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A24’s MaXXXine flips the script to give you something fresh to scream about

The X franchise brings its story full circle with MaXXXine.

But MaXXXine ’s plot — which incorporates aspects of American ’80s culture like the satanic panic — and its focus on rising film star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) make a different kind of sense when you know what went down on that run-down Texas farm back in 1979. Six years after narrowly escaping with her life and setting off to realize her dream of becoming a mainstream movie star, Maxine has wound up in Los Angeles and damn near done the thing thanks to an unflappable work ethic and the unwavering support of her crooked agent Teddy Knight (Giancarlo Esposito). In contrast to the depth it affords its star, many of MaXXXine ’s other players — like trigger-happy private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon) and LAPD detectives Torres (Bobby Cannavale) and Williams (Michelle Monaghan) — are intentionally rendered as over-the-top caricatures whose flamboyance belies their two-dimensionality.

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