Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Ti West’s X.
Ti West’s X crescendos to a gory spectacle of an ending while asking several lingering questions of its audience. First released domestically on March 18, 2022, Ti West’s “erotic slasher” X opened to rave reviews. In particular, critics have cited Xthe desire to return to a classic slice-and-dice formula that acts firmly as a tribute to slasher classics such as John Carpenter’s Halloween and that of Dario Argento dark.
X follows a film crew as they arrive at a remote Texas farm to shoot a pornographic film in the late 1970s, which idealistic director RJ (Owen Campbell) says will be “a piece of cinema.Seemingly blindsided by their ambitions to capitalize on a booming home video porn industry, the young band remains largely unaware of a coveted presence on the nearby farm in the form of Pearl (Mia Goth). of the night, Pearl’s lustful intent turns violent, with Maxine (also Mia Goth), Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), Wayne (Martin Henderson), Jackson (Scott Mescudi), Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and RJ forced to face the horrors of Pearl’s jealousy.
Yet, despite acting as a clear love letter to the slasher franchise, Ti West’s X has a far from simple ending. Between several big character deaths and hidden clues that point to a whole unexplored canon in the film, XThe final scenes are quite the roller coaster. Accordingly, here XThe film’s ending is explained in detail, as well as what the film’s finale really means.
What happens at the end of Ti West’s X?
The end of X conspires to bring Ti West’s film full narrative loop, bringing the audience back to the bloody scenes shown at the start of the film. The last act of X only sees two surviving members of the Porn Squad, Maxine hiding under Howard (The Lord of the Rings Stephen Ure from the trilogy) and Pearl’s bed while Lorraine is locked in the basement of the farmhouse. Pearl and Howard, aroused by the savage murders they have just committed, have sex, allowing Maxine to quietly crawl out and find Lorraine.
However, when Maxine frees Lorraine from her prison in the basement, Lorraine reacts recklessly, unfairly blaming her promiscuity for the horrors that have unfolded through Xthe execution of. Panicked, disoriented, and hysterical, Lorraine attempts to flee the farm on foot, only to be shot by Howard. XThe endgame then ensues, with Lorraine’s death rattle scaring Howard and causing the heart attack he’s long dreaded. Enraged by the death of her husband and confidante, Pearl attempts to shoot Maxine with Howard’s shotgun, but the force of the gun’s explosion knocks her backwards, breaking her hip. As Pearl lies on the ground, begging for help, Maxine decides to get revenge on her slain friends, reversing Pearl’s head into RJ’s van in a particularly sickening scene before speeding away from the closed.
The next morning, Sherriff Dentler (James Gaylyn) and the rest of his police force arrive at the house to retrieve the bodies of the crew, who they still believe to be intruders after Howard’s earlier call to the police . However, the police soon discover RJ’s camera and speculate on the nature of the footage, indicating that Pearl and Howard’s murderous deception will soon be exposed. X then ends with a shocking revelation that Maxine is the daughter of a conservative Christian, whose local televangelist-style speeches were broadcast on Pearl and Howard’s gritty television throughout the film.
Why Pearl is a killer in X
Ti West’s X makes it clear why Pearl kills RJ and his porn crew in the film, with Pearl’s jealousy of the group’s hedonistic pleasures turning into murderous rage. This jealousy of their overtly sexual lifestyle is also why Howard barks at the group to stay away from the farm itself, knowing full well that his wife will react badly to the porn film shot on their property. Yet what X explains less well why Pearl has killed so many times before, especially given Howard’s admission in the middle of the film that he cleaned up Pearl’s mess in the past (as evidenced by the car in the lake and the chained corpse in the basement a -the classic black and white psychology). It’s unlikely that many traveling groups of pornographers would seek to use Howard and Pearl’s farm in the 1970s, leading the public to rightly wonder what Pearl’s homicidal trigger was.
Why Pearl is a killer in X is best explained by her greedy nature which shows when she watches over a sleeping Maxine. Pearl’s confidence as she struts around the farm and is talked about”years of glory… before the first warindicates a singular desire for her to return to her old, beautiful self. In this way, it is inferred by X that Pearl kills out of jealousy and spite at her own mortality, rather than being purely triggered by sexual acts like XThe story initially indicates this. It also follows Mia Goth’s casting as Maxine and Pearl, with Maxine closely resembling a young Pearl as an overt nod to her lost youth that taunts her throughout Ti West’s film.
Who is Maxine’s father (and what it means)
As mentioned above, the end of X shockingly unveils Maxine’s father as a local televangelist barking at his sidekicks on Howard and Pearl’s old TV. Onscreen, the Christian preacher reveals that he is Maxine’s father and then prays for her return to the family and to God. This biblical connection to Maxine’s less than pious life is subtly repeated throughout. Xthe last girl in the movie often repeating “I won’t accept a life I don’t deserve– a sentiment taken from the verses of Mark 10:15 in the Bible.
Maxine discovering her heritage affirms her own, oft-used mantra, with Maxine now using her father’s prosperity gospel as a new driving force. At Maxine’s X The ending is somewhat ambiguous, leaving it open to interpretation whether Maxine chooses to seek out her family or not, but her most likely destination appears to be Hollywood, with Maxine speaking of “do itin Los Angeles before the bloodshed began on Howard’s farm.
The real meaning of the end of X
At the tertiary level, XThe ending of is classic slasher fare as the last girl overcomes the murderers and escapes, Ti West’s new horror is intertwined with more symbolism than Maxine rearing Pearl’s head back with a pickup truck would suggest. Maxine’s Symmetry killing Pearl (both played by A cure of well-being‘Mia Goth) is representative of a natural cycle of life, with the new surviving the old. Pearl covets what she can no longer have, youth and beauty, and, despite her best efforts, can never attain it – Maxine rebuffing his advances before defeating her in the final act. In this way, Pearl is representative of convention, while Maxine represents change, and while the two inevitably clash, change inexorably takes over both in the real world and in Xfinal count.
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