MaXXXine (2024) Ending Explained

Welcome to Knockout Horror and to this MaXXXine Ending Explained article. We just finished watching and reviewing Ti West’s third entry into the X series MaXXXine. I am not going to lie, I didn’t get the hype with X and I don’t get the hype with MaXXXine. On the other hand, I loved Pearl to bits.

I suppose complaining about the serious on an article where I am about to explain the ending to one is a bit stupid. With that being said, you can read my reviews of all three movies if you want to see what I thought. As you have probably guessed by now, today we are going to explain the ending to MaXXXine.

As always, I am going to summarise the plot before explaining the ending and answering a few questions. I have updated this article recently and added a bit more information on a few elements of the film that I think are quite interesting. Remember, if you haven’t watched the movie yet, avoid this article as it contains spoilers and check out our spoiler free review of MaXXXine first. Let’s go.

MaXXXine Ending Explained – The Shadow of the Night Stalker

It’s 1985 and Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) has made it to Hollywood after surviving the events of X. The entire city of Los Angeles is gripped by the Night Stalker murders. This is a bit of a strange way of doing things for a horror movie. It’s almost meta in west’s approach to blending real life with horror fiction. The Night Stalker was an actual real life serial killer – Richard Ramirez.

Ramirez was active between April 1984 and August 1985 and took the lives of at least 15 people in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. He made his home at the notorious Cecil Hotel (the location of Eliza Lam’s tragic death) and spent his nights breaking into people’s homes. It’s hard to actually emphasise the impact of the Night Stalker’s reign of terror if you have never experienced something like this.

Serial killers were a very 1900s phenomenon. The 2000s have seen a marked drop in the prevalence and societal impact of these types of killers. Needless to say, however, entire cities would bear the brunt of active psychopaths terrorising the residents. Paranoia would sweep through entire regions. People would walk home in groups, always lock their doors, avoid going out at night, and even carry weapons.

The relentless media focus on these killers only heightens that paranoia. It was hard to escape the ever looming threat of someone like Richard Ramirez. Everyone in L.A would have been aware of the Night Stalker and that’s why it works in Maxine.

West uses this real life wave of fear as a story element. With Ramirez’s crimes being used as a cover for the actual killer. Nobody would suspect otherwise. As soon as someone was murdered and that pentagram was found, their minds would immediately go to Ramirez.

The Woes of Satanic Panic

Maxine now has aspirations of stardom and is auditioning for a role in the sequel to a controversial horror film called The Puritan. America in the 1980s was gripped by something known as Satanic Panic. Believe me, it is as ridiculous as it sounds. There was a genuine belief that groups of people who worship Satan were corrupting the youth, leading them astray, and causing them to commit violent crimes.

Police, government, and even school officials would keep a close eye on teens for signs of Satanic corruption. This could be in the form of enjoying metal music, reading certain books, or, indeed, watching horror movies like The Puritan with Satanic themes. Posters were even distributed to help people recognise the supposed signs of Satanic brainwashing. It was completely ridiculous.

Needless to say, plenty of bands, books, public figures, and movies felt the wrath of these absolute nut-jobs. A film like The Puritan would have potentially been seen as corrupting and promoting Satanic values. This would, almost certainly, result in religious protests and demands for it to be removed from screens. Trick or Treat (1986), Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare (1987), and Black Roses (1988) were just a few of the films that suffered as a result of this wave of panic.

West wants to perfectly capture the general feeling of paranoia and anxiety that existed in American at this time. Hence the inclusion of The Puritan as a plot device. Anyways, after that diversion, let’s get back to the movie. Maxine is still working in adult films and in peep shows to make ends meet while she chases her dream. A pair of co-workers, Amber James and Tabby Martin, invite her to a party in the Hollywood hills but Maxine refuses.

A Mysterious Videotape Arrives

Later that night while performing at the peep show, a man wearing leather watches Maxine and is clearly enraged. We will learn more about him a little later on. While heading down an alleyway late at night, a man follows Maxine, seemingly with bad intentions. Obviously, he has picked on the wrong girl as she retaliates by pulling out a gun, forcing him to strip, and crushing his testicles.

The person from the peep-show leaves a videotape on Maxine’s door step. It depicts the harrowing murders that took place during the first movie, X. Maxine is invited to meet with a private investigator called John Labat (Kevin Bacon) who has been hired by an unknown client.

The client wants to meet Maxine at an address on Starlight Drive. If she doesn’t agree, her crimes during the events of X will be revealed to law enforcement. Oh no, not self defence! This plot point seemed a bit stupid, to me.

Maxine is awarded a part in the movie she auditioned for, The Puritan 2, but the private investigator’s constant harassment distracts her. This causes her performance to suffer which is, obviously not a good thing. She tells her agent all about it who comes up with a plan.

On the set of The Puritan, Maxine meets the star of the original movie, Molly Lambert (Lily Collins). Molly informs Maxine of yet another party taking place in the Hollywood hills. It’s starting to seem like there is going to be some sort of connection between these parties and people waking up dead.

Labat Gets Crushed and Maxine Has a Problem

While on the set of the movie, John Labat appears and continues his pursuit of Maxine. Maxine leads him on a chase, eventually taking him to a recycling yard where Maxine’s agent and a friend ambush him. They force Labat into a car and crush him alive so that’s that problem dealt with.. kind of.

Meanwhile a number of murders have been taking place and they seem to have some connection to the leather clad figure from the peep show. Both of Maxine’s co-workers are killed and then her friend Leon is brutally slain in his video shop. Naturally, these people are all connected to Maxine so the police ask her to help them. Wary of law enforcement, she refuses, instead resolving to deal with the problem herself.

She heads to the address that was given to her by the private investigator on Starlight drive. I’ll put a little side note in here to say how incredible these houses in the Hollywood hills are. It must feel like another world to the people who can afford to live there. The place seems abandoned but Maxine senses something is very wrong.

She continues her search through the house. Eventually, she stumbles on the dismembered corpse of Molly Bennet shoved into a suitcase. That is only one of the shocking things she is about to discover, though.

Maxine’s Dad and His Religious Cult

After some more exploring, Maxine finds her father, the religious zealot from the first X movie Ernest Miller (Simon Prast) in the house. Miller has come up with a fiendish plan, that we will elaborate on in just a little, and Maxine is about to finally get her starring role.

Needless to say, he is responsible for the murders that have been taking place, not the Night Stalker as had been initially assumed. He is making a documentary and his final scene will depict him saving Maxine from the ills of Hollywood and returning her to virtue as a member of his cult.

Miller ties Maxine up and the cameras begin rolling. This is his grand finale! He offers her the chance to repent for her sins but the filming process is suddenly interrupted by the detectives Torres and Williams who start a shootout. Miller manages to escape during the chaos and successfully kill the detectives as they are pursuing him. Maxine catches up to him, however, and shoots him with a shotgun.

Maxine ends the film by going on to star in The Puritan 2. She is now a successful starlet, and has a tremendously crazy backstory that I am sure will sell a lot of autobiographies sometime in the future. Okay, let’s explain the ending to MaXXXine and answer a few questions to clear some of this stuff up.

Who Hired the Private Investigator John Labat?

The private investigator (played by Kevin Bacon) was hired by Maxine’s dad, the religious cult leader Ernest Miller, and was basically a pawn in Miller’s larger plot. Miller wanted to find his daughter so he could include her in his documentary about the sins of Hollywood. The major scene of the documentary would be Miller forcing his daughter to repent for her sins. In turn, rescuing her and bringing her back into his religious cult.

As a child, Maxine was a frequent guest on Miller’s televangelist shows. The very same show that played on the television repeatedly throughout X. Obviously, we don’t learn until the end of X that this was Maxine’s dad and it was Maxine in the videos. Maxine’s trademark line “I will not accept a life I do not deserve!” was a line she was made to repeat throughout her indoctrination into her father’s extreme beliefs.

It can be inferred that Maxine escaped the cult like home she grew up in. Eventually rebelling by using drugs, starring in porn, and living a hedonistic lifestyle. The only thing she kept from her childhood was the motto she was forced to repeat. Empowering herself by using it as a positive motivational line.

Labat’s part was fairly inconsequential but he did lead Miller back to Maxine. Maxine deliberately lures Labat through a club. Making him follow her right into the waiting arms of Knight and his cohorts. They knock Labat unconscious, place him in his car and crush him inside of it using a car compactor. Meaning he will no longer cause any problems for Maxine. The damage has already been done, though. Miller knows exactly where Maxine is.

Who Was The Man in the Alley?

The man in the alley that was planning to attack Maxine was literally nobody. Just a person inserted to show that L.A was a dangerous place but Maxine has resolved to never be a victim again. Sort of a theme in this movie. In fact, she may have even turned into something of a predator, judging by what takes place here.

She deliberately leads him down the alley with the intention of attacking him. She forces him to strip and then crushes his nuts. Perhaps illustrating that her survival through life’s trials and tribulations has left her a bit sadistic. I guess that’s understandable given what she has gone through.

She tells the man that the last person who tried to attack her had her head crushed. A reference to the ending of X when she crushed Pearl’s head with the car.

Who Was The Man in Leather at the Peep Show?

That was Maxine’s father, Ernest Miller. The private investigator had likely tracked Maxine down to her place of employment. Ernest was there to confirm that it was actually his daughter.

His reaction, breaking the frame of the peep window in anger, was likely due to seeing that his daughter was engaging in what he would describe as “sinful behaviour”. Remember, this is a religious zealot who believes in chastity and virtue. This further prompts him to want to “save her” and make her repent.

Who Killed Maxine’s Friends?

This was, once again, Maxine’s father Ernest Miller. He was the person sending invites for the parties that all of these people attended. Miller viewed Hollywood as evil and sinful and as something that needs to be cleansed. He needed victims that were close to Maxine so Amber James (Chloe Farnworth) and Tabby Martin (Halsey) were the perfect victims. They were killed at the party that Maxine refused to attend earlier in the film. This was, likely, not a party at all and, actually, a trap.

The constant references to the Night Stalker were used as a cover for the cult’s murders to keep the police off their trail. With Miller following the Night Stalker’s modus operandum to make it look like Richard Ramirez was responsible for the killings. Ramirez would, often, leave pentagrams on his victims. Something which Miller did with a brand. Multiple serial killers operating at the same time is, actually, a fairly common thing so this makes perfect sense.

Molly Bennet was, again, invited to a party and killed after attending. It can be assumed that Miller wanted a high profile target. Maxine sees her bloodstained clothes in Miller’s Starlight Drive house and it is her mutilated body that falls out of the suitcase. Again, Miller would have viewed her as evil for starring in the sacrilegious horror movie The Puritan. It had already been slammed by religious groups as being evil and blasphemous. Hence the many people protesting against the production of the sequel at the film studio.

What Was Miller’s Plan?

Ernest Miller was a famed televangelist. He was intending to make a documentary depicting the evils of Hollywood and how it transforms pious people into sinners. The star of the show would be his estranged daughter. A girl who was once extremely devoted to God but ran away from him and became an adult film star. Miller believes she was brainwashed by Hollywood and evil people.

Miller wants to create something that is part snuff film and part expose on the dark side of Hollywood. He and his followers would murder people associated with Maxine to strike fear into her. They would then use those murders in the documentary to depict the sinful nature of Hollywood. I know, it doesn’t make much sense. I guess it is to highlight how these people’s pursuit of fame has lead them away from God and resulted in them being brutally killed as a punishment.

In the documentary, he would convert Maxine back to God at the end or, if she refused, scar her for life using the aforementioned branding iron. Miller ties Maxine up and his followers begin filming for the final scene of the documentary. It is only the appearance of the detectives Torres (Bobby Cannavale) and Williams (Michelle Monaghan) that stop him. Giving Maxine the chance to escape.

So What Happens at the End?

Torres and Williams bust in, shooting some of the cohorts and giving Maxine an opportunity to free herself. A shootout begins and Miller is injured but escapes, heading up to the famous Hollywood sign. The detectives and Maxine follow him but Torres is mortally wounded. Williams carries on chasing but is stabbed through the eye with a crucifix. Eventually falling to her death.

Maxine catches up to Miller. She stands over him with a shotgun and a police helicopter appears overhead as he pleads with her. This part might be a little confusing as it suddenly depicts Maxine taking part in a red carpet event and having an interview. She is described as the star of The Puritan 2 and is questioned about the new biography film being made about her life after she managed to stop a serial killer who had been haunting Los Angeles. A killer who just so happens to be her father.

This was all Maxine fantasising in her mind about what the result of her actions might be. This didn’t actually happen but it is likely indicative of what will happen in the future. Remember, Maxine longs for nothing more than fame and notoriety, much like Pearl in the second movie.

It would seem she believes killing her dad will lead to opportunities and stardom. Maybe even a potential biopic talking about her life. With this in mind, she makes him recite with her the famous line. And tells him that he gave her exactly what she needed, in this case Divine Intervention. A play on the religious themes and the fact that he will be the reason she becomes famous. She then shoots him dead with the shotgun.

What Happens to Maxine?

For Maxine, this was destiny. This was her own personal divine intervention. Maxine goes on to become the leading star of The Puritan 2. Her dad murdered the original movie’s star, Molly Bennet, leading to Maxine inheriting the role.

We see her cutting up cocaine with her Screen Actor’s Guild card. A visual meant to illustrate that she actually made it and is now a proper Hollywood actor. I mean, let’s be honest, they are all members of the Screen Actor’s Guild and most probably do cocaine, as well. She is finally on her way to becoming the star she always wanted to be.

I think this covers the major points of the movie that might cause some confusion and clears up the weird fantasy bit at the end. There’s a hell of a lot of padding that I didn’t go over but it’s all inconsequential.

As I always say, thanks for spending your time here. You can stick around and take a look at some horror movie lists or some more reviews if you like. You can also check out some more Ending Explained articles. I am just one guy working on this site but I add stuff almost every day of the week so stick around. Take care and I will, hopefully, see you soon.

Disclaimer: Images, posters, and video stills used in this horror ending explained article are the property of their respective copyright holders. They are included here for the purposes of commentary, criticism, and review under fair use. Knockout Horror makes no claim of ownership and encourages readers to support the official release of all films discussed.