Welcome to Knockout Horror. 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. I did, on the other hand, love Pearl to bits. You can read my reviews of all three movies if you want to see what I thought. Today we are going to explain the ending to MaXXXine.
Well, I say explain the ending but I kinda mean summarise a few things and answer some questions. I want to make these articles a lot more straight to the point so I am mixing things up a bit. My summary is going to be way quicker so we can get to the meat of the matter. This article will run less than 1500 words, not including the outro and intro, so about five minutes of your time. Remember, if you haven’t watched the movie yet avoid this article as it contains spoilers. Let’s go.
A Really Quick Summary
Maxine Minx has made it to Hollywood after surviving the events of X. She is auditioning for a role in the sequel to a controversial horror film called The Puritan. Maxine is still working in adult films and in peep shows. A pair of co-workers, Amber James and Tabby Martin, invite her to a party in the Hollywood hills. She refuses. Later, at the peep show, a man wearing leather watches Maxine perform and is clearly enraged. While heading down an alleyway late at night, a man follows Maxine who retaliates by pulling out a gun, forcing him to strip and crushing his testicles.
Somebody leaves a videotape depicting the events of X on Maxine’s doorstep. This person turns out to be a private investigator hired by an unknown client. The client wants to meet Maxine at an address on Starlight Drive. If she doesn’t agree, her crimes will be revealed to law enforcement. Maxine is given a part in the movie she auditioned for, The Puritan 2, but the investigator’s harassment distracts her. Causing her performance to suffer. She tells her agent who then has the investigator kidnapped and crushed alive in a car recycling yard.
Meanwhile people close to Maxine have been murdered. Both of her co-workers, her friend Leon, and even the star of the first Puritan movie Molly Bennet are dead. Police ask Maxine to help them. She refuses, instead choosing to deal with the problem herself.
She heads to the address on Starlight drive where she finds her father, the religious zealot from the first X movie Ernest Miller. He is making a documentary on the sins of Hollywood and wants to depict himself as saving Maxine. He offers her the chance to repent but the filming process is interrupted by the detectives Torres and Williams who start a shootout. The detectives are murdered pursuing Miller. Maxine catches up to him and kills him with a shotgun. Later going on to star in The Puritan 2.
Who Hired the Private Investigator John Labat?
The private investigator (played by Kevin Bacon) was hired by Ernest Miller (Simon Prast). He 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.
Maxine (Mia Goth) was a frequent guest on Miller’s televangelist shows. The very same show that played on the television repeatedly throughout X. 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.
What Happened to Private Investigator John Labat?
Maxine told her agent, Teddy Knight, Esq (Giancarlo Esposito) about Labat harassing her and how it was causing her to lose focus on her acting job. This threatens Knight’s income. Knight is an agent for adult film actors and z list celebrities. Meaning he happens to have some less than friendly connections. He promises Maxine that he will take care of it.
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.
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 Maxine has resolved to never be a victim again. Sort of a theme in this movie.
She deliberately leads him down the alley knowing full well that she has a gun. She forces him to strip and then crushes his balls. Perhaps illustrating that her survival through life’s trials and tribulations has left her a bit sadistic. 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 places 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”. Further prompting 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 organising the parties that all of these people attended. Miller viewed Hollywood as evil and sinful. He first attempted to convert Amber James (Chloe Farnworth) and Tabby Martin (Halsey) at the party they both invited Maxine to early on in the movie. This was, likely, not a party at all and, actually, a trap. When they refused, he murdered them.
The constant references to the Night Stalker were used as a cover for their murders. With Miller following the Night Stalker’s modus operandum to make it look like Richard Ramirez was responsible. Ramirez would, often, leave pentagrams on his victims. Something which Miller did with a brand to throw police off his trail.
Molly Bennet was, again, invited to a party and killed after attending. Potentially for refusing to convert. 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 Puritan. A fictional movie which was 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 Intention?
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.
In the documentary, he would convert her back to God at the end or scar her for life, using the aforementioned branding iron, if she refused. Miller ties Maxine up and his followers begin filming for 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. 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. Before shooting him dead with the shotgun.
What Happens to Maxine?
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. She is finally on her way to becoming the star she always wanted to be.
Thanks for Reading
I may add to this article if I ever get around to watching the movie again. I think this covers the major points of the movie 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 fairly inconsequential. Some things like why Maxine didn’t help the cops just don’t have an answer because they don’t make sense.
As I always say, thanks for spending your time here. Google doesn’t like me much anymore so these articles get way less traction. It’s not all bad, though, as Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo still like me. You can stick around and take a look at some horror movie lists or some more reviews if you like. It’s tough sledding as a small horror content creator so I appreciate every one of you for spending your time on Knockout Horror. It means the world to me as all I want to do is chat horror. Take care and I will, hopefully, see you soon.