TV and movie franchises build their brands, to a certain extent, on familiarity and lack of surprise. It never takes long for development on the sequel to the latest runaway hit or comic book movie to get underway, provided the crowds flocked to the previous entry. Co-writer/director Ti West sidestepped that conventional wisdom thanks to his latest film, Pearl, being secretly filmed right after he’d finished its thematic successor, X. Luckily for him the decision paid off, as crowds that loved the previously-released porno slasher were hungry for more.
Pearl takes us all back to where the X saga began, as its titular character (Mia Goth) starts coming into her own. Living on the remote farm we see her lording over in the ‘70s, our future murderer is a farmer’s daughter who wants to become famous for singing and dancing. If it wasn’t for her strict mother Ruth (Tandi Wright) and her ill father (Matthew Sunderland), Pearl just might be able to live the life she truly feels she deserves. That very notion is tested throughout the film, and to some interesting extents.
As a prequel, there is indeed only so many surprises we should expect from Pearl’s fun house ride of horror. Yet Ti West and co-writer/star Mia Goth have once again knocked it out of the park with this retro-throwback. Trading in the grime and grindhouse edge of X for the old school Hollywood aesthetic that our murderous maiden loves so much, Pearl sheds its own share of blood and tears in beautiful, melodramatic technicolor.
Pearl differs from X in tone and genre, but not in execution.
Noting the differences between X and Pearl is super important, especially when selling audiences who loved the former on why they should see the latter. Again, this prequel installment is something that’s rooted deeply in the movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age in the ‘20s and ‘30s. That expectation is set from the first frame, as the doors to the barn that housed one of X’s infamous kills open to a fresh faced farm that’s dripping with color.
Just as his previous entry dove into its influences with all of its heart, Pearl is just as committed to the heightened drama that makes up Pearl’s very life. This time out, drama and musicals are the genres that comprise the DNA which drives this horror laced story to its killer conclusion. Once again coiling up to strike with the fun and bloody, Ti West actually breaks the audience’s heart while revving up Pearl’s murderous tendencies.
Indulging in the hallmarks many a golden oldie has been known to use, Pearl includes dancing, romance and intense arguments to twist its narrative knife. Living with the limitations others put upon her, Pearl slowly starts to become more determined to prove everyone wrong. Using that plot line as its foundation, it’s a fresh case of starting the movie off with one genre, only to be plunged straight into another towards the end. The concept still works like a charm once again thanks to the immense talent of Mia Goth.
Mia Goth’s command over the character of Pearl only deepens, creating some showstopping moments of drama and tension.
Earning her first writing credit with Pearl, Mia Goth collaborated even more with co-writer/director Ti West on carving out another story to tell with her X character. No longer needing the full body prosthetics that aged her into the ‘70s incarnation of her protagonist, Goth gets to show a sunnier, more frisky Pearl in the prime of her youth. While she eventually becomes the lethal force we know and love, there’s a lot more at play with this story in particular.
Fulfilling the promise of an ideal prequel, Pearl gives us the backstory that was teased in the entry previously released. Rather than talking about the promise of her early years, we actually see Mia Goth’s would-be actor doing everything she can to make her dreams come true. One could rightfully question if they’d been baited and switched if it wasn’t for the fact that the signs of Pearl’s increasingly unstable nature are still very much presented in those more classically dramatic moments.
Adapting to her environment like the character she returns to, Mia Goth has some really showstopping moments in Pearl that aren’t merely about blood and guts. Most impressively, a lengthy monologue that finds its way into the third act had me riveted to the screen. Flexing the most classic Hollywood muscle of all, Ti West and Goth have given us a deeper look into the life of Pearl; and what we see only makes her more identifiable in the long run. It doesn’t totally kill the sense that things are going to go south in the most deadly way possible, but thanks to moments like that, Mia Goth lures the audience into the exact corner she wants them in before she strikes.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with its predecessor, Pearl loves and cares for its genre influences just as much as X.
When X ended, the experience was punctuated by an adrenaline-fueled ending, complete with an appropriate Robert Palmer needle drop. Pearl was never going to end that way, with the uneasy dread of knowing where this character eventually ends up lending even more foreboding. You’re not just getting more of the same in this particular prequel, as Ti West wasn’t satisfied with merely filling in some gaps with Pearl’s life story.
Thanks to a fresh playground of genre influences in play, Pearl has just as much fun as X did before it. Wearing its heart on its shoulder, this shift makes for yet another fantastic descent into madness and horror that isn’t merely repeating a formula. Giving everyone more details about one of this trilogy’s central figures, Ti West and Mia Goth also use this opportunity to have a different type of fun, which just happens to include some actually riveting drama.
It’s no secret that West has been planning a third, and potentially final, entry in the trilogy that started with X. As MaXXXine has been announced as in the works, it looks like the other would-be starlet played by Mia Goth is going to be the center of attention. Now that Pearl has arrived, some details might be easy to fill in thanks to the trajectory of this cautionary tale.
However, this prequel also reinforces that just as you think you know the full story of anyone in this universe, there are a whole bunch of surprises waiting along the path traveled to get all the details. While Pearl may have started life as a spur of the moment thought which developed into a full movie, it feels like it’s always been planned and budgeted for from the word 'go.' Ti West’s ability to pull this picture together on such a short notice is another testament to his talent, and it still has me hooked for whatever happens next.
