Director Ti West (“The Innkeepers”) released the second installment of his horror trilogy on Sept. 16 titled “Pearl.”
The film is an origin story about the vicious killer, Pearl, who we saw in the first film “X” and follows her inevitable descent into madness.
Mia Goth (“Emma.”) is amazing in her role as Pearl and had one of the best performances of the year. Goth captures how disturbing and mentally unhinged Pearl is as a character.
There’s a monologue Goth delivers at the end of the film that is a one-take and lasts a couple of minutes. The monologue shows how great of an actress she is while pushing the story forward by Pearl breaking and saying what she truly feels and thinks.
Even though she’s a ruthless killer, the film does excellent by making Pearl human and making the audience feel empathetic for her at times and even root for her in certain situations.
Goth’s enthusiasm can be felt through the screen by her performance as she also helped write the story of “Pearl” with West.
Tandi Wright (“The Returned”) has a breakthrough performance as Pearl’s mother, Ruth, and brings the ruthlessness to Pearl’s life that she inherits.
Ruth helps you understand why Pearl is who she is as a result of having her as her mother.
West does a good job by making the film have its own identity while still connecting to the first film “X” with it taking place at the same farm we saw.
The horror aspect is unique as it doesn’t rely on cheap jumpscares or showing something unearthly to scare audiences, but instead tries to disturb them with character development which is more effective and builds the uncanniness throughout the film.
The common issue with prequels is that you know what will ultimately happen in the end, but this isn’t an issue for this film because it’s telling its own story while not heavily relying on the first film.
“Pearl” is worth the watch to go see in the movie theaters and is potentially the best horror film of the year. West builds off of a good film, “X,”to make a better film in “Pearl.”
The release date of the next film in the trilogy is to be determined, but will once again star Goth in “MaXXXine.”