is absent for much of the film in service to his country while Pearl suffers from separation anxiety both emotionally and sexually. This actually brings us to our next point.
Pearl is sexually frustrated
Sharp-eyed horror fans know there’s more to X than blood and dismemberment (although there is more than plenty of it), because it really is a story about the trials of aging and how it can affect sex life. Coming face to face with the film’s younger, sexually active characters makes Pearl yearn for her glory days and the sexual satisfaction that her husband can no longer provide due to his health. It actually makes her more empathetic — when she’s not making overt advances towards Maxine and RJ (Owen Campbell), that is — and makes for the otherwise intense and chilling moment in which Maxine is trapped under a bed. in which Pearl and Howard finally make love. a certain strange sweetness.
Pearl’s sexuality will also play a part in the prequel, as seen in a few key snippets from the trailer. The most obvious is a moment that foreshadows his later association with the porn industry in x, in which she watches what appears to be a primitive adult film from a projectionist booth and asks the projectionist (David Corenswet) if it’s legal, to which he replies, “It eventually will.” Her curiosity for this kind of art obviously never waned, but by the time she reached the age at which she is Xhe would be supposed to curdle in an envious rage.
Pearl is a murderous maniac
X features the last of cinema’s greatest female horror villains in the form of Pearl, who kills nearly every cast and crew of The Farmer’s Daughters with Howard’s help, excluding the last daughter Maxine. Because each of his murderous acts (from beheading Owen Campbell’s character, RJ, to keeping what appears to be a mutilated sex slave in the basement) seems to be a reaction to his own sexual complexes, you might conclude that her motivation is jealousy towards those sexually active young people who break into her home. However, that’s not quite the case after all.
As a trailer for pearl reveals, the character has been experiencing (and acting on) murderous tendencies since his youth, but the root cause doesn’t appear to be sexual frustration. She seems to resent her sick father (Matthew Sunderland) and overbearing mother (Tandi Wright) for stifling her ambition for fame, based on an outright confession to her projectionist friend that her life could be better” if only they died”. Later graphic clips from the teaser suggest that at least one of his dreams will come true in the end.
An alligator lives in Pearl’s Pond
Two of the most memorable moments of X involve an alligator in a pond on Howard and Pearl’s farmland. Earlier in the film, Maxine unwittingly swims with the reptile during the day, and near the end Pearl feeds her to Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) after the unassuming young actor offers to help her. to go back to bed. For anyone hoping to see more of this beast in pearlyou’re in luck… well, sort of.
Although this may not be the same alligator seen in X – because the animal generally only lives 30 to 50 years – pearlThe trailer for reveals that a alligator appears in the film as an accomplice to the main character’s bloody rampage. What we can confirm, however, is that the alligator lives in the same pond seen in X, meaning Howard and Pearl’s farm is the one she also grew up on with her parents. I guess home is where the horror is.
Horror movie prequels (let alone sequels) aren’t usually something fans are particularly excited about, but with the 18th century sci-fi thriller Prey and the return of Isabelle Fuhrmann as Esther in Orphan: first murder appearing on the 2022 movie schedule, it’s been a surprisingly good year for them so far. Maybe pearl going to continue this steak.
