Hollywood Is Celebrating The MaXXXine Theater Premiere With A Week Of Glam & Gore

“Until you’re known in my profession as a monster, you’re not a star.”

This epigraph to the upcoming A24 feature film MaXXXine is a perfectly sharp stab in the gut. It’s also a sentiment that can be applied to much of Hollywood, from imperious directors to diva actors to transactional producers. Fame itself is all too often born out of infamy, with so many of our household names known for dying a tragedy, or yes, becoming a true monster.

For years, fans of the Ti West written and directed film X have been dying to know what became of the only soul left alive after that 1979 Texas porn star massacre. MaXXXine — the third and final chapter of the X trilogy — finally answers that question. The year is 1985 and ambitious young adult film star Maxine Minx (played by Mia Goth) has arrived in Hollywood with her sights set on stardom. Nothing will stand in her way — not her hyper-religious Texas upbringing, nor the traumatic flashbacks to that boondocks farm six years prior.

In honor of MaXXXine coming to theaters on July 5, A24 hosted a week of bespoke events around Los Angeles to transport fans back to the era of glitz and grime that serves as the backdrop for our new favorite slasher. Scroll on to read all about it.

The Bus Tour

My armchair detective wheels were already in motion last week when I attended a custom bus tour showing off Maxine’s Los Angeles. We visited pivotal filming locations around the city, viewed clips from the movie, and unpacked more than a few easter eggs. Our chariot for the afternoon was straight out of a small town Hollywood hopeful’s dream: a mini tour bus emblazoned with Maxine’s name and face.

The tour kicked off on Hollywood Boulevard at the Walk of Fame. This 15-block stretch immortalizing hundreds of icons is the same one the film’s heroine strolls at night. Before our first stop, we watched a brief clip of Maxine chatting with fellow nighttime working girl Tabby (played by Halsey). After turning down Tabby’s invite to attend a mysterious millionaire’s party in the Hills, Maxine snuffs out a cig on the star of Theda Bara. True franchise fans will know: Theda also happened to be the name of a pet alligator in the trilogy’s second installment. Coincidence? Maybe. But probably not.

Next, we headed to the city’s final destination: Hollywood Forever Cemetery, crawling with peacocks, dotted with palm trees, and haunted by showbiz royalty buried six feet under. There, we were treated to another clip from the film, featuring a team of detectives and coroners discovering the bodies of two pretty young things floating in the landmark’s duck pond. Psycho killers targeting screen-hopeful ingenues is nothing new in LA, but this crime’s Satanic branding elevated it into a terrifying league of its own.

Our last stop was set high up in the winding hills of Studio City, on the iconic Mulholland Drive. There, we viewed our third and final movie clip. This featured one of main-stream cinema’s most recognizable sets: a famous creepy old house, and a very iconic motel (you know the one). In the clip, Maxine meets with her new director, who issues her a warning: for this dream, in this town, you have to go all in. Blink and you’ll miss it: in the window of the old house, we see a familiar face.

The World Premiere

At the world premiere of MaXXXine, the energy was palpable. The Los Angeles Chinese Theater venue felt fitting, considering the celebrity handprints and terrazzo stars of the Walk of Fame just steps away. In keeping with the theme, attendees were decked out in ‘80s glam attire: all-denim ensembles, sequined off-the-shoulder cocktail dresses, and bold prints. Outside, picketers thrust placards into the air bearing phrases like “Honor God, End Smut,” and “Hollywood is a Satanic Playground,” setting a delightfully on-the-nose scene.

The Untold Story

In the movie, ‘80s America plays out on screen, alongside a soundtrack that brings you back to the time of VHS tapes and smoking sections. We see decency protests, the religious right rising to prominence, the war on drugs, and Satanic serial killers terrorizing California. Pop culture veers in the opposite direction, producing sort of a sexual revolution for the “me” decade. Everything is for sale, with bodies right at the top of the list. High-end LA gigolos and professional pretty women captured the collective unconscious. Porno chic granted crossover success to starlets previously overlooked. If those other girls could do it, why not Maxine?

When we meet our girl in the City of Angels, she’s still acting in stag films and dancing at Show World to make ends meet. But that’s just a stepping stone on her road to making it. By day she pounds the pavement for legitimate Hollywood auditions. “I will not accept a life I don’t deserve,” is a personal phrase she repeats, coined by her preacher father. (It’s also a mantra that was projected on iconic buildings around LA this past week in advance of the premiere.)

Her big break arrives when a genius horror film director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) casts Maxine in a supporting role in a Salem Witch Trials exploitation film, starring scream queen Molly Bennett (Lily Collins).

But wherever Maxine goes, trouble seems to follow. A serial killer terrorizing the city hits close to home when her fellow working girl friends turn up murdered. A pair of LAPD detectives (Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Mognahan) see her as a common thread in the killings and come knocking for help. Mysterious packages start showing up at her door, alluding to the secrets of her past, while a sleazy private eye (Kevin Bacon) follows her everywhere. She manages to maintain her focus, but still, a mysterious black-gloved presence stalks her, hellbent on inflicting retribution for something in the past.

For all the answers, you’ll have to see the film when it hits theaters on July 5. But for now, suffice it to say: MaXXXine is an homage to the sleaze and seduction of 1980s erotic thrillers, showbiz, and Los Angeles. But for any cinephile who loves greasy glamor, a deep cut reference, and dark humor, it’s more like a divine intervention.