Maxxxine

Directed by Ti West, Maxxxine follows Mia Goth’s Maxine Minx as her efforts at succeeding as an actress in the 1980s are complicated by the appearance of a black-glove-wearing serial killer. Filmmaker West, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a stylish endeavor that certainly captures the grittiness and sleaze of the 1980s horror-movie scene, and it’s clear, too, that the picture benefits substantially from the top-flight efforts of a stellar roster of performers – with Goth’s predictably mesmerizing turn matched by supporting players like Giancarlo Esposito, Elizabeth Debicki, and Bobby Cannavale. (There’s ultimately little doubt that Kevin Bacon’s entertainingly larger-than-life work as a sleazy private investigator remains a continuing highlight within the proceedings.) And while the film admittedly boasts its fair share of compelling sequences, including (and especially) a hotel-restaurant confrontation between Goth and Bacon’s respective characters, Maxxxine, given that it contains a far-from-sympathetic figure at its core, is never quite able to become the engrossing, visceral thriller that West has obviously intended – which, when coupled with a rather underwhelming (and padded-out) final stretch, ultimately cements the movie’s place as a decent-enough sequel that feels like it should be much, much better.

**1/2 out of ****