Pearl review

PEARL: 

X PREQUEL IS A CHAOTIC TECHNICOLOR NIGHTMARE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

A24

Mia Goth in Pearl: An X-traordinary Origin Story

 

            The Golden Age of Hollywood gets a dark and twisted makeover in Pearl, the new slasher film from Ti West (Trigger Man, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, The Innkeepers) and prequel to his previous horror hit released earlier this year, X. I actually watched X for the first time last night in preparation for this review, because I missed it in theaters when it came out and…I freaking loved it! 

            It wasn’t a horror movie game-changer like what Get Out or The Cabin in the Woods were, I just thought it was a very fun slasher film with an interesting premise involving a film crew making a porno in an old farmhouse, but bad things start happening, a lot of creative kills, an amazing dual-performance from Mia Goth, and the film itself is a love-letter to 1970s slasher flicks like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I regret not seeing this one in theaters, but I had a ball watching it at home. 

            Now, we have Pearl which was filmed in secrecy during X’s production with Mia Goth (A Cure for Wellness, Suspiria, Emma (2020)) reprising her role as the titular aspiring dancer turned serial killer. Like what X did for 1970s horror films, Pearl does something similar but with the Golden Age of Hollywood, essentially The Wizard of Oz if it was a horror movie (I guess we technically already had something kind of like that with Return to Oz, but I digress). 

            Because I literally saw both movies for the first time just recently, I’m not sure which one I prefer between this and X. I will say Pearl is a damn good prequel to a damn good slasher film and an unexpected surprise. 

            I didn’t have any expectations going into this and I ended up having a great time with Pearl, it’s easily one of the most ambitious and unique horror films I’ve seen in a while…and this is for a prequel to X, which came out a few months earlier. Keep in mind, I also saw this a week or two after I had seen Barbarian (Which again was a very unique and unconventional horror movie) and yes, two of the best films I’ve seen so far this month were horror movies. 

             The film is set in 1918 and follows Pearl (Goth) as a young woman living with her German immigrant parents in their Texas farmhouse while her husband, Howard is serving in World War I. Pearl dreams of one day escaping from the farm, her ill father (Matthew Sunderland-Backtrack, The Lost City of Z, The Nightingale), and dictator-like mother (Tandi Wright-Sylvia, Jack the Giant Slayer, Love and Monsters) and becoming a star. 

            However, she is soon pushed to her limits whether family dilemmas, rejections from audition judges, and suspicions from loved ones about unusual activities she’s taking part in as Pearl goes to extreme lengths to rise to superstardom. Her efforts soon transform this aspiring star into the infamous serial killer who would eventually terrorize a porno film crew in the 1970s. 

            The film also stars David Corenswet (House of Cards, The Politician, Look Both Ways) as The Projectionist. 

            Overall, Pearl is the definitive example of a horror movie prequel done correctly and puts just about all the other ones to shame. It doesn’t fall into the same trap as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning where it’s a complete retread of its predecessor and just change the time period, instead they do something completely original while still fitting it into X’s universe. 

            I love how this film looks in terms of lighting, production design, and cinematography, it really looks like a film released 70 years ago. It’s one of the few times where I can describe a horror movie’s tone and production design as beautiful, and it somehow blurs the line between being appealing to look at and foreboding like an AU version of La La Land where Emma Stone’s character slowly turns into a murderous psychopath as it goes on, not to mention the musical score does an excellent job at accompanying the almost Pleasantville-looking atmosphere with a dark and cynical edge. 

            As expected, the kills are gratuitous and gory, but what’s interesting about the death scenes in this is that the majority of the film takes place in daytime and you’re watching Pearl kill, maim, and hack people to pieces while this bright, pleasant-looking sun is out. However, while Pearl’s kills are gruesome, her most terrifying scene isn’t even a death, it’s a fixed shot of her sitting at the table confessing to her sister of all the horrible things she’s done and the camera just stays on her for several minutes and through her dialogue and how drawn-out this whole sequence is, it’s actually pretty unsettling. 

            The acting is stellar, especially from Mia Goth, I enjoyed both her performances in X a lot as Pearl and Maxine, but here she 100% owns this movie. It’s the kind of role where she’s able to really show off just what her acting skills are capable of and in my opinion, completely exceeded expectations. 

            I do like how this film humanize Pearl a little bit, despite the character doing all these horrible things, you understand the thinking and reasoning behind these decisions. It’s weird to say, but there are quite a few scenes where you’re emotionally invested, sympathizing with, and even caring about the Pearl character a little bit and while most people probably won’t agree with her motives, you can at least understand why she had to think this, and unlike something like Don’t Breathe 2, this film never blows its load in terms of humanizing a villain character. 

            If I had to nitpick some elements of the film, I will say the Spanish Flu pandemic subplot mirrors a lot of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic happening right now. It doesn’t play a huge role in the story, but it feels like those themes were written during the lockdown. 

            Pearl is a chaotic, unapologetically bloody, and entertaining Technicolor nightmare that expands upon the Xfranchise while also being a fun slasher film in its own right. Whether you’re a fan of the first film or looking for a different kind of scary movie, then you got a date with “Pearl”. 

            I’m curious to see where the franchise will go after this as at the very end of the film, there is a teaser for a direct sequel to X titled MaXXXine currently in development.